We arrived!!

We made it safe and sound to Lund!  Our big journey began in Washington D.C. when we boarded an Icelandic Air flight.  I was helping get the kids settled and all the sudden I realized that no one was speaking English around me.  It was not until that moment that it finally hit me; we were leaving the United States.  We were leaving all our family and friends and everything familiar and safe.  Annalise looked at me and asked, "mommy why are you crying?"  But I only let myself be sad for about a minute and then the excitement took over!
After an entire night or day (depends on how you look at it) full of traveling we flew into the airport in Copenhagen very tired but in one piece.  We gathered our luggage (none of it was lost!!) and we headed towards customs. Since we had already gotten our passport stamped in Iceland all we had to do was walk through some doors.  On the floor there was two paths; one path named "Nothing to declare" and one smaller path named "Need to declare."  Ray and I were stumped.  We certainly had brought lots of stuff with us.  Four big suitcases and two big hiking backpacks and two smaller backpacks contained all of our carefully packed clothes, toys, books, and misc. items we just HAD to take to Sweden.

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Here is Annalise with all our luggage!

I was especially worried about our three computers because we had heard that electronics are sometimes limited.  In addition we had a guitar, bike, and a big stroller.  We stood there and just staring at these two paths and then I told Ray I would go talk to the official.  I walked up to the desk and had the following conversation:

official- "can I help you?"

me- "I don't know if I have anything to declare."

official- "Do you have anything you shouldn't have?"

me- "Like what?" 

official- "Do you have any food or drugs, things like that." (he is getting exasperated with me I can tell.)

me- "I have baby food and medication for my baby but I have a perscription for it."

official- "You have nothing to declare.  Just walk through the doors."
And so we walked through the doors and entered a whole new world.

Everyone has different things that stick out for them.  Ray says he won't forget walking out of the Copenhagen airport and seeing all the taxis lined up.  Apparently they were all Mercedes Benz.  I didn't even notice that.  What I did notice was the wind when we walked out of the airport, it was freezing!  Also it was the middle of the afternoon.  It felt like it should be the middle of the night.  I also remember feeling strong gratitude towards Lars (one of Ray's new colleagues) for renting a huge van and picking us up from the airport.  I could not imagine having to take a train or bus to our apartment with the kids and all of our stuff especially since I had been awake close to 36 hours.

The drive to Lund was sort of quiet.  We chatted a little bit but we were pretty tired.  As we got closer to Lund I started to get excited again.  After getting lost a few times! we arrived at our apartment.  Now this was one thing that I had been pretty apprehensive about.  I really didn't know what to expect and I was trying to keep my expectations cautiously low.  Turns out I didn't need to be worried.  First of all there is an elevator which is good since we are on the forth floor (the top of the building) and I had been worried about getting the stroller and two kids up the stairs.  Our apartment is great and bigger than we thought it would be.  **hint, hint for those of you who want to come visit!** There is a large entryway, a large bathroom, one really big bedroom and one smaller bedroom, a kitchen, an eating area and a big family room.  Apparently the apartment was just renovated.  Honestly it looks like a picture out of the Ikea catalogue.  Most of our furniture is white (except the couches) and we have big windows to let light in.  We also have a nice balcony.  Right in front of our apartment building there is a small playground area with two swings and some climbing structures.  Annalise and Lucas love the swings and it is nice to have a small play area so close!

Hope all is well with all of you and Ray and I will both write more this weekend.  Ray especially wants to blog about a cat food they have here...stay tuned!

Hugs from Sweden!