Week 0.1 - Apartment hunting in Stockholm – like looking for a needle in a haystack
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- Jan 22
- 3 min read
Mission: Finding a Place in Stockholm (almost) impossible
After a long and at times nerve‑wracking apartment hunt in Stockholm – full of rejections, ghosting and slightly sketchy offers – I finally found my place through the platform “Qasa”. The relief was huge when it turned out that I hadn’t just found a room, but a real home away from home for the next few months.
My guinea pig household
I’ll be living with a mum, her 18‑year‑old son and several guinea pigs – so somewhere between family vibes and a tiny private zoo. My room is big enough for both studying and procrastinating, and it has everything you need to survive in Sweden (apart from maybe a built‑in coffee machine).
The best part: I can use the living room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room, which means I officially have access to all the important hotspots of shared flat life – including movie and game nights and plenty of “Okay, who ate the last cookie?” moments.
Call with my future “host mum”
Before moving in, I had a phone call with the mum, and we instantly discovered a bunch of things we have in common – always a good sign when you don’t run out of topics after three minutes and awkwardly consider hanging up. After the call, it felt much more like I was joining a kind of bonus family rather than just renting a room, which definitely calmed down all the “What if everyone is super weird?” scenarios in my head.
The atmosphere sounds pretty homely, with a touch of “Erasmus chaos” and guinea pig commentary in the background – honestly the perfect setup for some good stories over the semester and it will hopefully help me not miss my two furry friends back in Germany too much (cue cute cat pics).
Life in the south: Hello Hägersten
My new home is in the south of Stockholm, in the district of Hägersten, which is part of the Hägersten‑Liljeholmen area. Hägersten is mainly residential, with lots of green spaces and quiet streets – more “Sunday stroll with a coffee in hand” than “clubbing until 5 a.m.”, which is probably not the worst thing for my working life.
At the same time, you can get to livelier parts of the city pretty quickly, and Hägersten‑Liljeholmen has a couple of cosy cafés that are perfect for studying, people‑watching or just pretending to be productive. Ideal conditions to slowly raise my caffeine intake to a respectable Swedish level.
My daily Tunnelbana adventure
To get to work or into the city centre, I take the Tunnelbana, Stockholm’s metro. The ride takes around 30 minutes without changing trains, which in big‑city terms is basically “right around the corner” and gives me enough time to wake up, listen to podcasts or stare out of the window and pretend I’m already fully integrated into Swedish life.
Somewhere between the calm, green south and the buzzing city centre, every day feels a bit like a mini commuting adventure – with the added bonus of coming back to guinea pigs and a family atmosphere at the end of the day.
In 9 days, it’s finally happening: I’ll be on the night train to Sweden! 🚆🌠
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