How to live richly when poor

April is the month we begin our new life, humbled by our bank accounts. Thousand miles away from home, we have become cooks, tenants, accountants, and homemakers. Boy, do we love our adventures, and we treasure the memories of all our visits to exotic places. But as we've painfully learnt, such memories are expensive and our journeys and may I add, mishaps, have zapped our savings in Singapore to zero, and the search for high and lofty experiences in wonderful places must give way to paying the rent, feeding our stomachs and buying course books.

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, I still cherish every minute that I have here in Sweden, although I'm keenly aware that our current situation merits a new perspective on lifestyle and creativity in stretching the Swedish Crown. I will see it optimistically, as a personal project to make the most delicious meal with the least amount of money, to find pockets of nature in this little town of Lund to visit, instead of taking an expensive trip to Norway, on the most scenic route in the world.

We have 2 more big adventures to look forward to, lack of money notwithstanding, because we believe in the value of these experiences: 1. Study Tour to Jerusalem. (need I say more, to go to the Holy City and feel the light gentle touch of centuries of history) 2. Planning the trip of our lives for our siblings. (and I must say I think I'm more excited than my sister that she will be taking her first airplane ride when she visits us). It's no fun travelling alone, its more fun to bring suakus along like anthony and esther, that we will feel the joy all the more.

Till May and June, there's April, and April will be the month of living simply, as poor students in a foreign (expensive) land, and so be it, being poor is an experience, a challenge, a project, and why not? a fond memory retrospectively from 2020. ( I hope I'm at least richer than I am now)
An interesting question for you: Would you rather be poor studying in Sweden or rich working your socks off?

And so, without any other exciting adventures to share with you in the immediate days ahead, this post marks the beginning of the series: how to live richly when poor. I will try to chronicle how we get by our daily lives on cheap but good food, and the leisurely activities that we will embark on that are cheap and fun! So stay tuned!

Many many thanks goes out to both our families for lending us that extra finances. It may sound cliche but we can always count on family. Having said that, we will return the debt, in cash AND in kind.