There's no place like Göteborg

I think it's time to write a few words about my new home, the lovely city of Gothenburg. To the Swedish, that's Göteborg (pronounced something like Yuh-teh-boorg without really enunciating the 'g'). This is really not an easy word for English-speakers to pronounce, hence the English translation, Gothenburg, which sounds like it looks. You may not have heard of the city, or you may have only heard of it because of the second and third Stieg Larsson novels (by the way, Sahlgrenska hospital is like a mile from my place), but it's one of the major cities of Scandinavia. The capitals (Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo) are bigger and more well-known, but I'll say that Gothenburg probably comes next in terms of importance and attractiveness. This claim is due to its central location (3-4 hours from all three of the aforementioned capitals), the status and location as a major port, and that it's the next-biggest city in the region (as long as we don't count Finland, which we don't). We are somewhere between half a million and a million people, depending on whether you count the city itself or the "metropolitan area". That's 5-10 times the size of Ann Arbor, and about one-fifth the size of the Atlanta metro area. It's big enough to warrant an airport and a major train station, yet small enough that it feels like a community, and I can go for a run and circle the entire useful part of the city.

The public transportation is fantastic - there are buses and trams that run all times of day, and a ride with transfers costs about 18 kronor (like $2.50 - $3, depending on the exchange rate). There are also bike lanes and sidewalks along most of the roads, and despite the facts that it's almost always lightly raining, the city is built on a rather steep hill, and in the winter it gets dark for an insane proportion of the day, people are always biking. I bought a bike a few months ago, and like almost every bike I've seen here, it has fenders, a built-in rear-wheel lock, a clip in the back to secure belongings, and a little bell to warn the pedestrians that you are about to mow down. I also bought a u-lock, a helmet, and a headlight and taillight (safety first, Mom). I still don't like riding in the rain, but I've gotten over the hills and darkness problems, and I mostly use it to get to the gym and to my Swedish classes when it's dry enough (it cuts 15-20 minute walks down to 5-8 minute bike rides). In the city, it feels like bikes and trams and pedestrians have the right-of-way over cars, which makes me really glad I don't have to deal with driving here. Speaking of which, I'm of course sad to have sold my car before I left Michigan - it was a good car and it treated me well. At the same time, I'm quite happy that I no longer have that responsibility, particularly while I'm living in a place where I really don't need it or want it.

Now, I have to mention the climate, which to me is the biggest drawback of Gothenburg. It sounded nice on paper/computer (weather.com) when I compared it to Ann Arbor - it has cooler summers and less cold winters. Seems more temperate, right? Well, the summers are actually a bit on the chilly side, with it rarely going above 70 F, and the winter started a bit early, with some rather cold weeks happening in September. This temperature is accompanied by a pretty significant difference in daylight between winter and summer. Back in late June, it got dark around 11:30pm and light before 4am. This was actually really rough for me, because my bedroom at the time had big east-facing windows and insufficient blinds, so I didn't sleep well for a few months as the sun would wake me wayyy too early. In about a month we can expect the opposite with only 4-5 hours of daylight, and I think the toughest part of that is that I'll leave for work when it's dark and go home when it's dark, but it's really not all that bad. I have a big window in my office at work, so I'll always get to see the light when it's around. The final bummer about the weather, which I mentioned before, is that it's almost always cloudy and drizzling. I don't think the streets have been dry in 3 months - it's kind of ridiculous. But, I'm getting used to it, and it bothers me less every day. Last week, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and it was so glorious - we couldn't help but smile! I looked around, and everyone else was smiling too... weather can really bring people together!

Okay, now you may have asked yourself a few sentences ago why I didn't just buy better blinds for my windows. Well, the apartment that I started out in was only available to me for 6 months, so given the temporality of the situation, I didn't want to invest in that place. Now, you may be thinking: why did you move into a place that you'd have to leave so soon? The answer is that finding a place to live in Gothenburg is a nightmare. If you think about trying to find an apartment in New York City, it's absurdly expensive, but it's possible. Here, it's not too expensive, but it's also not too possible. This is because there are price ceilings on apartment rentals, so no matter how good the location, owners can only legally charge up to a certain amount for rent. This creates what economists call a housing shortage - way more demand than supply. There are some second-hand ways to rent apartments (similar to Craigslist in the US), but they usually come with unpredictable roommates and other situations. If you want to rent in a legit way, there's Boplats - the official, first-hand apartment rental agency. Boplats is fair and balanced - they work on a priority system, so the longer you've been in the online "queue", the more priority you have and the more likely an apartment owner will offer you a place that you've applied for in the system. The problem is that you have to be in the queue for years to get anything near the center of the city. Like, ten years. Or, you have to know somebody, in which case they might let you skip the queue and just give you the place, which of course further aggravates the ten-year wait situation. Anyway, I joined the queue in January, and between June and August I applied for about 50 apartments and didn't get any offers to see a place. Fortunately, my department was able to set me up with a place (they had also gotten me the initial temporary place), though I wasn't able to see it or learn much more than the square meterage and price before agreeing to take it. I also had to start the lease a month early and pay double rent in October, which was expensive, but gave me time to slowly make the transition.

Anyway, now I'm all moved into my new place, and I'm happy with the location, the space, and the west-facing bedroom window. I'm looking forward to all of you visiting me soon so I can show it off!

Ha det så bra,
Steven