Laundry in Flogsta

So I was doing some laundry while making the last couple posts.  In most of Sweden, you sign up for a time slot to do laundry, and do laundry during that time.  Thus you never waste time walking down to the laundry room only to find all the machines taken.  Of course, if you do laundry outside of your time, that's Very Bad.  I've heard that the laundry room is where fights are most likely to break out in Sweden, when people do laundry outside of their time.  One of the American master's students at Smälands on Monday had an experience with that recently, when her laundry was still in the dryer when someone else's time started.  They were quite displeased and made their displeasure known, despite the fact that the washing machines were completely free and they'd need to wash their clothes first anyway.  Eventually they let up a bit after realizing she was a "silly foreign girl who didn't know what she was doing", but laundry schedules are apparently a serious business in Sweden.  Be aware if you ever come here.

But in Flogsta, there are no laundry schedules.  So I went down to the laundryroom (in building 7, near my building at least), and was lucky to find an open machine.  When I came back a few minutes later with a second load, there were 3-4 people standing around waiting for an open machine.  I wanted to get lunch anyway, so I just went back rather than waiting around for a machine.  One person was reading a book while waiting, but most people were just waiting.  Perhaps there were only a few minutes left on the machines, but it seemed a bit odd.  At any rate, I made a point to go down and put my laundry in the dryer as soon as my wash cycle was done (thank you cell phone timer) despite being halfway through eating lunch.  There are three types of washers here - blue, green, and white.  They are different models.  Elaine had warned us that the white ones occasionally ate clothes.  I used blue this time, and my clothes were fine.  Well, when I went down later to pick up my dry clothes, I saw one of the white ones spinning up at the beginning of its cycle, and I'm no longer at all surprised why it occasionally eats clothes.  It's a side-loading machine, with a somewhat small drum.  But it spins fast!  Much, much faster than any laundry machine I've ever seen!  The whole machine was shaking, and the door was moving so fast that the movement appeared choppy - it was moving faster than my eyes could keep up with the motion.  It sounded like it was trying to power either a jet taking off or perhaps a space shuttle about to lift off.  Clearly ridiculous amounts of spin.  Maybe there was some sort of award for fastest-spinning washing machine at the washing machine expo that year, but it was obvious why it might not be the best option for your clothes!