Setting Up Camp

This blog post is a manual (not really, it’s more of an attempt to a comical account) of how a person gets settled into an apartment in Sweden. This is something most 18 year olds do…I am 10 years and then some late to the party, but that’s okay, I have attended many other parties around the world.

Finding an apartment to rent was hard as many people want to live in Malmö. I learned the hard way that you can’t just look for an apartment and rent it; you have to look at ads (with no pictures attached to them I may add), apply, get invited to see the place along with many, many other hopefuls, you say yes or no to the place and if you are a lucky, lucky duck you are chosen as the renter…yes, chosen…yikes. Having rented numerous apartments and homes in the US and Australia this is very new to me. I am glad I have a family that helped explain the ins and outs of this very (to me) mysterious process. Usually one has to sign up for waiting lists, if you are going the public company route and not renting privately, or start saving money with a company managing apartment complexes. It’s a jungle for someone like me, a clueless vagabonding Viking Princess…who knew everyone and their dog was looking for a small apartment in the heart of Malmö?! I always knew finding a reasonably priced apartment in the capitals of the world was tough, but Malmö is an up and coming city with many young professionals and man the competition was fierce here too. However, I was apparently fierce as well. I was chosen as the rightful renter of a beautiful, newly renovated, but small, apartment in the heart of the city I have chosen to live in.

So I signed a lease. It had many stuff on it that was unknown to me. I had to pick a renters insurance. Now, I have had such insurance in the States, but in Sweden I had no clue what a good one was. Leaned on mommy and daddy to pick a good one. Or just a decent one. Or actually just one. I am a minimalist and the amount of stuff I own has a very small monetary value. But yeah, renters insurance seemed like the grownup thing to do. However, I shocked my parents and myself by taking yet another step into adulthood by opting to go for a slightly more expensive renters insurance which included insurance while traveling. Let’s face it, this vagabond is not going to just sit in her beautiful, newly renovated, but small, apartment in Malmö and be fine with just that. I will use it as a base, but still wander the earth during my vacation days and lord knows I may need that insurance.

Next item on my lease was my landlord letting me know which cable company was being used in my apartment complex. First thing, I don’t watch much TV so being told I had to pay kind of sucked. I got over that quite quickly and was happy go lucky when I remembered that I have an old TV from my youth stored at my parents house. I figured I could use it until I would see the point in buying a new one. My dad crushed my plans when he gently told me my old fat TV would probably not work with the new technology. Whaaat?!? Procedures surrounding getting access to TV channels have changed a few times in Sweden since I left and some people have to use a TV “box” etc. I am probably going to say “the heck with it,” I watch TV online anyway.

When it comes to furniture etc. I am very lucky. I have some good stuff saved from my past and my mom and dad have over the years kept quite a few things with the hope of my return. I think it’s been rather hard on them not being able to assist me when I had to find furniture and the likes for my apartments and houses abroad. I have had more homes over the past years than some people have in a lifetime and the only stuff my mom and dad have been able to give me is like small amounts of silverware, coffee cups and a few blankets. They could never give me much of their old kitchenware because it would make no sense to drag it all over the world. And furniture, yeah you get the point. The person who has assisted me the most in that department has been my American host dad…thanks Jim! Now my mom and dad get the pleasure to assist their youngest little girl setting up camp. I think it’s beneficial for all of us. We spent a whole weekend going through chairs, coffee tables etc. stored at their garden shed in order to decide what I wanted to keep and what would be donated to the local Red Cross chapter. I have some nice wine glasses saved from various birthdays etc. and my parents were able to give me some of their old china. Still need some stuff, but at least I don’t have to start from scratch. Other items are coming from friends and family members.

One could also say I have “gone shopping” at my parents’ house and at my sister’s apartment. While living abroad, I have always asked “Can I borrow this?” but it was usually like a sweater from my mom. She always got it back…maybe 8 months later when I returned to Sweden for a visit.  I am now scanning their compounds like a vulture. Just to see if there are any stuff they don’t use. I am counting on that they have enough of a thick skin to say no if I try to claim something they really use. It’s not my fault I am very manipul…persuasive.

When it comes to stuff I am a minimalist so my general idea is to pick out some nice furniture, necessities etc., but keep it to a minimal until I know what I like. Because how do I want to decorate a home?!? Never really done that. I have said, and everyone who knows me has agreed, that my home will probably have a lot of character to it and be a bit “ugly.” Yeah I said it. I will not go too mainstream and the result will hopefully be an earty-toned haven. But who knows?! Maybe deep down inside me there is a girl wanting to decorate with tassels, frills and small, fragile figurines everywhere? I mean, I highly doubt it, but who knows?!

I obviously had food at my sister’s apartment (where I have been staying for the past year) but since I now have a whole kitchen to myself I am going to build up a real pantry with maple syrup, Himalayan salt, plastic bags and Tupperware. And other things! What would I do with just those four items?! I feel like such an adult now. Or a vagabonding backpacker playing the role of a responsible adult.

This post would be lacking terribly in the Swedish department if I would not mention IKEA. Going to IKEA is a rite of passage for any Swede moving out to live on their own. I have been to IKEAS all over the world more times I could possibly count and always liked it. But now, when I will have a home of my own, it’s different. My plan is to move in and start making a list of things I lack and then go to the Holy Land. I am sure I will be making more than one trip there over the next few months. Stay tuned.

So there, a small town girl from Laholm, who roamed the globe for 12 years, has landed and will now create her own space in the world in the big city of Malmö. I am excited and nervous. Excited to have my very own apartment for the first time in my whole life. I can decorate how I would like. If I buy food it will still be there when I come home. I can walk around naked…and I will stop there. I have lived in 12 different homes in my life, have had 24 different roommates from 12 different countries, but never been alone. I have never lived alone. How will I feel about this? Well, we will find out wont we? Here’s to the next chapter of my life! Life in the Swedish Apartment! Do come visit :)