First 3 are in

One more

Failed twice, but now we have two more

I just checked in another 3 boxes

Woohoo! I was just in time.. But now we have 7 more :)

> Great! stop searching now, we will have a lot

I brought in 4 more, I was at the place already.

Collecting banana boxes from supermarkets in the area. We’ re moving! More later :)

Eldflugor och Odågor (picture from eldflugor.se)

There was a concert last Sunday were I went with Frida. It was from 6 girls, Google Translate said they called themselves Firefox and Waster (Eldflugor och Odågor), singing songs, mostly a cappella, some with addition of drums.

Most of the songs were in Swedish so I didn’t understand the words, but I could understand the feeling sometimes. A bit like Evelyn Glennie showed on TED.

It also was a great place there, good atmosphere. I think it was a living and working community (is that a correct term in English?). And there was a ecological shop in this building, finally with really good goods. Too bad it is in Uppsala which costs about €30,- to travel to..

It was great to travel this whole day. Although not as far as Nikki is traveling, I finally see some other places then only Eskilstuna and Västerås. And also that the good day is more than the goal your going to (the concert), it is also the travel, the things you see, the talks you have, what you think about..

On the way back there was this flyer on the streets of Uppsala. Some flyer from the International Womans Day. On the front it had a quote:

“Det är tur att vi finns, men det är en skam att vi behövs!”

I, apparently with my cultural background, read something like ‘man are scum and we behave’. Ohoh, don’t read that! Too late :) Not, it was more something like ‘it is good that we exist, but a shame that we are needed!’, about the womans organization behind this flyer.

But, they don’t have vegetarian products here :(

Even the expensive supermarket – comparable with Albert Heijn in size, service, looks, prices – only has óne vegetarian burger. Further, bio shops (or how do you call a ‘natuur(voedings)winkel’ in English?) don’t exist here. Today I came past some shop selling ‘natural’ shoes and some Weleda products. They had a few vegetarian product, but no full range either. And ecological products aren’t that recognizeble as in the Netherlands, there’s no rule of marking things green, you just have to read product listings, which is not that easy.

Also, bread seems not really to exist here. They have lots of knäckebröd, of course. But I thought normal bread wasn’t that rare. It is though.

So, thats Lode on a diet :)

Oh, one great thing is that the local supermarket is open until 22.00 and not that far away, most of the time getting there is spent in walking down the stairs of my flat – 6 in total.

Eskilstuna is a nice small city, the same size as Alkmaar, but with two third of the people. Lots of parks.You see litter (the bedding material for cats) on the streets everywhere, to stop you from slipping away on the ice. Oh, and they love red neon lights here.

I’ve joined Nikki in his apartment as the appointment I had with the rental unit didn’t work out, so I’ll have to wait until Monday (måndag) untill I have access to my apartment (Jong MenS: I drew Lady Lobelie afterwards). The apartment looks pretty good – from the outside anyway. We’ve done some shopping, I still have to find a good place for ecological and vegetarian food.

Saturday (Lördag) we went to Västerås, somewhat larger than Eskilstuna. More something like Nijmegen, again, with about two third of its population. First to the IKEA of course :) Afterwards we went to the student reception at Mälardalen in Västerås. The school building is very nice, with a lot of wood and nice lanterns, also made of wood. A show of their image as a environmentally consciousness university?

—

This Sunday (söndag) was an easy day, we’re planing to go to the university (with a card from another student) to do some internet work (Jong MenS: I drew Lazuli for this day).

I did some shopping and had another walk through the city. I tried to get a bike. But although almost every shop is open on Sunday, the bike shop wasn’t. We’ll try it next week.

Then we got a household from Nikki to get us inside the university. I did some online IKEA shopping, checked my school scheme, and got to blog my first posts from Sweden.

Sidestep; yes, a temporary bed. The apartment I rent is without any furniture. So the plan is to buy all new stuff in the first week and sell it again in the last week. Luckily they have something called IKEA there :) Especially as I arrive there on Friday evening, I need something to sleep on the first night, and probably the first (few) week(s).

Today my new camera came in, I’ll make some pictures of the snow tomorrow. And tomorrow a t-shirt will be delivered, and I need to go back to the Bever to complain about my shoe which is already broken (bought it two weeks ago).. Very nice things to happens two days before departure.

I just finished the cake for my farewell party at Mediamatic, now, the bed calls.