The new place

Well, last time I posted I said I had "lots of catching up to do". Now here I am, a month later, and I'm just now getting around to writing another post. I've got a lot more pictures and stuff to talk about from the summer. But, in my defense, we've been pretty busy. The biggest thing we've been up to is finding an apartment near Stockholm.

We had been hoping all along to find a place near the city to live (while still being able to go up to Dalarna to get away from it all every now and then, of course). This is helpful for AS's career, my attempts to start a business, and my Swedish studies. I hesitate to say this, since none of our Swedish friends can understand it, but I also kind of like the city. I'm not sure I'll be welcome back in Furudal after saying that, where they sell t-shirts that say: "Furudal: Tillräckligt långt från Stockholm" ("Furudal: Far enough away from Stockholm"). I'm used to living in the city, though, so I find the hustle and bustle kind of comforting, especially when I know I'll be taking frequent trips to somewhere tillräckligt långt från Stockholm.

But I think even our most Stockholm-phobic friends could appreciate this place. It's just one of those situations where everything seems to be coming together. When searching for apartments online, AS found this place that was being rented out by a woman with an African name. It turns out that she went to primary school in the same town in Uganda where AS worked in grad school. The apartment is two blocks south of the commuter rail station, where we can catch a 24-minute ride to Central Station. The only thing in between our apartment complex and the station is a small KTH (Royal Technical University) campus, which just happens to house the SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) classes that I should be starting next week. Our balcony looks out to the south east over a wooded park. To the west of our apartment complex is a beautiful, huge forested park with two small lakes and miles of trails for running and skiing. Vasaloppet, here I come!

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, but I've learned that I'll never post if I wait until I have picture upload and organized.