The Ticket is Bought!
My ticket to Stockholm is purchased! I depart for Stockholm on September 29th, in exactly one month's time.
Now the only things I have to do are:
Sublet my apartment (this is the most daunting task).
Set up a new bank account that allows me to take care of my banking online.
Get everything in my apartment repaired so I don't get panicky calls from my new tenant.
Move all my personal possessions I'm leaving behind here in Berlin into the big wardrobe in the extra room.
Do everything that I have always wanted to do in Berlin but have always put off until later because time was limitless.
Here are the things I _have_ done:
In my passport there is already an Uppehållstillstånd -- my two-year visa for Sweden. (Two years is just what they give you; I'm only planning on staying one year for now). The application process involved an interview at the Swedish Embassy here in Berlin, with me and The Handsome Swede, to see whether we were an actual couple or merely vagabonds trying to scam the Swedish government, slyly slipping an American girl into their healthcare system.
It all seemed very cinematic with a tinge of espionage-flavored possibilities at first. We would be interviewed separately, asked lots of personal questions, and then our answers would be compared to see if they were in accordance with one another. The Handsome Swede (who I'm just going to refer to from now on as THS, since I'm tired of typing his honorific moniker) and I were very nervous and had rehearsed for hours beforehand, arriving at the embassy bathed in sweat. THS had actually memorized the names and birth order of all my mother's siblings, thinking this might be part of the test. I went first. And then it turned out -- I'm not kidding -- THS could HEAR my entire interview through the puny wall that separated me from the waiting room, where he was meant to be leafing through the shiny come-to-Sweden brochures. ("Some people think of us as the conscience of Europe, but we think of ourselves as a simple, friendly nation with great cuisine and a sparkling coastline offering some of the best luxury accomodation options on the market.)
So if THS could hear my interview, then he knew how to answer each question, exactly as I had. AND they never asked about my mother's siblings. So theoretically, he was in the clear. But THS is a man of integrity, or, alternatively, stubborn as a mule, and there was one question which he answered in direct opposition to mine! Just like that! I believe it was this one:
MY INTERVIEW:
Q: Are the two of you interested in staying in Sweden long-term?
ME: Sweden might indeed be a place for us to settle. [THS] has strong roots there, and probably wouldn't want to stay away from home forever. As for me, I am more of a wanderer. So we'd both be happy to stay in Sweden.
HIS INTERVIEW:
Q: Are the two of you interested in staying in Sweden long-term?
THS: No way. _I_ am a wanderer. I long to live abroad. [...TOUCHÉ...]
About a month later THS got a call to his cellphone from the Swedish Immigration Board. A woman said, "I'd like you to be apprised that your partner's residence permit status is being sent out, and you should receive our decision within the next few days."
THS: "Can you tell me what the decision is?"
(Long pause, then, in a breathless, excited voice,) "She's getting in!!!!!"
This was my first lesson in the difference between Germany and Sweden. In Germany, bureaucrats take their jobs VERY seriously. In Sweden they joke around, and even allow tonality into their telephone voices.
Now the only things I have to do are:
Sublet my apartment (this is the most daunting task).
Set up a new bank account that allows me to take care of my banking online.
Get everything in my apartment repaired so I don't get panicky calls from my new tenant.
Move all my personal possessions I'm leaving behind here in Berlin into the big wardrobe in the extra room.
Do everything that I have always wanted to do in Berlin but have always put off until later because time was limitless.
Here are the things I _have_ done:
In my passport there is already an Uppehållstillstånd -- my two-year visa for Sweden. (Two years is just what they give you; I'm only planning on staying one year for now). The application process involved an interview at the Swedish Embassy here in Berlin, with me and The Handsome Swede, to see whether we were an actual couple or merely vagabonds trying to scam the Swedish government, slyly slipping an American girl into their healthcare system.
It all seemed very cinematic with a tinge of espionage-flavored possibilities at first. We would be interviewed separately, asked lots of personal questions, and then our answers would be compared to see if they were in accordance with one another. The Handsome Swede (who I'm just going to refer to from now on as THS, since I'm tired of typing his honorific moniker) and I were very nervous and had rehearsed for hours beforehand, arriving at the embassy bathed in sweat. THS had actually memorized the names and birth order of all my mother's siblings, thinking this might be part of the test. I went first. And then it turned out -- I'm not kidding -- THS could HEAR my entire interview through the puny wall that separated me from the waiting room, where he was meant to be leafing through the shiny come-to-Sweden brochures. ("Some people think of us as the conscience of Europe, but we think of ourselves as a simple, friendly nation with great cuisine and a sparkling coastline offering some of the best luxury accomodation options on the market.)
So if THS could hear my interview, then he knew how to answer each question, exactly as I had. AND they never asked about my mother's siblings. So theoretically, he was in the clear. But THS is a man of integrity, or, alternatively, stubborn as a mule, and there was one question which he answered in direct opposition to mine! Just like that! I believe it was this one:
MY INTERVIEW:
Q: Are the two of you interested in staying in Sweden long-term?
ME: Sweden might indeed be a place for us to settle. [THS] has strong roots there, and probably wouldn't want to stay away from home forever. As for me, I am more of a wanderer. So we'd both be happy to stay in Sweden.
HIS INTERVIEW:
Q: Are the two of you interested in staying in Sweden long-term?
THS: No way. _I_ am a wanderer. I long to live abroad. [...TOUCHÉ...]
About a month later THS got a call to his cellphone from the Swedish Immigration Board. A woman said, "I'd like you to be apprised that your partner's residence permit status is being sent out, and you should receive our decision within the next few days."
THS: "Can you tell me what the decision is?"
(Long pause, then, in a breathless, excited voice,) "She's getting in!!!!!"
This was my first lesson in the difference between Germany and Sweden. In Germany, bureaucrats take their jobs VERY seriously. In Sweden they joke around, and even allow tonality into their telephone voices.
posted by Ida at 5:15 PM
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