Sounds like Hallelujah for the first time...

So I took a walk today, to get my bearings on the city. Pictures of where I was and what I saw can be found on my account on Facebook.

On my way home, though, I ducked inside of Hemsöp to pick up some cheese, apples, and bread. I was not outside more than two minutes with the sun on my face when the clouds opened and it poured. I mean, it seemed as if the clouds wanted to punch in holes in the pavement. So much rain it was dripping off my earrings. So much rain that it melted away my paper bag and my apples rolled on the sidewalk.

I have not been caught in a rainstorm like that in years. And as a kind boy offered me his coat to stand under, I ripped out my headphones, halting The Head and the Heart serenade I was getting all afternoon, and stared up at the sky.

And you know what? I couldn't stop smiling. 


It doesn't matter that I don't have a bank account. It doesn't matter that I can't read the signs for "exit" or "line begins here". It doesn't matter that I can't call home or that I don't have any friends yet.

This morning, I received my personnummer in the mail. A whole year ago, an idea was planted in my mind that I could go to school in Scandinavia--and after nine months of waiting, and four months of work, today I am officially, a Swedish resident.

You can imagine, I danced nearly the entire way home.