Enter phase: Apartment hunt

Time is a scarce resource so I can't afford to stay
idle while waiting for news.

With my visit to Lund I have done everything I can regarding my job hunt and now all that is left is the waiting game. But since time is a scarce resource I have decided not to wait idly and have begun with the next important chapter in our story: Searching for the apartment in Lund!

Here in Slovenia apartments aren't really that problematic. They are expensive (especially in Ljubljana, our capital, where we live), but generally speaking there are plenty of apartments to go round. One might have to look for a while to find a flat that balances all the important factors (location, price and size), but shouldn't encounter too many difficulties.

We haven't given up hope:
we are looking for a flat in Lund!

The situation in Sweden (and especially in Lund) is a lot different. I have been told time and time again that finding an apartment in Lund is going to be a challenge. Some readers have even advised me to avoid searching in Lund altogether and focus my search in the surrounding areas or Malmö.

So far we haven't lost hope. I have replied to about 25 ads found on blocket.se to date and I have received 8 replies so far, most of them encouraging. At about 20% positive reply rate I am confident that we will manage to find something! And today I have posted an ad of our own and already got one reply. I think we will be all right!

If you are a landlord please consider us as your new tenants! Either way please spread the word about our ad!

Not sure about that policy.
Why couldn't I pay for my own ad?

Publishing and ad was no piece of cake... Blocket.se has a policy which prevents payment with non Scandinavian credit cards. I have spoken with their support line, which while friendly was of no real help. Luckily I was able to turn to a helpful reader (thanks again Chris!) who published the ad for me, while I forwarded him the funds. If anyone else is looking to rent an apartment in Sweden from abroad, this is something to keep in mind!

Have you gone through a similar experience? Or do you have some advice to share? Please get in touch via email/comments or Google+

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Planning: Visiting Lund for the first time

I have a good feeling about our first ever bike-date!

Today is a national holiday in Slovenia and that means I finally have some time off! I'm using the time to relax, read a great Terry Pratchett novel, then complete the day by taking my wife-to-be out on a date-night. And since we're getting into the Swedish spirit we are making it a bike-date. We are quite excited, it will be our first!

The job hunt is going well, I think. I had a series of what I feel were very successful interviews with Nokia and I have high hopes. That means that we are slowly looking into the "find an apartment" phase of our project. We can't really start apartment hunting until I get a job, because we don't know what we will be able to afford. On the other hand we are anxious about the plane tickets - we don't want to wait until the last minute.

We're planning to visit Lund for about a week, spending the time looking at apartments and of course getting to know the city and its inhabitants. We plan on staying in a hostel or perhaps trying couch-surfing.

We haven't tried couch-surfing yet.
Is it common in Sweden?

Hopefully we will arrange such accommodation that will provide us with a good starting point for exploring the city and of course apartment hunting. In my mind that means it will be located somewhat central and will provide excellent wifi. If they provide a bike renting service as well that would be excellent! This is another area where I would greatly appreciate your help, dear reader! Care to recommend anything?

As for the dates, we still haven't decided. It will probably be around mid-June. Are there any events in Lund/Malmö in June that would help us decide? We would love to experience the local culture and perhaps some of Lund's night life. I think that our schedules are still flexible enough to move things around a bit if the opportunity calls.

It would mean the world to us if we could meet with you (yes, you!) We hope to make new friends in Lund and I can't think of a better way than by inviting you for a cup of coffee. Would you be interested in having a nice chat and perhaps showing us to the cool part of Lund?

Jag och min sambo kommer att besöka Lund i ungefär en månad. Har du lust att en kopp kaffe? Hoppas att vi kan möta!

I will be delighted to hear any other recommendations you may have concerning Lund. Please respond in the comments or email me!

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Slovenians know Sweden?

The flag of Sweden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have a confession to make: until my wife-to-be voiced her fascination with Sweden I wasn't really aware of it. Sure I could find it on a map, but other than that and Ikea I really didn't know much about it.

That is why it struck me as odd that now when Sweden is on my mind all the time I'm finding that my peers know stuff about Sweden. Slovenians have been to Sweden! My friends have been to Sweden! While I'm sure there is some selection bias at work here, the number is still higher than what I would have ever expected.

It turns out one of my friends (and a colleague from the Amsterdam project I worked on in 2011 and 2012) has taken part in a student exchange program and has lived in... Malmö! And another one was in Gothenburg. Both had the time of their lives and are eager to share what they have learned about the local culture.

Even last night, when I was enjoying a well earned pint after a very successful Ingress run, I've bumped into a friend and he introduced me to another adventure seeking student who has spent a couple of months in Sweden, he too as a student exchange participant.

An epic adventure awaits!
(Photo credit: Expedition Sverige)

The list goes on and on: A fellow Slovenian twitter user @vanja who was kind enough to retweet my link is living in Stockholm. And yesterday I was delighted with a call from a Slovenian company Cosylab saying they have seen my blog and happen to have a job opportunities in Lund!

It excites me that I'm finding other people who have experiences with Sweden and are willing to share their experiences. With each success story I hear and with each fond memory of Sweden that is shared with me I feel more confident that we're going to make it and have a blast while doing it!

As I've said many times I'm looking to absorb all the knowledge so I'll have a fighting chance in Sweden. So please tell me: have you been to Sweden? Share your story! Please get in touch via Comments/Email/Google+.

Job progress update #1

It has been quite an eventful day and luckily I have something to report!

Since my last post I have applied to several more job openings and this morning I have received a very first reply! Unfortunately fluent Swedish was a mandatory requirement for that job, so I have had to apologize to the recruiter for wasting his time and move on.

But even that first rejection has lifted my spirits a bit. At least I had proof someone out there was reading my applications and it wasn't all in vain. I was really pleasantly surprised by my interlocutor's friendliness. He even invited me to try again after I improve my Swedish. Thank you softhouse.se!

Later I have received an reply almost immediately after I've submitted my application. I must have received the response inside an hour - I was quite impressed! This one looked more promising, they have even asked me if I would be interested in solving an assignment to prove my skills (I always am!) and I was getting excited! Sadly it wasn't meant to be, it turns out that the job was in Stockholm and not in Malmö as I had thought. Even so it was nice to see that there are companies in Sweden that are willing to hire a developer who doesn't speak Swedish. Now I know GPSGate is out there, and hopefully there are others as well!

And when I had thought the business day was over I have received a call (yes, on the phone!) from a French recruiter. Sadly I have had to turn him down because I am only looking for a job in Sweden and not anywhere in Europe, but even that call came with an interesting opportunity. It turns out that the gentleman was from ALTEN and that they have offices in Lund as well! I have my fingers crossed for any vacancies there.

Overall I think it was a very successful day. I haven't expected many developments so early on and even though I haven't had an actual success yet, I feel optimistic!

As always I would appreciate any insight or advice you might have to offer. Please, get in touch!

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