Jun 13, 2012

Day 2 - getting to know the Swedish culture

Tuesday - chasing after a parcel full of cloth, getting wet hair from beer and find out that a 'post office' does not exist anymore in Sweden

After I checked the tracking number of my parcel, which I am expecting desperately, I saw that it is already in Stockholm and they tried to deliver it. Therefore, I looked up the next post office on the Internet (according to Google Maps near the old town of Stockholm) and planned to go there today. As I was heading to Gamla Stan (Old Town) I discovered another part of the Swedish or Scandinavian culture - Young Party Animals who pour beer from trucks while dancing and playing noisy music.

 



















After I had wet hair from the beer which was flying down from the trucks I was not in such a good mood and decided to add another stamp to my 'coffee-lovers bonus card' ;-)

After I had a big cup of black coffee and dry but sticky hair, I continued my post office search but with no luck. Due to the fact that the police gets paid in order to help us, I decided to ask three policemen which were chatting with each other in the middle of the street. To interrupt a cheerful conversation of policemen may not be such a great idea, but in this moment I haven't thought so far. First mistake - I asked in English. Second mistake - I asked at all.

After I mentioned my search for the post office, the three policemen were looking at each other, smiling and then one of them made a step closer to me and asked me again 'What do you search?, a post office?' I haven't got it the second time either, because I thought this is a normal question but not in Sweden, because as I got explained by the officers, Sweden has no postal service points anymore. You can buy stamps, postcards and so on in shops like 7/11 or at the Kiosk.
My third mistake - I asked them what Swedish people do when they get a parcel? The answer was rather rude and short - I should call the tel.no. stated on the parcel receipt and they can tell me more about pick up possibilities. Then they walked away and, for sure, were talking about my stupid questions.

This wasn't helpful at all and therefore, I decided to go somewhere, were you can buy stamps and maybe they can tell me where my parcel is. It turned out that this was a smart idea, because at the Kiosk they scanned my tracking number and told me that my parcel is at a shop near the big IKEA in Kungens Kurva. New plan - going there tomorrow!

Because I had nothing else to do, I decided to search for the 'Studium Bookshop' in order to buy my books for the following language semester. As I found out, course books are expensive no matter where you study! Two course books = about 600SEK (60Euro)! And if I can switch to the intermediate level, I will need additional two books!



Due to the fact, that the next Uni Swedex test is in September, I really need to keep up fast with my Swedish language skills. The problem is, that since I quit 2008 (to concentrate on finishing my Sociology degree) I forgot everything - just a few phrases and vocab is left but writing and grammar are gone. I hope it will help that the whole course is taught in Swedish from the beginning - but, will be interesting how they explain the grammar rules to me?!
 

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