The Graber Family's Adventures in Sweden: Home Sweet Home

It's hard to believe that we have already been here a week. The past week has been filled with new experiences, unpacking, and exploring. Our apartment is located in the town of Hagarsten, which is about a 30 minute train ride outside of downtown Stockholm. It is a more residential city, which is nice because it is very family friendly. I always see moms and dads out with their strollers and dogs. There are lots of restaurants around our apartment and they are all delicious. We have tried a variety of cuisines. So far, we have sampled Italian, Indian, and Greek. I can definitely say there is not a shortage of variety.

The view from our apartment. Our building looks very similar.

The main street outside of our apartment

We have a bus stop about a block from our door that will take us to the bigger city of Liljeholmen, which then allows us to connect to the train station to go into Stockholm. The bus and trains are very easy to use and allow us to travel very easily through the city. Since there are so many babies in Stockholm (thanks to Sweden's generous 480 day maternity leave), buses have made accommodations for mother's with strollers. I can enter with my stroller in the back of the bus and don't even have to remove Belle.

Purchasing our train and bus tickets

Waiting for the bus

Belle's first subway ride

Liljeholmen has a nice shopping mall, a grocery and even a McDonald's. Of course we had to eat at the McDonalds to see if it tasted any different. I can attest that the Big Mac tasted the same. They do have a vegetarian menu, which is not available in the states. My mom enjoyed sampling the veggie McWrap, which contained an Indian inspired patty. She said it was very good.

Sampling the local cuisine

The town of Liljeholmen

Grocery shopping at ICA

Carrying all the groceries home

Our apartment, although it is tiny, is very nice and homey. Although, we quickly realized that we didn't have enough storage, so it called for a trip to IKEA. There, we had our first taste of Swedish food and my first IKEA experience. IKEA was overwhelming, but they have EVERYTHING. I think we spent about 5 hours there the first day trying to get everything we needed for the apartment. We ended up purchasing two nightstands that had drawers and a chest of drawers for the living room. Our purchases gave us enough room that we are able to fit all of our stuff into the small space and its even semi-organized.

IKEA!

Yummy! Swedish meatballs

What!?! We've been here for 3 hours and still have two more floors to cover???!!

Our IKEA purchase

I took Belle to the doctor this week to get her registered for the pediatrician. Since Belle and I will not be covered under Sweden's insurance policy, I will have to pay everytime we go to the doctor. It will cost us about $300 per visit! The receptionist told us that she hopes we never get sick while we are there. Even though it will be costly, I am glad to know I can take her somewhere if needed.
Cyle started working this week. He seems to be enjoying his job and Sweden's more relaxed work pace. He really likes the fika time at work!

I think we are being to adjust to our new lifestyle. I miss my car and the convenience it allowed me. After hauling all my IKEA purchases home on the train and bus, while pushing a stroller, I vow to never to take my car for granted again. I also really miss my washer and dryer. I have done laundry once since we've been here and it was an experience. I will have to save my laundry experience for a separate blog post. The weather has also been an adjustment. It is starting to turn cold and I think I've only seen the sun once for about 10 minutes. As a local told me, the winter winds from Russia are beginning to arrive.