Last week was my first official week of work, though I was in the office only one day. I’m very fortunate that my position allows me to work from home a good deal of the time, and I’m required to be in Uppsala only for seminars, meetings, and classes. This means that some weeks I won’t be away from home at all, while some weeks I’ll be gone as many as three or four days (this seems like a good time to say, yet again, that my husband is an absolute superstar, not only tolerating, but encouraging outright this endeavor of mine).

For the two years of my master’s program, my schedule was much the same and when I stayed over in Uppsala, I took up a couple of my professors–a “couple” as in two, and also a “couple” as in they’re married to one another–on their very generous offer of an overnight room in the cellar of their apartment building. For a symbolic fee, I spent dozens of nights, at least, in that room and, while it was perfectly serviceable, with a separate entrance, a private shower in the room, and a bathroom down the hall, it wasn’t exactly homey. Because I wasn’t the only person who used the room, every time I stayed over I had to bring along bedding, towels, and all of my toiletries, as well as whatever clothing I was going to need.

At the time, it was a godsend for me, saving me literally thousands of dollars over the course of my program and giving me a little something of a home-base when I was in town. Now, however, I’ve got a real job and a real salary and I feel that not only have I imposed enough on my professors’ kindness, but I’ve also outgrown the kind of vagabond life I was leading before, so in December I started looking for an apartment. It can be notoriously difficult to find rental housing in Uppsala (really, in Sweden as a whole, particularly in university towns), and I didn’t have high hopes that I would find anything very quickly. Luck was very much on my side, though, and just a couple of weeks into my search I found the absolutely perfect place. Honestly, I can’t think of any way that it could be better. It’s a small furnished studio, with a separate entrance and its own bathroom, shower, and kitchenette, just five minutes’ walk from my office. The landlord is a professor at the university (though he’s not somebody I knew before I answered the apartment ad; coincidentally, however, I had just started reading a book he wrote), and he’s extremely nice and friendly. I signed a contract the week before last, and I get the keys on Wednesday, the next time I’m in Uppsala.

I’m so excited I can hardly stand it by the prospect of being able to settle in to my own little place when I’m away from home, and I’m practically giddy at the thought of being able to buy full-size bottles of conditioner and lotion and whatnot and just to leave them there when I come home, instead of checking a suitcase on the flight home because my beauty products don’t meet security specifications. When I feel like changing my bedding, I’ll be able just to wash it in the apartment building’s laundry room, rather than lugging it all home and back again. And if all that weren’t enough, I can brew up a pot of coffee whenever I feel like it instead of relying on convenience stores and cafés to fill my caffeine needs. That alone should save me nearly enough to pay my rent.