Today's challenge...

...is to get the last of our things out of the boxes, carriers bags and piles where they currently reside - having been moved from box to smaller box to plastic bag to floor - and away in cupboards or stored down in the basement so that we start 2008 fresh.

It will be strange actually to start living again properly, after the past 4-5 months spent in limbo, waiting to move, but I am really looking forward to it.

Skatteverket - registering with the Swedish tax authority

After applying online for my 'right of reside' here in Sweden and receiving my acceptance only about 10 days later, my first admin task here in Stockholm was to get registered with the authorities. This involves a trip to Skatteverket for Folkbokföring, which gives you the magic personnummer. Without a personnummer, you are not able to do anything; you cannot open a bank account, receive health care, borrow a book for the library, or sign up for anything - it is the key to life here in Sweden.

Unfortunately, once you receive your personnummer you need to make a second trip to Skatteverket for a personbevis, which you need to take along with you to open a bank account. It seems a little confusing but in order to receive a personbevis, you need a Swedish citizen in your family or with whom you live to vouch for you; but what if you have come here to work, are living on your own and don't have any family here, as was the case for me when I moved to Denmark...? This is an interesting debate that you can follow on The Local's discussion board.

Nobel Day

Today is the day when the year's Nobel prizes are awarded (Alfred Nobel died on 10 December 1896).

You can find out all about Alfred Nobel's life and works and the Nobel Prize here.

This time next week...

...and we will be living in Stockholm.

Today we had lunch at a favourite place in the city, Les Trois Cochons, and then headed over to my apartment to pack up the last few bits and pieces. It only took a couple of hours, giving us the confidence that, despite both of us travelling with work next week, we should be packed and ready to go early on Friday morning.

It seems hard to believe how suddenly this week has arrived: it seems to have been autumn for so long, then out of the blue, winter arrives and it is December and we are heading off.

Making life that little bit easier

The Swedish Immigration Service (Migrationsverket) allows citizens of EU countries to apply for their "right to reside" in Sweden online. All you need is a jpeg or pdf of your passport and, if you are applying as an employee, a one-page form filled in by your employer. Fill in the online form, attach the two files and sit back and wait for your "right to reside" to arrive... at least, I hope so!

Seven days and counting...

Only a week to go now until we move. Feeling a little apprehensive, a little curious as to how different things will be compared with in Denmark, but most of all, I'm feeling excited about this new step.

All tied up in red tape

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, but it has been a busy few weeks packing up the first batch of boxes and dispatching them up to Stockholm in a van with the boyfriend, sorting out what to take and what to throw, filling in forms and taking them to various offices, finding out that I didn't need to be there and didn't have to fill the form in after all...

But now I am back and I have one piece of advice for those leaving Copenhagen to live in another country for more than six months: if you're moving to Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland or the Faeroe Islands, then all you need to do is register with the authorities in that country; if you're going to any other country than those, you need to get yourself down to Folkeregistret (Dahlerupsgade 6), fill in the form called "Udrejse fra Danmark" and hand it in to them.

Well, that is how things are now, but it seems to change frequently, so it is a good idea to check out the website (and in English); that way, you won't be making the same three unnecessary phone calls and visit to the office that I made.