There is one and only one thing in Lund that does not cost anything: free washing machines with free laundry detergent and fabric softener, and free dryers with free dryer sheets. This is very, very important.

I was initially reluctant to meet my corridor mates because the air in the hall smelled dank and stale. But I have met most of them now, and they are all nice and friendly. I think the smell is due to the fact that 10 boys live on my floor while there are only 2.5 girls. These are the nice things they have done for me so far: let me borrow bedsheets, give me toilet paper, give me a TV, teach me to sing in Swedish about a busdriver, give me a TV cable for the TV, set up internet illegally for me, and teach me to use the microwave.

It has been raining sporadically since I've arrived here. I think I have experienced every single type of rain thus far: light sprinkling rain, drizzly rain, scattered and sudden showers, rain while the sun is still shining, rain while everything is gray and overcast, chilly rain, warm rain, thunder storms with heavy showers, and etc. It has been fun. But my favorite days are the days after a heavy rainfall when the sun is shining and the blue sky is crisp and clear and filled with the puffiest and fattest white clouds.

People here are TALL. I always thought myself a considerable height until I was humbled by the blond, long-legged Scandinavians. I wasn't even tall enough to buy a regular bike but was instead degraded to a mountain bike with a wheel circumference of only 24 inches. I get sad everytime I see my dinky little bike parked next to all the loftier and impressive big people bikes.