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First week recap

August 28, 2022

Hello! This post officially marks the end of my first full week in Stockholm. It’s been an incredibly busy last few days, but I’ve already fallen in love with this city. We spent the first two days this week doing orientation and other important visa stuff, with our first field studies beginning on Wednesday. It was a beautiful week weather-wise in the city, and I did a lot! Below are some of the highlights day by day.

Sunday, 8/21

Today I went with a few of my newly-made friends from my building to go play Padel for the first time! The game plays similarly to tennis in terms of scoring and overall mechanics, but with an exciting twist of having a back wall which you can bounce the ball off of to make for some very interesting plays (see picture below, not one of mine)

Monday, 8/22

Today was our first day of DIS orientation! We met at the Royal College of Music (where DIS is based) for a welcome ceremony and facilities tour, where we were treated to a gleeful group rendition of Dancing Queen by ABBA (naturally) and introduced to the many offerings available within DIS.

We were then provided a delicious lunch to-go and traveled as a group to a park a few minutes away from the DIS campus, where we continued our orientation activities including playing the traditional Swedish game of Kubb, in which you attempt to knock over the opposing teams wooden towers which feels similar to horseshoe in a way (not that I’ve ever played that). See here for more info.

We concluded our first day of orientation in true Stockholm – with a trip to Ikea, where we feasted on Swedish meatballs and explored another of the numerous incredible indoor shopping malls scattered inconspicuously throughout many of the busy parts of the city. Just as delicious as back at home, just cheaper :) Perks of being in the Ikea homeland, I guess.

Tuesday, 8/23

Today was the day of our Swedish residency appointments, where we provided the necessary documentation to receive our Swedish residence cards in a few weeks. This took much less time than expected, leaving me and my roommate with several hours to kill before we had any more academic obligations. Once we found our way back to the central part of the city, we decided to try and meet some friends in the “Old Town” of Stockholm, on the island of Gamla Stan. Gamla Stan houses the official Royal Palace, a beautiful medieval cathedral, and countless other buildings designed in the traditional Swedish architectural style.

While Gamla Stan was visibly much more tourist-oriented than much of the rest of the city that I had seen, we still managed to find a traditional-looking restaurant where I got my second order of Swedish meatballs (called Köttbullar) in two days. Yum!

I concluded my day by going on an unintentionally long run with a friend from my building, where we explored one of the many pedestrian paths surrounding one of the main islands adjacent to where we are living (called Södermalm). I really enjoyed seeing the varying views as we circumnavigated the island’s shoreline, as well as looking at the wide variety of boats anchored at various points on the island.

Wednesday, 8/24

Today was the day of my first Field Study, a half-day fieldtrip connected to one of my courses in which we traveled to a location within Stockholm and were given the opportunity to learn first-hand about the relevant course material. This study tour was a part of my core course, Engineering Sustainable Environments in Scandinavia. My study tour took me to the Stockholm Royal Seaport, a newly-developed sustainably-designed “neighborhood” of sorts in which we learned of the countless ways in which the community’s infrastructure was designed to promote healthy outdoor recreation among its residents, discourage vehicle ownership, and facilitate effective waste management and energy generation.

I spent my evening playing Kubb with some friends from my building in a park near our place, as well as taking a much-needed swim in the lake/freshwater ocean along the northern shore of the city that I live in, called Årsta.

Thursday, 8/25

Today marked my first official day of classes! I really like my classes, and am certainly looking forward to this semester. Other than that it was a fairly uneventful day, save for me checking out a party for local students in Stockholm that evening! It was fun to meet people from other parts of Europe (specifically Germany. So many Germans!?).

Friday, 8/26

Today was another day of classes, followed by another round of Padel and some absolutely delightful socializing in the evening as we went on a brief adventure with ~40 other DIS students to check out a fascinating vantage point in the middle of the city, where we had a nearly 360-degree view of the city. We were lucky to get there just as the sun was setting, so we were treated to some delightful Golden-hour views.

Saturday, 8/27

My friends and I had a very busy first real Saturday in Stockholm, despite starting our day at around 1:30 pm (or 13:30 if you consider yourself a local) because we all were desperately behind on sleep. We began our day by taking the Metro all the way south out of the city to watch the Swedish Rowing Nationals in Lake Magelungen, which I was thrilled about. It had been so long since I had last seen rowing, and watching the scullers pass by at the finish line certainly reinvigorated me to seek out rowing during my time in the Stockholm.

We then traveled all the way across to the northern part of the city to check out the annual Stockholm Food Festival located in Kungsträdgården, a lovely promenade located in a fairly dense part of the city. This festival was certainly overwhelming, both in terms of the number of people in attendance but also the variety of cuisine.

My friends and I settled on a fantastic Thai place, though there were cuisines from all around the world. I’m definitely glad we checked it out! We found our way home just in time for the food comas to kick in, where we recharged before another night on the town. Fantastic day!

I’m already in love with this city and cannot believe that I’ve only been here for 8 days. I’ll probably scale back the amount that I include on each of these posts going forward (tbd), but I hope you’re able to at least get a taste for what I’m up to here through my posts. Until next time!