A Messy Beginning in a Medieval City!

Photo: Cobbled street in Lund

It was many years ago when I went to a small little picturesque town called Lund in Southern Sweden to study. Lund is a medieval university town with cobblestone streets, open air museum, and the town's massive Romanesque cathedral built in 1145. 

Photo: The Medieval Cathedral in Lund

I could see the misty runaway from the airplane's window. The terminal slowly became clear in sight as the plane nears it. It was a grey and gloomy Fall afternoon in Copenhagen, Denmark. I flew to Copenhagen because my university in Sweden was only a 40 minutes train ride away from the airport. 

I stretched my legs, started to collect all my stuff that I managed to scatter around me. I was amazed to see how I managed to make this tiny space into my own little den! I looked through the pockets in front of my seat to take my book that I was reading. In the narrow hidden space between the travel pillow and the armrest held my hair tie. I could see the passenger who sat next to me was trying to find his shoes. I had mine on my feet. I never let go off my shoes in flights. No matter how long the flight is. What if I don't find them when the flight lands? Nah! I cannot let this happen! 

I started to follow others towards the airplane's exit. Few minutes later I was walking through maze like walkways in the terminal; still following others. I did the immigration, collected my luggage and then saw the exit sign and walked out of the Kastrup airport. The ticket booth for the trains were right in front. So I bought a ticket to Lund, the town where I would stay the next one year. 

The train station was right outside the airport. I noticed the sign said it would come after 20 minutes. Those minutes felt longer. I couldn't wait to reach my destination. 

 Photo: Øresund - The bridge between Denmark and Sweden

The train came. I could see the afternoon was rolling towards early evening as the train took me across the impressive Oresund Bridge to Sweden.

I took a cab after reaching the Lund Central Station or Lund C and went straight to my student dormitory. The key was waiting for me under the doormat in the patio of the dorm as the university's housing placement officer wrote me in an email a week earlier. 

The cab stopped in front of the little garden from where I could see the door number of my dorm. It looked like small shoe box like two story structures. My apartment was on the ground floor. I could see the door mat under which the key should be. I stepped out of the cab and walked there. And Bingo! The key was indeed there. I opened the apartment door and then went back to the cab to bring my luggage in. The driver was a middle aged man who spoke only Swedish and his native Pashtun. As he tried to take my luggage out I opened my purse to pay him. And then I realized I didn't have a single Swedish currency! All I had was Euros. I froze! It was a Sunday evening in a sleepy town. It didn't look like a single soul was awake. Where would I find a money exchange kiosk or a bank now? And how would I make these Swedish Afghani gentleman understand now that I have come to this country without a single local money? 

I didn't know what he understood but he smiled broadly and then waved at me and then drove away leaving my luggage at the door step!

Hungry, exhausted, worried, I went inside my new home to start my new life in a new country. 

Photo: Lund Downtown