Written by Elke
27 Oct 2015
Two weekends ago, my mom visited me here in Stockholm. So I did everything a good daughter can do to reassure her that I am not starving from hunger, dying of loneliness, smelling in my unwashed clothes or turning into a dusty old study book. Let me show you the sneak peek that I gave her into my life as an international student in Stockholm.
First of all, I took her to my own place. As you might know, finding housing in Stockholm is quite the challenge! But anyone I know who kept trying in the end found a new home. Mine is perhaps a bit out of the odds, depending on your own imagination you could call it a container/cabin/tissue box/… I’ll let you decide. Here’s what I’m talking about:
These little cabins stand on a desolated road next to some traintracks and a little bush. Maybe not the best idea if you have claustrophobia, but I do have a bedroom, living room/kitchen, bathroom and even a self acclaimed garden (with a functioning apple tree). The opinions on this place are divided, but if you ask me, it’s nothing but amazing! Everyday is another day for camping :). Plus I decided I can finally call myself a member of the tiny house movement.
The next thing I showed her is what I think is one of the coolest features of Stockholm; the world’s first urban national park! As the name states, it is a mix of cultural and natural areas with plenty of activities and little cafes to discover. Of course I dragged her on a bike and we took a ride through all the best corners of it! A tiny impression of our day in the urban national park:
Warning: no steadycam was used during the taping of this movie. This is of course to add to the real life experience of a bike ride. Tip: put on a helmet while watching and you have the complete 4D deal.
One of the most remarkable things about this park is that Stockholm University campus is located in the middle of the national park. It was thus a perfect opportunity to show my mom where exactly i take classes. Because it was a Sunday I only got to show her the place where we have lunch/try to catch the last bit of sun rays. With the dark and cold winter in mind, this might be the most important place anyways.. Welcome to (the outside of) the Stockholm Resilience Centre:
Voila, that’s as far as the revealings go for now. Keep this place somewhere close if you want to get more updates on my Swedish adventures. (They will be many) Vi ses! Elke
