Leaving Lulealand

Yes, I have left Lulealand. But never fear, though my arctic adventure ends here, there is more blog to come!

So my time was up. After Stockholm, and entertaining the ‘out-laws’ for a couple of days while trying to clean up the apartment and finish work and start relocation and visa applications etc, it was over.

My almost 2 years in Lulea were full of great experiences. I met many cool and interesting people, including of course the lovely Christina, and got to do many things in an environment that few people ever get to.

It is amazing to think just how far away Lulea is. Get a globe, a physical, 3D one, and you realise that I have been sitting on the top of the world, not hanging sideways off it like in Melbourne. It is hard to be astounded constantly when living there, but every now and then I would get a sudden burst of realisation of just how unique a place I have landed in. Whether it was the streaky cloud formations as if all the clouds were racing to the north pole, or the barren Norwegian landscape, or the neverending forests of tall, straight, pine trees as orderly as bad graphics in an old computer game.

Admittedly, I am subject to very strong pre-impressions, and talk of the arctic always meant windy, snowy, barren land with just a few simple triangle roofed sheds as buildings. Yes I was imagning the far reaches of Antarctica. So mosquitos were a big surprise! There was actually one spot in an industry-park on my way home to my first flat in Kallkallan where all you could see were triangular roofed grey shed-like buildings, and the forest. And there, walking home alone, it felt like I was really in the wilderness. More out and back than in the outback.

But the 2 years weren’t just full of warm dinners in Christmas-card scenery locations. There are some things that I will forget soon without realising it, and some things that I will be glad to be rid of. Here are a few pet whinges:

- The infernal sunshine in summer. I loved the long days, but when it was time for bed why couldn’t there be decent curtains to cut out the sunshine? Here was my rather crappy, but effective solution of overlaying extra curtains on top of those provided to make the place dark enough. And you would be surprised how hard it was to find decent sun-block curtains. Even these didn’t do what was advertised.

- the student apartment of 26m3. Not only was the apartment itself just small enough to be uncomfortable, when any public holiday appeared Porsön became a ghost town when all the students fled back home. Seriously, on the last day of exams there were more people at the central bus stop and train station than partying at the uni bar. It is also related to the smallness of Lulea, and lack of connection between the uni and the city. To go to a very rare jazz gig in town and then have nothing to do at 10pm and no cheap way to get home... no wonder the students just stay in Porson and drink.

- The food. There is only so much good salmon and moosemeat a man can eat. In short, I think I have complained at every opportunity about the prices, the quality, especially of the asian food, the coffee, the pizza.., Melbourne is seriously blessed with its food culture. Sorry to the Swedes out there reading this, but I just cant think right now of anything that I know I will miss. Gifflar cinnamon buns (If you see them at Ikea, don’t hesitate!), and good crackerbread probably. But I should say thank-you to those who invited me into their homes for meals – I can say that without exception the home-cooked Swedish meals I ate were great.

- The alcohol culture. It might not appear to be much different to any typical uni environment, but the enthusiasm with which people drink to get drunk was amazing and in-grained like reindeer going to the fells to mate. I have never seen nightclub toilets as covered in spew or as full of fuller (pissed people) as in Lule. And the town of 75,000 people being serviced by only 2 bottle shops, which close at 3 on a Saturday...unbelievable..

- fitting to my SAXS data. If this isn’t the most frustrating, imprecise, and dare I say un-scientific excercise that I have undertaken in my career so far... it is hard to describe here, but the process was so subjective, that depending on which point I chose (and there were a lot to choose from), or which day of the week I worked, I got wildly different solutions. As my colleague in the US would say about modelling, it is very easy to make a meaningless model to which you could fit an elephant if you wanted to. I was being careful, but I still think I’m getting giraffes. At least my giraffes behave consistently!

But these are small gripes, and it is easy to complain about the food and small apartments. I also had many great experiences that are much harder to describe, but are also much closer to my heart and much more memorable. How do I really describe the freshness of that first breath of dry, sub-zero air when stepping outside for the first time in the morning every winter day?

Some of the experiences that were unforgettable:

- Trudging through knee-high snow during a snowfall for an hour to get to an argentinian tango course?

- Snowboarding in the French Alps (ok, it wasn’t in Lulea, but hey)

- The long summer sunsets

- The long fikas, and some of the skitsnäck

- Riding a bike through forest to get to work. Even in the snow.

- Leaving band practice and walking home under the northern lights

- The melodic Swedish language. Probably too easy to forget, actually, but I hope with a bit of webcasting and all the unread novels I’ve bought, I can maintain my half-fluency.

- And the people. Sweden is simply full of gorgeous people, more than you could think possible. One of my friends has warned me about the UK...

- And many kind and funny and cool people that I’ve been able to meet, that really made my time in Lulealand something special.

Tack och hej, och Adjö. And keep reading about my new life in Loughboroughland!

Some Misc Pics: