Banking woes.....

I've been to the bank 5-7 times in the past three weeks in order to do two things: 1. Get a bank account. 2. Get a Swedish ID card.

After 2 unsuccessful trips to the bank to open an account and get a Swedish ID (I was told I needed different paperwork both times I went), the secretary from my department called the bank and got someone's name and list of the documents I needed (in Swedish). I went the next day with list, documents (passport, employment contract, rent contract, extra passport photo, paper with my Swedish social security number on it), and bank employee's name in hand. They didn't want to give me an account because I didn't have my ORIGINAL "offer of employment", I only had a photocopy. So, I made a bit of a scene in the bank. I was not leaving that bank without an account! By the end, I had the supervisor's supervisor up at the front of the bank dealing with me. He finally agreed that my photocopy, my KI ID card, and a phone confirmation from someone on the KI letterhead was proof enough that I worked at the KI. I walked out the door with my bank account - with no money in it! (But, no Swedish ID card because you have to be a customer for at least a month, I was told.)

I think I mentioned in a past post that I tried to get a Swedish ID before. You have to have someone with a Swedish ID card verify that you are who you are. A guy from my lab went with me but since he didn't have an account at THAT bank, he couldn't sign for me. I went again yesterday. A student in my department gave me a photocopy of her ID and bankcard AND wrote/signed a note saying she couldn't accompany me because of work....blah blah blah. That was not excepted, even after I pointed out that it's a ridiculous rule that makes no sense (I went on for quite a bit). She was able to go with me to the bank today so my application for a Swedish ID is FINALLY being processed!

I'm sure this was really boring but it has taken a ridiculous amount of my time over the past few weeks. The picture at the beginning of the post is of the "number generator" that I have to use every time I use online banking. I put my passcode into the number generator and it gives me a number that I use as my password online. I don't get how it works since it doesn't communicate with the computer or the bank. We'll see if it actually works!

Typical Tuesday

I was planning to blog the continuation of my banking saga today. However, I'll save that for tomorrow after I go back to the bank and hopefully have a conclusion for the story (if not, I'll vent tomorrow!). I'll write about my day instead.......

I had St.Lucia's Day rehearsal today. All of the new people in the neuroscience department are required to perform in the St. Lucia's Day celebration on Dec 13th.

I get a different story about who St. Lucia is from every person I ask. Apparently, she was Italian (an no one's quite sure why Swedes celebrate her day - other than, according to Wikipedia, some believe she visited Sweden once). The basic story is that some guy loved her but she didn't love him. He ordered her to be burned at the stake. However, her miracle was that despite the fire that surrounded her, she was never burned. So, the guy slit her throat with a sword. I've also heard something about her eyes being gauged out (and so she's patron saint of the blind) - but I don't know where that fits in.

Anyway, on St.Lucia's day, someone dressed as Lucia (white robes and a wreath of candles on her head) leads a "train" (procession) and Lucia's maids and starboys follow behind. There are a whole bunch of tradional songs (all in Swedish, of course) that are used to celebrate. There's also some special bread and cookies that she gives out.

So, back to rehearsal.......Yes, they take this seriously (well, semi-seriously - a guy in a blonde wig will be our Lucia!) but we've already started song rehearsal in preparation for the 13th. And, we're meeting 2-3 times a week between now and then. Luckily for me, two whole labs joined the dept this year so there are 25-30 people in it this year (there are usually around 10 people).

I'll post more about this after it actually happens. I'll ask someone in my lab to take pictures. If they take video, I'll try to post a clip.

I did spend most of the day in lab (rehearsal was an hour and a half). I've been putzing around, trying different things out for the past two weeks. Things are starting to fall into place. I'm almost ready to do real experiments - probably later this week!

Party Like It's 1996

My 10 year high school reunion was Friday night. Since I couldn't be in NY to party with old friends this weekend, I partied with new friends in Stockholm instead.

After work on Friday, I went out with some people I met during orientation two weeks ago. We were the ones sitting in the back, quietly commenting on what we were "learning" during the entire day of orientation. We went to the student pub which was more lively than the other campus pub that we went to after orientation. They also had really cheap beers. We stayed there until it closed at 10pm and then went in search for someplace that was still serving food.

On Saturday, the other American postdoc in my lab had a Thanksgiving dinner. I was one of 4 Americans. Finland, Greece, Australia, Turkey, and France were also represented. We feasted on chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Swedish meatballs, appetizers, salad, bread, cheese, pastries, and ice cream. We also sampled a lot of different drinks - hot apple cider, wine, gin and juice, glogg (Swedish, really yummy, spiced, heated wine), Bailey's ice cream drinks, and tea. We ate, drank, and talked for about 8 hours. It was a lot of fun.

Today, I was in search of a gift for under 20 krona (a bit less than $3) for our lab Christmas party. This was a tough task! Everything here is more expensive than in the US to start with and 20 krona is a really low maximum! I think I was successful, though. The picture to the side is of the main pedestrian street in downtown Stockholm. The pic below is of one of the windows in the NK department store. The do up their windows with animated displays for the holiday season. This year, the theme was Pepperkaka - which is the Swedish version of gingerbread (I think!).

Happy Turkey Day!

I hope that everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving! Eat a big piece of pumpkin pie (with cool whip on top, of course) for me!

Short days and Gamla Stan

I took these pictures between 3pm and 4pm on Saturday. Today sunrise was at 7:58am and sunset was at 3:09pm - and we're a month off from the shortest day of the year!

On Saturday I wandered around central Stockholm and then down to Gamla Stan (Old Town). This is the "gates" crossing over the bridge to Gamla Stan. (The picture above was taken from the bridge.)

Gamla Stan is all cobblestone streets, some of which are extremely narrow. There are a lot of touristy shops, selling Sweden t-shirts and Pippi Longstocking hats/braids. There are also a bunch of coffee shops, ice cream shops, and restaurants (many of which are Italian restaurants). I'm told that there's also a good Christmas market there, so I'll have to check that out.

My apartment

On my sister’s request, I took pictures of the inside of my apartment. However, rather than emailing them to her, I figured I’d post them here for all to see. (You’ll have to get in the habit of checking the blog, Courtney!)

Before I start describing the weird parts of it, I will say that it is actually a decent size for “two room” apartment and for what I pay. The way the space is set up is so strange, though. The first room is the living room/dining room/bedroom. The second room is a little kitchenette and dead space.

Okay, so the first room….Here’s a picture of my "bedroom" part of the room.

The bathroom is to the left of the bed and is the same width as the width of the bed (and the length of the bathroom is probably twice the width). You can see the edge of the “living room” couch on the close side of the bookshelf.

Here's the "living room" part of the room from one side. Note the plant in the window - I guarentee it'll be dead before I leave for Christmas.

And, the tv (which gets 3 Swedish channels and 1 Finnish channel) is directly across from the couch. The open doorway next to the fake tree goes to the kitchen and the closed door is the bathroom again.

Here’s the part of the apartment that makes me laugh. The shower isn’t in the bathroom. The shower is a stall shower off of the living room. Literally, you step out of the shower onto a bathmat in the living room. I took this picture sitting on my living room couch. The shower door is plastic, fake frosted glass. So, basically, if two people are in the apartment, one on the couch and one in the shower, the person on the couch gets a show.To the left of the shower is the entrance way, the front door is hidden by the wall. You can see part of the “dining room” table in the close part of the picture. The doors on the right are closets.

When I said I had a little kitchenette, I did mean little! Here’s my 2-burner stove top, mini-fridge (bottom right, the bottom left is a cabinet), sink, and all of my counter space. I could barely back up enough to get this all in!

Here’s the other side of the kitchen, when I stand behind the ½ wall with the sink and stove. I don't have an oven but I do have a little microwave.

So there you have it. It's good for now but I'm on the waiting list for an apartment in a KI-associated complex. I'm sure I'll be ready to move by the time something there opens up (probably around April).

Appelviken

Today was sunny and not too cold so it was the perfect day to explore my neighborhood. For those who like maps, here's a map of Stockholm and the surrounding area:

Here's a blowup of the part boxed off in the last map. Stockholm central station is circled in blue. My neighborhood is marked with a red X and where I work is marked with a green X. (Sorry the maps are so small!)

It usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to get from home to work, depending on how well the connections go - and I usually walk part of it rather than taking the bus or trolley. I take a trolley (or walk 15-20 min), the metro/tunnelbana, and a bus (or walk 15-20 min). The public transportation here is very good but there's no direct route from home to work. So, it would probably take about the same amount of time biking a more direct path - but I'm not going to get a bike until the spring.

I live in a basement apartment in a little neighborhood called Appelviken (literal translation = apple bay). This is my street. I'm in one of the many red wooden houses. Most of the houses have fruit trees (presumably apple trees? I'll let you know in the spring!) in their back yards.

I'm less than a five minute walk to the water. Here's another picture I took today.
Here's one of the many hiking trails along the water.

Here's one of the bridges connecting my island to one of the neighboring islands. I have no idea where I was when I took this so I don't know exactly which island it leads to.

I've done so much walking in the past two days! I wandered around for over 3 hours today and about 5 hours yesterday. I won't be able to move tomorrow! I'll post some of the pictures I took yesterday later this week.

Pea Soup and Pancakes

There's a large lunchroom in our building with ~10-12 tables, 8 microwaves, 3 full fridges, a stove (or 2?), etc. Everyone eats around noon so the place is busy. Everyone either brings their lunch or cooks lunch in the lunch room. Eating out in Sweden is expensive - and the cafeterias at the KI are too. I'm also told that the food at the cafeterias isn't too good.

There is one exception, however. That is Thursday - pea soup and pancake day at the cafeterias. Sounds gross, right? I was really skeptical this morning. I figured I'd give it a try, especially since I had a sandwich sitting in the fridge just in case. But, it's actually good! You don't eat the soup and pancakes together (I was picturing people using pancakes to sop up the soup). Pea soup is the main course and pancakes are for dessert. The soup is actually Swedish yellow pea soup. It has ham in it and it's served with a dallop of mustard in the middle. The pancakes are thin, like crepes, and are served with berry preserves and whipped cream.

While looking for the picture of the soup for the blog, I found out that pea soup and pancakes isn't just a KI cafeteria thing on Thursdays. There's actually a history! Apparently, pea soup was popular with the poor in Sweden, since before the Vikings. Pea soup was the traditional meal for Thursday dinner when Sweden was converted to Catholicism. People ate the soup and pancakes on Thursday to prepare for fasting on Fridays. Although Sweden is no longer Catholic (since 1530), the tradition remains. (www.soupsong.com/rartsopp.html)
Picture - http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Sweden

Forms and Paperwork

If I had a krona (~14 cents) for every form I've filled out in the past 10 days, I'd be rich! I've filled out a million forms for the KI (application for association, application for an email account, application for an ID card, application for a key.......you get the idea).

I even had to register as a postdoc because I will get a "postdoc diploma" before I leave (assuming I stay longer than a year). At orientation last week, someone asked what one could do with a postdoc diploma. We were told it's to account for our time between our PhD and our next job - without it, it would look like we did nothing. I wasn't the only one who laughed at the answer.

Outside of the KI.....Who knew that getting a "personal number" (Swedish version of SSN, as far as I could tell) would be easier than getting a bank account?!?!

As an aside, getting a brand new Swedish number happened faster than getting my US social security card reissued. I went to the NY DMV while I was home to get a NY license. Eventhough I had previously had a NY license and had a GA one to surrender, I couldn't get the NY one without my SS card! Who knows where that is? So, I went to the SS office before I left NY to have a card reissued. I thought they'd print it right there but no - it arrived this week. I applied for my Swedish number last Tuesday and the number was in my mailbox last Thursday.

Back to the bank.....In order to open a bank account, you need a Swedish ID card (issued by the bank). In order to get the card, you have to show your original form with your Swedish personal number (within 30 days of receiving it), your passport, your offer of employment paper, AND be accompanied by a person with a Swedish ID card to verify you are who you say you are (no one understands this part! passport isn't good enough?). One of the guys from the lab went to the bank with me earlier this week but they wouldn't let him sign for me because his ID card was issued by a different bank! When we got back, everyone said the teller was wrong but can you do? Finding someone with a particular bank ID card isn't as trival as it sounds because the post office use to issue the cards. Other people have lost theirs and didn't want to go through the hassel to replace them. So, I still have no bank account. Hopefully by the end of this week that problem will be solved.

