Tack! It’s Thank you in Swedish. It’s pronounced as taaahhhk. Usually they say it twice, tack tack.
It has been a whole week since I’ve arrived in Stockholm, Sweden and it feels like it’s been a month already. I’m having a great time but I feel I’ve been doing so much in a short amount of time. Let’s see… I’ve moved into my apartment, met my roommate, unpacked my suitcase for a year, met my flatmates in the corridor, and shopped for food and furniture.
When I first applied for my university, I got to choose what type of room I wanted. I remember choosing a small single room because it was the cheapest and I don’t have to worry about sharing with someone, but on the other hand, I chose shared room because it is also cheap. I got the result of having a roommate after months of waiting and I was really nervous about meeting her. I was crossing my fingers and toes that it wouldn’t be like the roommate that I had when I was in Romania. She was a mean human being, very careless, and just plain old mean and cold. I was traumatized by her and the thought of having a roommate like her. The roommate in Romania was not even for 3 months and yet I have to share this room for either 5 or 10 months depending on how long she would stay for her studies.
 |
| My room. |
 |
| A water tower in the middle of the forest near my apartment. |
I met her when I arrived in the woods where my school and apartment is. Her name is Ana from Spain with curly ear-length hair with greenish dark blue eyes, tan skin, and a beautiful smile. She is much taller than me and she is very funny. She is not the mirror of my bad experience in Romania.
My shared room is better than what was shown online. The pictures showed that it is just a big room with two beds and two desks. I imagined that I wouldn’t have any privacy or that I would have to wake up and see her across the room. Or even worse, she would wake up seeing me snoring or something. However, it is opposite of what I ordered online. We have the biggest room in all of Bjornkulla (the apartment houses in the woods that consists of 6 buildings) and our flat has two rooms, a kitchenette, a bathroom, and many windows. My room is hugmungous. Ana has her own big room, and I have the whole other big room. My room is so big that I don’t know what to do with it. It’s empty and there isn’t enough furniture to fill it. I would have to make a trip to IKEA. She would have to walk through my part of the room to get to hers but that’s fine. We each have our own privacy at night.
 |
| A birthday surprise for a flatmate. |
The people in my corridor is also really nice too. We went to orientation and there are 120 Erasmus students studying abroad in Sodertorn University. The exchange students are mostly from Spain, Germany, France, and some Czech Republic, Polish, Irish, American and much much more. It’s actually really wonderful to see all these people gather together in the same place to study. I’m really happy that all the people are really nice for now. People are always nice in the beginning. The girls from America are very typical American. We are loud with an American accent that you can hear a mile away. It’s good that we Americans are here because you can see the diversity of our country already. There is me as Asian, a girl that is Mexican, Philipino, and Italian. Coming from California, I get asked questions like, “Do you surf?” “Why aren’t you tanned?” “How’s the weather in California?” “Do you eat McDonald’s everyday?” I like it here so far. I’m starting my classes this week. I’m continuing my studies here with my major in Hospitality and Tourism Management. My first classes are Modern Tourism and Swedish Language. I only have one or two classes each period and there are a total of four periods in a semester and the classes are only for once a week for 2-3 hours. The rest of the week, I’m off! Sorry San Jose State students who are struggling to get your classes. Just come to Sweden.
 |
| Waiting for a bus with exchange students. |
Sweden is way ahead of any country I’ve seen. People are very safe here and and a bit confined. Many things are made so easily assessable and even the pigeons are well fed. You should see them! They are so fat here. Swedish people are very artistic are creative with their design in architecture, shopping, queuing, the organization of the city, and transportation. The language is really different also. I still can’t tell how the Swedish sounds like.
Till next time,
Dandelion Traveler
 |
| Smallest sculpture in Sweden: Iron Boy |
 |
| Hallway to my class at Uni |
dandeliontraveler 
so, do you eat mcdonald's everyday?