Week 1-(ish)

Well it has been a little over a week since G and I landed.  Not much has been happening. We have been adjusting to our new time, checking out the new city and enjoying our very compact living.

For the most part G and I have been staying close to our temporary housing while M is at work.  As amazing as the transportation is, I don't think either of us were adjusted enough to make that trip too often without totally wiping us out.  We go on several walks during the day, exploring the different routes and trails near the apartment, occasionally we search the local grocery store but mostly we just hang out at home.

On Thursday, we got the keys to our apartment.  It is going to be great! From the rumors and watching too many episodes of House Hunters International, I was expecting that we would be living in something smaller and no storage.  Well M found us a great apartment.  There is a closet in every room, I think G's room is actually bigger than her room back in Seattle, and built in exercise.  Hopefully we will be able to move in next week but our stuff isn't scheduled to arrive in Sweden til Monday and it will take a few days for it to get through customs.  

first of many trips up the stairs

When we do venture into Stockholm proper, I will admit that we are excited about all the places to explore, and the beauty of the city.  This weekend is Pride weekend. As with any good Pride celebration there was a parade that ran through the city:

At our first look out spot, only G had a good view. She did enjoy the dancing and the clapping. (Everytime I tried to get a video she would stop.) After a while we started walking back towards to bus home and saw the rest of the parade going in the opposite decoration.  It was a fun parade, very similar to the one in Seattle. I will admit that the people watching was probably the best part.  It seemed that everyone old and young came out to support the parade. The cafes along the route where bursting with people enjoying the sights and sounds.  

If you noticed on the map every 7-Eleven is highlighted.  They were one of the sponsors of Pride and had a drop in wedding chapel at one of their store locations.  Who knew that 7-Eleven was so progressive?

First days...

This blog is the journeys and trials of Team Green-Beitch.  I am the Green part of the team and M & G are the Beitches. So...we thought it would be a good idea that M contribute to the blog.  So without much ado here is M and his journey navigating Stockholm without his partner in crime and sidekick. 

Rachel covered us leaving Seattle so I'll pick up my part of the journey from there. I've been in Stockholm for 4 days and it has been a whirlwind. 

I landed in Stockholm on Sunday night. The flight was uneventful until I got to baggage claim. There were hundreds of unclaimed bags lying around which was odd. Turns out Heathrow was having major problems getting bags to their destination. 

One of my bags arrived and then I waited and waited and waited and the other one didn't show. 

Luckily, the one that arrived had the important stuff except for the plug adapters. I was told there was a good chance the bag was on the next flight but if I didn't stay to check it could take a week to get it. Needing at least the iPad to work until Tuesday I decided to wait for the 2.5 extra hours which was the right choice even though it felt like an eternity.

I got in a cab bleary eyed from the travel to get to our temporary apartment. Turns out the apartments are in the top floor of an office building with no clear signage. I asked some people and they didn’t know where it was. I dragged my 100 lbs of luggage around the back and saw a small sign for the Beautiful Apartments. Whew, I made it!

I was overtired but couldn’t sleep. I managed about 2 hours before Monday showed up and needed to run errands. Armed with only the iPad and no connectivity I journeyed to the migration bored, north of Stockholm, to get biometrics taken. I had a 10am appointment and left hours early. A lady at the first bus stop told me to take the metro which totally threw me off. I was in the vicinity but not walking distance. After walking around looking for the street names and not seeing anyone to ask for help I decided to hop in a cab at the metro station and made it. 

The rest of the errands were in central Stockholm so I was able to pop in and out of coffee shops for connectivity.

Tuesday was the first work day. Met my new manager and "buddy" first thing and proceeded to go get my supplies. They ordered me a Swedish laptop, whoops! Even though my manager clearly specified US English. Luckily, it’s just for the laptop keyboard.

Work has been great. I am the only American on a team of 3 Swedes and 3 Spaniards. It was a revelation realizing I am the weird one. Everyone speaks English MOST of the time. I’ll write more about work later. 

I will say that I can tell already that Spotify is a special company. Here’s a few pics from the office, including the lunch from my team retrospective (part of Agile development) - Mexican burgers!

 

My desk

The hallway

Burger!

I haven't had much time to explore Stockholm except for the random times I stay on the train for an extra stop or exit the subway on the wrong side. I’m planning to wait for most exploring until Rachel and Gaby arrive because I want to experience it with them for the first time. But here's a few pics from my mishaps...

Gondolen restaurant and observation deck

An outside restaurant in Sodermalm