I'm back, baby!

Hej! After a break for a Christmas of engorged abdomens and family feuds, I've decided to resume this little blog seeing as - after a great deal of flight-related hassle - I finally arrived in Sweden last night. For the second time I get to call this lovely country home, although this time for at least six months. Naturally, I couldn't be happier.

I got to Arlanda - Stockholm's main airport - at around 11pm last night, and caught the pendeltåg to Uppsala. (A pendlare is someone who swings back and forth like a pendulum = commuter). I emerged from the station to snow and a blast of cold air which licked against my face. Heaven. Dreading the lengthy trek with bags in tow, I took a taxi to my new home. It's on Ekebyvägen, and consists of two new terracotta-coloured apartment blocks nestled in the leafy southern suburbs. The centre of town is about a twenty-five minute walk away; uni is a little closer.

Each floor consists of twelve ensuite bedrooms, of which mine is one. Each set of twelve shares a large kitchen and lounge area, and it's all pretty clean and modern. There's even a balcony for that one day a year of sunbathing weather which I hope I'll still be here to see. Everyone seems very friendly thus far, and we're an exotic mix - French, Guatemalan, Australian, Aberdonian... one of my fellow residents is Lidia (Russian), who I know from Edinburgh and is here doing the exact same thing as me.

From my window I can see Ekeby Bruk, an old red-brick industrial complex which has been converted into what appear to be shops, offices and a secondary school with a gigantic neon sign on top which rotates endlessly. (The Swedish penchant for retro neon signage gives even small towns a striking sense of being more vibrant than they are, and the effect against snow seems to convey heat. Seeing as Sweden consists mainly of cold and tediously safe places, perhaps the neon fulfils a deep psychological need for warmth and excitement? Discuss.)

Today we spent the day trudging round the various university offices in order to get matriculated. It wasn't a chore - the weather was crisp and sunny, with little snow flurries throughout, and the whole city looks completely magnificent in the snow. We stopped off in a konditori for lunch, and it was delicious - prawn salad sandwich, but one of those posh sandwiches for which the word doesn't do justice. We did a quick supermarket shop at Hemköp, and finally, we got the bus to Ikea - what else are you going to do on your first day in Sweden?

My room is now candle-tastic, my fridge is stocked and it's just started to snow again. It's not even cold - a balmy minus four! Bring on day two.