Apartment hunting

I'm writing today from the jungle that has become of the search for accomodations in Uppsala. In Stockholm, there are almost no rentals in this day and age. Private landlords sell out their real estate, and thus rentals become more scarce every day. The chances of finding somewhere to live within your first year of looking are very slim, unless you happen to own a million or two and have the means to buy an apartment. And people like me, who're embarking on their big journey of about 6 years as a student, generally don't have all that money, and we're not really who the bank dreams of giving a loan either.

This is why, when I stumbled upon a first hand contract in September of last year without even having started looking, I was utterly pleased. That my tiny little "cabinet" of 24 sqaure meters is situated in the very heart of Stockholm doesn't make it much worse.

So how ironic isn't it that I have to move out of this wonderful place after a mere six months of living here?! Instead I'm to move to Uppsala. Theoretically I could commute every morning. It's only a 40 minutes' train ride away and a lot of people live in Stockholm and work in Uppsala and vice versa. But Uppsala is your archetypal "students' town" with Swedish student traditions of hundreds of years like dinners, parties, songs, hazing etc. And if you're aiming for becoming a part of all this, which I am, it's really a drag to be forced to watch the last train back to Stockholm every night. SO, I'm apartment hunting.

The municipality of Uppsala claims that it's not particularily hard to find a place to live as a student. I guess it depends on what you call a place to live.. There are tons of companies (www.studentstaden.se) societies (http://www.uppsalastudentkar.nu/bostadsjour) and fraternity like organizations (www.snerike.se) that provide housings for their members. There are apartments that are available only for students, dorms etc., and I guess the town of Uppsala is very proud of this because they keep sending me post-cards with this information.

For the past month I've been a very frequent viewer of all these web-sites, deperately trying to find some place where I can at least put my bed. I've been on all the sites recommended, and I'm telling you, it's NOT that easy to find a place. According to the waiting lists to get a decent room somewhere, one should've planned to move about 3 years ago. I thought I was early when I signed up in Feb...

So panic, or well that's a little overly dramatic, but anxiety related feelings surfaced because of all this. Especially when I got my formal acceptance letter that stressed the point that "You should by all means settle your living situation before commencing your studies since you'll practically have no time that you'll be able to devote to anything but studying once the semester starts". Thank you! Then they listed the very same web-sites yet again. Thank you! The lines are still long, and the problem still remains.

But I'm starting to see a hint of light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, and this really is only hopefully because I don't quite believe this will happen, one of my friends who's already been in Uppsala for some time, will study somewhere else for a year a sublet her dorm room to me. Inofficially of course. And since the location is perfect, the facilities just newly renovated and restored, this would truly be the perfect catch. Living in a "corridor" as we call living in the dorms, would also be a splendid way for me to meet with some people who're not in med-school. And I'd think that to be a nothing but a positive addition to my Uppsala life.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, my eyes open wide and I'll most certainly touch this subject soon again.