The Appliances & Discoveries of Lund University Guest House

One quickly realizes as soon as they are hungry or in need of clean clothes that We are not in Kansas anymore;" reference to Wizard of Oz not you Emmy ;-). All of these discoveries mind you apply to the University Guest House since I've only experienced this context in Sweden.

The first discovery is that all appliances in the kitchen, with the exception of the refrigerator, require you to turn on the electricity. Not as simple "obvious" as it may seem. In America, if your appliances are plugged in you just have to turn them on. Not here! In our little guest hotel, you must turn on a timer for the appliance first in order to send power to the appliance. Each timer seems to be maxed at 30 mins. so if you're cooking a big meal ... you'll have to turn the timer on again.

Our stove top is similar to mine at home in appearance, no actual burners but places in the glass where you set your pot/ pan for cooking. However, it is weight sensitive. If your pot is too light (pressing on it doesn't help) the burner will not turn on. Some of these buttons were intuitive ... some were trial & error. The far left circle w/ a line is power. Then choose your burner, then press the + button to increase power level. IF the stove top gets too hot (which it does in the afternoon sunlight) the whole stovetop shuts down & you have to wait for it to cool off. This is interesting when you're in the middle of cooking a meal. Right Suzie??

Recycling is a thing here!  Look at this handy labeled cupboard right under the stove. If you don't have an oven use the space. Pretty convenient!

Sinks: There are no plugs for the sinks ... I suppose you could get covers but we find it just as simple to run the "HOT" water and wash / rinse one item at a time an set it on the strainer to dry.

This refrigerator is interesting to me. It is a bottom freezer with pull out drawers; Handy! The middle section is the refrigerator section with multiple shelves & drawers; probably because it serves SO many people. But the top section is not accessible for people of my height. =-/  I'm pretty sure you'd have to be at least 5'10 or taller to easily access it. Anne, just right for you, eh? It's just storage thankfully!

LOVE those chairs for cleaning the floors. Instead of moving every chair across the room and then moving them back, you just hang them from the table by their arms. Pretty Cool! On the other hand we need to work on comfort level ... they aren't! Efficiency is the perk here!!

 Oh that Microwave ... The only button that was intuitive for me was the right arrow (start) and the square (stop). But you have to push some other buttons before you get to those points. So ... trial & error have become my friends. Through team work and question asking, we've mastered the microwave.

Yesterday we were made aware that an explanation for this new body part (the blue bracelet) may be necessary. It's unfortunately not a cool group bonding item ... we should've thought of that. ;-)  Actually, it's our key to enter EVERY door in this building. The front door (good), our individual rooms (great), the kitchen (ok--protect my food), the laundry room? Needless to say we are secure in our little home in Sweden! You just swipe it on the door pad and Voila -- you're in. If you lose it you have to pay for another one to get back in. Not to mention the headache of being locked out without proof that you belong here. So, I've made a habit of putting it on first thing in the morning, along with my glasses.

 

Finally, the laundry room. These appliances are NOT my friends. As we've shared the frustrations throughout the week most girls agree ... These appliances are definitely a challenge. The washer is ok. Once you translate the terminology it's manageable. The dryer, on the other hand, is a different beast altogether. It doesn't vent as ours in America. Instead it vents the "water" from your clothes into a bottle which must be emptied frequently. Also, it doesn't seem to dry efficiently. Despite emptying the lint tray, the water bottle, constant fluffing, & reducing load size ... after 3 hours of drying I just hung up my clothes to finish drying.  In the middle of the night this has brought on a few tears. Especially, since we just have the ONE washer & dryer for the whole building. OY!!

 

Well, all challenges are learning experiences as well as opportunities to cooperate & collaborate with others that must share the experience, right?!?
Welcome to Sweden!!
More to Come ...