Hej alla!
Great to hear from everyone. I'm doing my residency in Stockholm, Sweden, and I just arrived and got started at the end of January. I'm living in a great studio apartment really close to the city, and the metro is right outside my door. I'm working at the Royal Institute of Technology, a.k.a KTH, a university in the city. I'm doing policy research on sustainable development in urban areas, specifically comparing Chicago and Stockholm. My first week was spent structuring interview questions for various contacts at KTH and in the city of Stockholm, and now I'm starting to go out and actually perform these interviews. I get to meet a lot of city officials and actually get out into the city, and I'm really loving it. Based off how these interviews go, I'll know a little more about what I want to look at and be doing for the rest of my time here. Best part: I get my own office! Eek!
It was snowing when I arrived, and now it's starting to melt a bit. It's cold, but so far I've seen worse in the midwest. I get stopped on a daily basis by people asking me for directions, so apparently I look pretty Swedish. Everyone speaks English, thank goodness. My place is in an area called Sodermalm, which everyone tells me is the "hippest" place to live in Stockholm. There's a lot of cool restaurants and bakeries and shopping right outside my flat, and an amazing walking trail along the coast just behind me. I've made friends with a few PhD students at my university, and this weekend we got together and cooked a traditional Swedish meal. Something called a smorgastorta, pictured below.
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| It was delicious! |
Talk to everyone soon!
-Mel
You are one lucky Swedish-looking young person. Great to read your blog and I look forward to living vicariously through your experiences. Sounds like you'll have a great time. Have fun and remember to brush your teeth. Take care, Dave.
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