From Old to New

I really couldn't have chosen a country more far away from my own. In fact, some people in Australia didn't even know where it was when I told them; "Sweden? Oh yeah that's the one near Germany right? Where they make all the cheese?"

To get here it only took a thirty-one hour trip  ( including a five hour stop-over in Beijing), which in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long but when you're cramped up in the same spot for eleven hours straight with nothing but your thoughts and movies like 'Marley and Me', it can feel like the worst mistake of your life.

However now that I am finally here I am glad I made the move. Stockholm is a wonderful and beautiful city which in a way seems to be like the much older and wiser sister of Melbourne. It is filled with lakes that separate the city into portions and the architecture is a mix of (some very) old and new.

Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden and I read somewhere that it is also the 'Capital of Scandinavia' (though this may just be according to the Swedes). There are approximately 850,000 people (+ 1) living here and as of Monday two weeks ago, I became an official inhabitant when I was granted my 'personnummer' or, personal identification number. With this number I am able to open a bank account and gain access to administrative facilities, personal services and so on.

I have since opened a bank account but not without  first encountering some minor difficulties. The bank I initially approached did not want to offer me an account because I am not yet working nor studying therefore according to them, the fact I have an Australian bank account is enough and I should come back to them once I start working. Nice. Fortunately, through the wonders of Swedish networking, this issue was promptly resolved and I am now the proud owner of one Swedbank account and will soon be able to enjoy money without the burden of astronomical bank and international transaction fees.

Anyway, now that I am an official 'Stockholmer' I suppose it only makes sense I should learn the local language. Today I am going to register at SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) where I will attend Swedish language classes for free, courtesy of the generous Swedish government. There are different types of classes for varying participants and I am going to try avoid registering for the class where not only will I learn Swedish but I will also learn how to turn on and operate a computer (I assume this is a class for people in slightly less appealing situations to me).