First few days in Sweden...

Sept 7 – NOHA Intensive Program

It’s my third day here in Sweden and already I’m getting into the swing of things. I arrived at Stockholm Arlanda airport on Tuesday morning, after 24 hours of travel. After I got most of my public weeping out of the way, the trip was ok – a cumulative total of about 5 minutes turbulence, quite a lot of sleep, and good movies on the magic screen in my seat. I came through immigration at Arlanda, surrounded by hundreds of Thais (why were they all going to Sweden?! Why?! Why?!), and took a bus to Uppsala. This gave me my first glimpse of Sweden out of the window. It looks a bit like rural Czech republic – kind of green, a little bit bland, open, occasional very cute little houses among fields etc. I then got to Uppsala central station and got a taxi. The cab driver was Iranian, which was fun, so I got to speak my 5 words of Farsi to him while he laughed at me in surprise!

I got to the camping ground here at Fyrishov at 8.50am. Upon my arrival, I was informed that the buses to school were leaving at 9am, and as such I didn’t have time to go to my cabin! So, in dismay, I had to settle for a quick brush of the teeth in the loo adjacent to the reception area. Unfortunately my toothbrush had been in my bag next to a bottle of deodorant that had leaked, so I brushed my teeth with deodorant rather than toothpaste. Hmmm. Not great. I then took my foggy, stinky, crumpled, aeroplaney self onto the bus to uni. The uni building is so beautiful. Uppsala is a cute little town (about 40kms north of Stockholm), with lots of green trees, and pretty pink buildings. Swedish food is just HEAVY. Potatoes, bread and meat. Very little fresh fruit, and soy milk may as well be from outer space! We had classes til 5.30, then dinner, then a function at a museum, which meant that I got back to the camping ground at 9.30pm… a ridiculously huge day. I can’t remember ever being more in need of a shower and bed!

The cabins we’re staying in are smaller than most garden sheds, and sleep 4! One room with a bunk, and an L-shaped couch in a corner, upon which 2 (hopefully short!) people must sleep. The bathroom (including shower) is about as spacious as a bathroom on a bus. Hardly enough room to swing a loofah, let alone a cat! There are basically no cupboards or closets, so our suitcases are just piled on top of eachother, which makes jetlag-induced midnight toilet runs quite hazardous. Luckily, it seems that we 4 girls (me, and girls from Holland, Ireland and Guatemala) get along quite well. I’ll give you an update on that after we’ve lived up each other’s noses for 10 days…! ☺

The content of the course is really quite extraordinary. Some of it is kind of intellectually wanky, but some of it is amazingly interesting. Yesterday we had an address from Mary B. Anderson, who is basically the goddess of theory of humanitarian action. She spoke for hours and hours, but said so much, in a way that made sense and was completely fascinating and logical, even in the vacuum of my inexperience.

At the moment I’m really just looking forward to getting settled in Dublin. I think I have found a house (in Goatstown, of all the cute suburb names!), which is a good feeling. All the people who will be spending their first semester in Dublin are quite cool, laid back, and seem like fun. My kind of people! So that will be fun.

I keep being struck by the total randomness of the fact that I’m currently in Sweden! It’s funny – I’ve never particularly wanted to come here, and yet here I am! Anyway I should probably go and pay attention. I will write again soon. Miss you all lots!

J x