Saket Vora

Arrival day. The train ride from Berlin to Malmö was actually rather enjoyable. Rather worn out from my 1.5 days in Berlin (carrying a 35 lb. pack nearly the whole time and walking 10 miles) I got to the Östbahnhof early and just chilled. The sleeper compartment was a two-bed with bathroom/shower. My suitemate spoke very good English with a smart sounding Scandinavian accent. He was in Berlin on a business trip, missed the plane, and bought the last ticket on this train to Malmö. He was headed to Copenhagen, where he works as a lawyer for the Coca-Cola Company for Nordic Affairs. He shared a can of Becks with me (something I must remember…when traveling or when you are going to meet new people in Europe, keep some alcohol and cups to share) and gave me a nice introduction to Scandinavia. He was very pleasant to talk with and seemed much younger than he was. I didn’t know this, but the train actually boarded a ferry and crossed the sea! We arrived in Malmö early and it was simple to board the commuter train to Lund. At Lund I followed a group of German students and soon a herd of students gathered. As we waited to go to Lund, I met two Canadians, two Australians, and a German. All seemed like good guys, though clearly were looking forward to the parties. Oh well. Whether it is a fault of mine or not, I am not one whose eyes shine with the anticipation of ‘wild’ parties where the booze flows freely. I also have cinderblocks for feet and can’t dance. Besides, many of these students arrived in Sweden or Denmark only a day earlier and were quite prepared to ‘go all out’. After spending the last two weeks visiting seven cities and wearing my sole a good centimeter, I confidently choose to forego the first day partying and pub crawling and instead attend to more pressing concerns: laundry! My travels and lack of access forced me to actually buy clothes in Berlin (I wanted to make a good impression in Lund, after all). Fortunately, the clothes are now being cleaned in the facility the next building over…and I must go check on them now.

First impressions of Lund: it is a small, relaxed town with a campus feeling. The weather together was marvelous – low 70s, sun shining. My room is in one of the farther dorms from campus; I can get there easily by train but I will most assuredly buy a bike. In reality, it might not be so different than how far my apartment will be from NC State in the spring. I got out of the check-in procedure at around 11 and was given transport to the dorm. Linda (actually Lee-schwam..sorry for the butchered spelling), who is from Shanghai, and I were the first in our corridor and we did most of the initial exploring. This dorm was recently renovated so the kitchen and rooms are in terrific shape (particularly the kitchen..three refrigerators, two stoves, big lounge area) but there are no numbers on the doors. We played a game of trying to see which room was ours. Linda and I also set about the task of putting up some temporary labels to help the others move in. I also met Emily, who is from Melbourne, Australia and helped get her bag up the stairs. On the second floor of this building, there is a right corridor and left corridor. She is on the left while I’m on the right. Linda and I planned on heading out to the town after settling in to look for groceries and some basic items. Emily also joined us. Before left I called collect back home to let them know all was ok. I need to find a calling card. We found a Vodaphone store but they were out of their cheapest cell phone so I’ll go there tomorrow. Seeing no real grocery store, we headed to a place near our dorm called Willys, which is a full blown grocery store. As Emily and I walked around getting our bearings, another guy must have seen us and asked if we were exchange students. That was how Nick, a chemical engineering student at UC Santa Barbara joined us and we explored this strange new supermarket together. He also lives in the Delphi dorm complex, but he is in building X whereas Emily and I are building N.

Anyway. It is currently 9:45pm and I am having a dinner of sandwich bread, peanut butter, brie cheese, an apple, and orange juice from concentrate. While my mom is likely to be frowning, fear not: I’ve located an Indian restaurant, no fewer than 3 falafel places, an a Mexican restaurant. Besides, such meals as tonight won’t linger for long after we get our plates and flatware settled and we can christen to the kitchen with some real cooking. I have bought some spaghetti and pasta sauce. I’m going to learn Chinese cooking from Linda. My mentor group, who I might not be able to meet fully tomorrow due a conflict with my Swedish language course, is also extremely diverse, with 16 countries represented (including one from India). Australians are perhaps the most represented among the people I have encountered. Though we come from different backgrounds and cultures, we seem to all share the trait of openness and eagerness to interact with people.

I will go to bed early tonight. I want to get a good rest after all this traveling. The language program will start tomorrow at 9am. I will try to get the Internet working tomorrow as well. It is the most asked question in the corridor.