Well actually no.. there was a post I saved before this.. but it seems to have disappeared now.. so here’s a new one to take its place =)

As you might know, I’m in Sweden now.. on a program to work and study here. Gonna be here about a year.. Hopefully this blog will be a journal of my life in Stockholm for the next year =)

We left Singapore and home on 31 Aug 2006 840pm and touched down on 1 Sept 2006, 630am.

Time Of Arrival in Sweden

We touched down at Arlanda Airport outside Stockholm and took a cab (445 SEK!) to our hostel in Kungshamra. Kungshamra is one of the group of student hostels in Sweden.. There are only 3 of us in the group staying in Kungshamra though.. the rest are staying in Lappis. And so, with the arrival of 5 of us, the third batch in Stockholm is complete.

And here we are

Clockwise from top: Sriram (left), Alison, me, Dilip, Ramkumar

Here’s what our lovely accommodation looks like =)

Welcome to Kungshamra!

The weather here is superb really.. Clear blue skies, little white clouds.. Nice sun and a cold (notice I didn’t say “cool”) breeze. The sight is really breathtaking.. I know, we *do* get sights like this in Singapore from time to time, but other than that, the Singapore skyline may be home, but it’s nothing like this.

First day was pretty busy for us actually.. We met our manager (she’s the one taking care of us while we’re in Stockholm) at Kungshamra, then hopped on the train over to Lappis to catch up with the other 2 who arrived with us.

It was a whirlwind (almost) after that.. First we headed to KTH to meet up with the professor in charge of the program, followed by our international coordinators, and all sorts of other people about campus.

By the time that was done, it was almost 4pm. Then we headed into town. The idea was that we could take a train (over here: tunnelbana) from KTH into another island district (Sweden’s full of islands) called Södermalm. From there, we were to take a walk north into the Old Town, or Gamla Stan.

On reaching Södermalm we went up to this look out place where we could oversee the city of Stockholm (I think).. It was beautiful.. with the clear skies and all..

And of couse the mandatory “we-were-here” shot

We headed for Gamla Stan after taking a look around the top here.. BUT… we unfortunately took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of Södermalm, away from Gamla Stan. This is what happened:

We went the wrong way.

Well, it was a nice walk along the waterfront anyways =)

We saw lots of boats moored along the waterside.. boat houses, boat restaurants.. all sorts of boats.. It’s actually pretty nice to be able to stay on a boat along the waterfront actually.. Nice and calm.. =)

After a lot of walking, we finally ended near T-Centralen, which is like Raffles City in Singapore, where all the train line merge and you can change lines. Dinner was at a little kebab place. I had something called “fiskrulle” which was fried fish (think fish’n'chips), in a taco wrap with mashed potatoes and salad inside.. shiok!

We ended off the day by heading to the nearby Netto, which is one of the more popular supermarket chains in the area (ICA and Coop being the other 2 I’m familiar with) to do some grocery shopping.

Heh. And that was our first day in Sweden. Moved into my room now.. and it’s pretty nice.. Big, comfy, well-furnished and I’ve got a private bath!.. Which also means I have to clean it too anyway =) Oh well.

And yeah. Welcome to Sweden.