Things Don’t Always Turn Out As We Think They Will

As we all know, things don’t always turn out as we plan or think they will. As I wrote in a quick update, I lived with my grandmother in Halmstad from July 1st. After 20+ days of free accommodation (including two weeks in her summer cottage near the sea in Frösakull), I moved into a 55 sqm cellar apartment (pictured below) on Broddesonsgatan a five minutes walk to the center of Halmstad.

Eventually I realized that what I first viewed as affordable (1,500 SEK a week) wasn’t the best option if I could find something cheaper. Hence, I checked the online ads for apartments on Blocket — a Swedish site for renting, buying and selling everything from CDs and DVDs to cars and houses — and replied to all interesting, recent ads concerning a temporary room or apartment with a rent lower than 4,000 SEK a month, regardless of where in Sweden they were located. Of course I could move back to my grandmother or her summer cottage, crash on a friend’s couch, or ask my sister to let me stay in her apartment in Gothenburg, but I preferred to handle the situation on my own. Same day I got a call from a guy in Linköping who’d got my message. He needed to rent his place during August. Was I still interested? I told him I’d think about it. Even though his three-line ad only revealed the apartment was about 40 sqm, ‘nice’, a five minutes bike ride to the center of the city, 10 minutes to the University area, had a French balcony, and cost 3,200 SEK a month, I called him five minutes later and said I take it. I do like surprises, but hoped his definition of ‘nice’ was the same as mine. The woman who owned the house on Broddesonsgatan luckily found another tenant, and I traveled by bus to Linköping the following day.

If everything goes very well, I can travel abroad next month. If not, I’ll find another place in Sweden. Either way, in the meantime, I enjoy living here in Linköping.

Living room/Bedroom

The guy I rent from has a splendid music taste.

Very comfy bed!