I have been in Göteborg for some days now. In order to satisfy some people’s need for information (greetings to my dear family and others), I summarize what happened since Saturday. If you do not care for posts related to my stay in Sweden, please consider switching your feed reader over to category Blog.

I arrived at Slottsskogens Vandrarhem by Saturday evening. It is nicely equipped — of course with IKEA stuff — and greets me with the same dishes I own. There is huge double-kitchen everybody can use for storing and preparing food. There is also a huge common room, many books and TVs to relax in the evenings. I had to go buy toilet paper, though; the one they offer here could easily be used in any printer.

My roommates change every few days so I get to know a bunch of interesting people. There are poker player Peter, triathlete Stefanie, touring Sarah and Marie, bass playing Anja with her friend Denny who has a light sleep, and more to come. Right across the street is a little corner shop with huge shelves of lösgodis (sweet bough by weight) and other good stuff. While pastries and fish are quite affordable, vegetables and milk products seem to be rather expensive.

On Monday, I walked a long way through Göteborg in order to get my visit in order bureaucratically. I went through Haga, a beautiful district, westwards. A police helicopter seemed to follow me to a public exercise area. It remained hovering there, obviously favoring girls playing lacrosse over potential terrorists. I had to wait for an hour each at Migrations- and Skatteverket only to be told that I would have to wait several weeks for the respective decisions. I liked both offices more than most German ones, though, since they were friendly and comfortably equipped and the obligatory queue numbers allow sensible estimates of your waiting time. At Skatteverket you can even request an SMS when it is your turn. Too bad I cannot get a Swedish bank account without personnummer; I was able to aquire a prepaid mobile card, though.

On Tuesday, some girls from the hostel and me met at Feskekôrka to have some fish for lunch. We chose to eat in Stora Saluhallen, though; I ordered a salmon burger which was delicious. After that I went towards Chalmers university to see Devdatt, my host professor. I was finally able to obtain some cheap thongs for showering; even sport shops in Göteborgs largest shopping center do not have any! Devdatt was already gone when I arrived but I was able to find a quick way back to the hostel that takes only half an hour by foot.

On Wednesday, I finally got started at university. I have forgotten most people’s names already, but I got a desk, keys and stationery. They even ordered some keyboards with American layout since Vinay, one of my officemates, and I do not care much for Swedish layout. Back at the hostel, all my roommates are gone. Wonder who will arrive next?