Week 18: Immigration, Accommodation, and Transportation

Hej allesammans! This week, I've been tackling three rather major obstacles: writing an essay on immigration, getting the accommodation sorted, and planning the logistics of transportation to England.

The first obstacle, writing an essay on immigration, is part of my second module. Basically, I had to write part of a big group essay: it was 32 pages and there were eight of us, so I wrote about 4-5 pages. Immigration is of course, a major issue in the world today, and being an immigrant in Sweden myself (if only temporarily), it's interesting to look at various trends in immigration to the Nordic Countries, because you get to learn more about international relations: the Swedes like the Brits and the Yanks, the Danes don't always get on with the Germans, and all the Scandinavian countries are a bit scared of Russia, especially Finland. All four Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) are also seen as being top places to go if you want to re-settle: after being here two months, I would have to agree.

The second obstacle: accommodation. Basically, I've chosen a rather lousy time to move out; I have to leave my accommodation between the 31st December and the 1st January. Naturally, the accommodation office is shut on both these days, so today I had to go in and basically thrash out when I could leave, and how I could hand my key back to them. Fortunately, the Swedes are flexible enough to allow a friend to hand in the key for you, and even though I wouldn't be paying the rent for January, they're fine with me staying there overnight on the 31st. Indeed, the only problem with the Accommodation people was their stupid opening hours: 8:30am - 11:30am on Mondays, but 2:30pm-5:30pm today and tomorrow. Silly Swedes!

Lastly, transportation. Getting to Uppsala was relatively easy, but getting back to the UK has proved to be extremely tricky. Flying out on the 2nd/3rd was WAY too expensive (£100 at least, and £150 when at a convenient time), so I've had to alter my mode of transport and go with the train. Naturally, train travel is not as quick: it takes 7 hours to get to Copenhagen, another 5 to get to Hamburg, and 13 hours to get from Hamburg to Paris (though fortunately that's because it's a sleeper train). From there, you get another train to Calais Ville, which takes an hour or so, then walk 15 minutes to the ferry, which takes 90 minutes to get to Dover (though of course you save an hour). And after that, it's another 2 hours to London. Suffice to say, you're travelling for the best part of two days! But I'll probably split that lot up a bit by staying overnight in Paris, which would be rather cool.

So, three problems, all hopefully tackled. I'm almost half-way through my time in Sweden, which seems quite incredible, but there is still a LONG way to go. And just as well, as I need to finish all my modules first! Until next week then, this has been...

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sweden (But Were Afraid To Ask)
Chris Stanley