The Abode

 

This is home for the next year!  We learned that our building is highly coveted by visiting faculty and that we lucked out on getting the top floor apartment.  We have to agree.  It's a great location - right across the street from the botanical garden.

That's our apartment on the top!  The lower building to the right is the garbage/recycling area.  We have five bins under our sink to sort out all the items - more on that later.

Here is our "third room" a combo of the living room and dining room.  We are slowly getting items to make it feel a bit more "homey."  If I could, I'd get a lot more plants!

A different view of the living room.

The hallway entrance.  And, why, yes, those are indeed IKEA closets.  The whole thing is outfitted by IKEA.

The kitchen.  The refrigerator is to the right and behind that door is a big storage space.

Sam's room - she brought a bunch of photos to hang on her wall to make it feel more like hers.  You can see she has also brought her teenager ways and things are just thrown around.  Do you see Beansie?  Beansie has been on ALL Sam's adventures abroad.

Our room - note that the "bed" is actually two beds pushed together.  I HATE the bed!  I wake up every morning in pain.  I stretch before I go to bed and immediately have to begin moving my very stiff and achy body in the the morning.  I feel like an old lady some mornings, absolutely groaning in pain.  The chair is holding the window closed because it's broken, but hopefully it will get fixed before the cold really sets in.

The bathroom.  We were told that Swedes do not care as much about bathrooms as Americans do.  In all the bathrooms I've been in, it seems the piping is on the outside of the walls.  Scott was grateful for this when he had to unclog the drain.  At our house he curses and curses because we hid the pipes behind the pedestal to make it look "prettier."  You'll also note there is no separation of the shower, except a curtain rod on the ceiling to close it off.  

Of course, the best part of the apartment is the view.  OK, it's not like our view in Hong Kong - we'll never get a view like that again, but this ain't too shabby.  Yes, those are binoculars, and, yes, Scott is always looking for birds for his Sweden list.  Sam and I worry the female co-eds might be wondering who the creepy guy is "binocing" them.  Ha!

Come visit our new home!