Halmstad – Gothenburg

For now, I have no permanent address. In a way it feels as if I haven’t had that since the year I turned 19, when I graduated, and left Sweden for a summer job overseas. Once I returned, about two months and two weeks later, I stayed at my parents’ house three days before traveling to France. The next time I returned, I stayed around three weeks. From what I can remember, I often longed somewhere else and their house mostly acted as a temporary place to stay in between trips/jobs abroad.

Following My Intuition

Regardless of where I travelled, I always felt a deep sense of faith that I did the right thing. For example, when I first saw the brochure about working as a counsellor on summer camps in the U.S., I knew where I would spend my summer. When I read the online ad for an au-pair job in Grenoble, I had no doubts whether I wanted the position. During a few hours’ stopover in Zurich on my way from France to Austria in 2004, I knew I would eventually live there. When I learnt that a family in Zurich looked for a new nanny, that all made sense to me.

On a weekend trip from Zurich to London, I felt I would live in Notting Hill someday. Later the same year I arrived in London. As I stepped into the entrance of an apartment building near Notting Hill Gate, I knew I would call that place home before having  seen the actual apartment. During my time in London, I knew I’d move to the Swedish city Malmö the same year. For some reason, I’ve had many of these intuitive experiences.

In 2008, when reading a travel article on Christmas markets in Gothenburg, I got a feeling that I would live there the following year. Since I only had my sights on London at the time, I ignored it. However, when I got an apartment here last month and my intuition told me to move, I remembered that feeling.

View from my window

Finding an Apartment

I’m happy that I got an apartment, even though the contract is temporary, because getting a place to stay in Sweden turned out somewhat of a challenge. Let me explain… During my impulsive, shopaholic months in London in 2005/2006, I sold almost all my stocks and shares (which had increased substantially in value since I got them) and ended up with more income tax that I could pay. As a result, I failed to pay my taxes in 2007, and I failed to pay them in 2008. Not a period of my life that makes me proud, although it’s nothing I feel ashamed of. Like the challenges I’ve faced lately, it only helped me learn and improve.

However, anyone who doesn’t pay a debt on time will have their case forwarded to the Swedish Enforcement Administration. Consequently I got a mark called Betalningsanmärkning (non-payment record). Even though I have now paid off that debt, the law says these marks should be registered and stored for three years. This makes it nearly impossible to get a first-hand contract or even rent an apartment since basically everyone wants tenants without non-payment records.

Besides this obstacle (which ruled out the majority of the ads) I discovered that the demand was way higher than the amount of available rooms and apartments.

Two Weeks in a Hotel

As you may know, I lived in Halmstad during July and in Linköping throughout August. Partly since I missed the sea, I returned to Halmstad in September and moved into my grandmother’s summer cottage. I left in mid October before it got too cold to live there. Although I used the heaters, the temperature easily dropped during the night because of the chilly weather. Plus, my grandma worried that the water would freeze.

Since I hadn’t found an apartment, I considered living temporarily in a hostel and searched online for cheap rooms in various Swedish cities. First I stayed one night at my cousins’ house in Halmstad. My grandmother said I could live with her for a few days. As much as I love my grandmother, I declined. As I’ve very well noticed, we go on each other’s nerves if we live together for more than… a day. Hence, I moved.

Living out of my suitcase

In the end, I was lucky to get a room at a two-star hotel in Halmstad at more than half price off — on condition that I paid for a week in advance and cleaned the room myself. No problem. As I — seven days later — still hadn’t found an apartment, I decided to stay another week. When you get a private hotel room with your own bathroom, desk, comfortable bed with incredibly soft linens, two large wardrobes, complimentary Wi-Fi, shared (female only) showers next door, and free breakfast buffet plus four different newspapers every morning, you can’t complain. And the close proximity to the beach certainly made the stay sweeter.

Halmstad -  Gothenburg

During my last week at the hotel in Tylösand, Halmstad, my intuition told me to search for a place in Gothenburg. I replied to an ad for a single room at a fifty-something man’s place in the neighbourhood Haga (a 17-year-old girl rented the other room), and got a phone call the following day. Even though Gothenburg felt right, that apartment didn’t. Eventually I heard from a woman whose ad I had recently answered regarding a student apartment at Chalmers University of Technology.