Everyone keeps asking about where I live. Weather permitting, I'll take some pictures this weekend. Sunset is around 3:30pm so it's too dark by the time I get home and I'm not enough of a morning person to take pics before I leave for lab.

Girls Weekend in Copenhagen

Now I'm going to try to keep up-to-date and I'll go back and fill in other things that have gone on in my first week here as I have the time (and after I take some pictures!).

I spent this weekend in Copenhagen with all of the girls from my new lab. Five of us went over from the lab and we met up with a recent lab alum who is currently postdoc-ing in Copenhagen. The Danish contingent of the group (2 out of 6 of us) ran the show. We didn't do too much sightseeing, which was ok by me since I had been to Copenhagen before. Instead, we went shopping, drank lots of coffee, ate lots of sweets, and had our fair share (or maybe more than our fair share?) of Danish beer and (not-so-Danish) margaritas. The weather wasn't all that great (it was raining on and off) but that didn't stop us.

We flew to Copenhagen late Friday afternoon. We split up to drop our luggage off - half of us stayed at Line's friend's apartment and the other half stayed at Ulla's apartment. We met up in downtown Copenhagen at an Irish pub for burgers and Danish (Tuborg) Christmas beer - which is really good. Most of the bars/restaurants in Denmark are not smoke free and this particular bar was super smoky so we left when we got sick of the smoke.

We spent most of Saturday shopping (mostly window shopping) in downtown Copenhagen. Of course, we took a break for coffee and Danish sweets. Saturday night we went to Norrebro Bryghus (a restaurant/brewery) for dinner. A few of us had the "beer menu" in addition to the regular menu, which meant that they brought out a different beer with each course.

Here's Ulla, Lotta, Line, me, and Kathy finishing our beers after dinner.

After the brewery, we went to Mexibar, a cocktail bar whose specialty is the strawberry margarita. So, clearly, we suffered through a few of those.

On Sunday, we wandered through the city, saw the Little Mermaid, and then had fancy hot chocolate at Le Glace. This place is known for their hot chocolate, which we appreciated after being caught in a quick hail storm.

Ann-Charlotte, Line, Kathy, and I are taking a break.

The trip was short but it was a great way to start off my time in Sweden. I really enjoyed spending time with some of the people in my new lab and it was a nice little vacation before starting my first week of work.

Halloween........2 weeks later!

I was still in NY for Halloween and I got to go trick-or-treating for the first time in over 10 years. No, I didn't dress up or knock on doors! I spent the afternoon/evening with my best friend from home, Kerri, and her husband and sister - and their 4 kids. The kids were all dressed up and looking really cute. I got to watch them go door to door.

The older kids had a blast - and even my mom got in on the act (she'll kill me when she sees I posted this!):
The younger guys weren't into posing for pictures - but they were all about the candy!
You may not be able to tell from the picture, but their Chicken Little and Flounder costumes were adorable!

Vegas, baby!

I'm way behind so a little catch up before I start with Sweden stories….

For my last full weekend in the US, I went to Vegas and met up with friends from college.Josh, Melinda, me, Erin, Lucy

Friday night in Vegas…..Erin, a card carrying member of the official fan club, scored us tickets to the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds acoustic show at the MGM Grand. It was a great show. They didn’t have an opening band. They started around 8pm and played until around 11:30. I had to check my camera before I entered the stadium but Erin is more crafty (and bold) than I am.

The real reason we went to Vegas……Lucy and Guido’s wedding!

Both the ceremony and reception were conveniently located in the hotel we were all staying at. The ceremony was the first non-religious wedding I had ever attended. It was really nice. The “common link” between Lucy and Guido told the story of how they met (at her wedding!) and then both Lucy and Guido wrote their own vows. We were at the Treasure Island table at the reception. It was fun hanging out with the Boston kids again. Here we are tearing it up on the dance floor.

We spent a good amount of time people watching. We made a game (well, several games) out of it. For example, costume or wardrobe? It was Halloween weekend and it was tough to tell in a lot of cases.