How to make Sweden home 🥰?

When I just came to Sweden, it was definitely difficult for me to adjust. This was the first time I was moving away from home, and I didn’t quite understand how I was meant to thrive, much less survive in this new atmosphere. In today’s blog post, I want to share some of the things I did to make Stockholm my temporary (or maybe even permanent) home ☺️.

Decorating my room

Early in the semester, I started to realize that I didn’t like being in my student apartment. As much as I was going to spend my entire first year living in my room, I found myself always wanting to leave it. More and more, I began to realize that I couldn’t live in the undecorated, generic space. I had to make it my own.  

To do that, I added a few things:

1. Lights – they’re not only for surviving the darkness. Lights are INCREDIBLY important to giving a space its feeling. The single bulb that came with my room really wasn’t cutting it, so I bought programmable strip lights that change colour. They help me to relax, focus or even wake up. I haven’t used the old light since 😅.
2. Pictures – I never thought I would find myself staring at a wall for so long. Putting a few pictures of my family on the wall was so much more enriching than I thought it would be. On the hard days, just looking up from my desk to my mini art gallery helps to remind me that my support system is always there for me.
3. A flag – You guys should know by now how proud I am to be Jamaican. My flag is a constant reminder of my identity and the reason why I’m doing this degree.
4. A plant – Having another living thing in your space really helped me. My English Ivy named Suzie, which may or may not still be with us in the land of the living, helped me to jazz up the room and gives (maybe gave 😂) me a lot of moral support.

Going on walks with my friends

There is only one other Jamaican in the 13500 students at KTH 😖 (unless others have been lurking in the shadows 😅). What’s wild is that we were both in the same class in high school and hadn’t talked in more than 5 years before a mutual friend figured out that we were both going to Sweden. What was even crazier is that we were both going to be living on the same campus just five minutes from one another. She has been my rock. On nights when we were both a bit lonely, or just wanted someone to talk to, we took walks. Sometimes we went into the town, sometimes on the campus or maybe even further. Finding someone who you’re able to just exist with for a couple minutes a day can really be a life changer. I can’t describe how important our evening walks or random trips have been for me 🥹.

Cooking the foods I love

Ok so this one is special to me. For me, cooking has been my ultimate connection to home. My shelf of seasonings and dry food I took from home is a testament to how seriously we take our food in Jamaica. Like the gym, cooking has become a big release for me, allowing me to experiment with new things, and bring a slice of home right here to Sweden. In coming blog posts, I’ll talk about the special spots that bring a lot of the necessities for African students to Sweden.  

Staying active

I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but the gym became my second home. Before I go any further, let me clarify. No, and I repeat, no I am not, nor will I ever be, a gym bro. I actually signed up for my local gym because I convinced myself that I would be using the community pool. Here we are though, 6 months in, and I’ve been to the pool less than 5 times in total and to the gym 3-4 times a week.

Either way, I can’t underscore how important staying active has been for me since I’ve come to Sweden. In fact, I think I’ve easily been more active here than I’ve ever been in my life. The gym, on a lot of days, gave me a reason to get out of bed, or something to do on days that were a little lonely, and let me tell you, those lonely days will come. I know my body has thanked me, and so has my mind, and I can’t wait to see where I land with my newfound hobby.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this blog post. I can’t wait to tell you guys more about my life here in Stockholm. Stay tuned for more!