Day 2 and I am completely blown away by this city, my new dorm, and the people I will be living with for the next four months. Today was a big day for two main reasons, groceries and my first excursion. Let’s just say, they did not disappoint whatsoever. The day started with a brunch we made as group, guided by our SRAs to some extent with information about the dorm and kitchen. (Some of our neighbors also came to give us some insider information about the dorm that one can only get from living here for a while; this is something you only get from a Studentboende.) This was interesting after dinner yesterday night when students were cooking alongside Vincent and Moa (the SRAs). This time the kitchen was ours and the students took the lead, making oatmeal, eggs, and, for the adventurous two, making pancakes with ingredients they couldn’t read and an uncharted and foreign metric system. It was a lot of fun if not a bit hectic having everyone hands on all at once. None the less, it was a great start to our first full day in Stockholm.
After Brunch was free time, but free time isn’t free when you’re Adulting (trademark pending). After unpacking, I looked at the group me and found that some people had planned to go grocery shopping. The kitchen was set up to be the meeting point and one hour later we were off. Nine of us headed out for a trip the ICA (pronounced like eekah), the local grocery store where our stipend from the program is accepted. It’s kind of a big deal here in Stockholm. There are two main options: the one right across the street which is awesome to have, or the one a small walk away with apparently some more variety and a slight decrease in prices. We easily opted for the second with the added benefit of a little adventure. A ten minute walk down and around a corner took us right to it: a kind of mysterious wonderland of ignorance. Everything was completely new, even the bread isle was something to decipher and investigate, and don’t get me started on yogurt. It took forever to look through all the options and even longer to understand what each small variation in the name meant for the final product you will be consuming. “Oh wait, this yogurt has a ‘Letty’ in front of it meaning it’s low-fat and probably won’t taste great.” Every section was a new world to explore and it was honestly a ton of fun. Having other people there really helped make it a great experience as a opposed to a chore or nightmare. They gave me some perspective in my ignorance (“this isn’t just me”), was shocked by what I was shocked by, and marveled at what I marveled. Plus we gave each other directions to what we needed to find. But don’t worry, this scary adventure didn’t satiate us. We needed more.