Bedroom/Living Room

You do need to study at Chalmers to live here, but since my contract only lasts a month (until the new student moves in), they could make an exception. The student residence I live in (which apparently has Sweden’s most satisfied student tenants) is surrounded by the buildings for Technology Management and Economics, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Fundamental Physics, and Microtechnology and Nanoscience. The others include Applied Physics, Mathematical Sciences, Materials and Manifacturing Technology, Product and Production Development, Applied Mechanics, Energy and Environment, Radio and Space Science, Signals and Systems, Computer Science and Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. Not exactly my scene, although I don’t think I’ve ever lived around so many smart people before.

And I’m glad that I found a centrally located place. You can walk to the nearest tram and bus stop in a minute, and Götaplatsen and the famous Avenyn in about seven minutes.

Nearly empty desk

After a week in Gothenburg I had settled in alright, filled the previously empty shelves with some of my stuff, rearranged the furniture, discovered new parts of the city, and… not looked forward to having to leave after a month. I also spent a bit of time at Chalmers; pretended to be a student, walked around the area, and hung out at the student union house on campus Johanneberg. As the largest student union house in Sweden, it’s a popular meeting point for all students. Apart from a café, restaurant, pub and club, it has a pool, sauna, cinema, book store, and open spaces with comfortable seatings perfect for studying/working.

Since I didn’t went to Uni (the idea of living three years in the same city never appealed to me), I took the chance to experience a little University life — minus the studying. When not working, I have mostly checked out Gothenburg, though. Basically the only parts I had seen of the city before moving in early November include Liseberg Amusement Park (countless times) and the shopping center Nordstan (once). Thus, I had a lot of new sights to take in.

View from the apartment

Plenty of Things to See

One evening when my sister and her boyfriend (who lives a ten minutes walk away) hung out at my apartment, they asked if I’d seen much of Gothenburg.

“Not that much… yet.”

“There’s not so much to see,” he said.

What!? I could barely believe what I’d heard. Gothenburg offers plenty of things to see and do for all ages, tastes and personalities. As for me, I couldn’t wait to visit Göteborg City Library (mostly to get a library card to rent free DVDs), and The Röhsska Museum of Fashion, Design and Decorative Arts. I’d also love to see the Göteborg City Theatre, Göteborg Museum of Art, the Göteborg City Museum, the Göteborg Opera, Pustervik, Röda Sten, Nefertiti Jazz Club, and Casino Cosmopol (as I’ve never set my foot inside any casino before). I doubt I will have time for everything, though.

For various reasons, I have avoided shopping — apart from once as I needed a new, warmer pair of autumn/winter shoes (my old cotton ones were too cold). Last Friday, before purchasing my shoes, I had another one of  those intuitive experiences. Since I didn’t want to spend 500-800 SEK on a new pair of shoes, I searched online for Gothenburg second hand shops and found a map with 20-30 places.

“In which of these shops can I find my shoes?” I asked myself. The answer appeared after a few minutes. In Myrorna at Järntorgsgatan. Content knowing that my shoes waited for me somewhere in that shop, I hopped on my (sister’s) bike and cycled west.

Shoes, shoes and more shoes

Fifteen minutes later I entered the shop, went to the highest floor, found the shelves with shoes and — after eyeing a pair of black, too worn out boots — I saw them. Right there, in the middle of the shelf. Camel colour, about 2,5 inch heels, size 37, only 100 SEK. If I had seen my name written on them, I wouldn’t have felt surprised.

Later, as I looked at that photo of the shoe shelf, I realized it can represent all of life’s choices. Everyday, from morning till night, I’m  faced with numerous options and decisions.  But when something feels right, I know it. No doubts whatsoever. Moving to Gothenburg was one of those choices.

View from the apartment at night

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3. Still Gothenburg
4. Photo of the Week: Gothenburg Night Shot
5. Takenaka Sushi Bar in Halmstad