I moved from California to Sweden in August 2010. I can't believe the amount of logistics involved, and how much time I had to spend figuring them out. This is where I note what I've learned for my own reference, & hopefully to save others time & frustration. Enjoy!
It's not eco-friendly, but sometimes you gotta get home to see the fam, or get to the Mediterranean to get some freakin' sunshine. These sites will be useful:
Cophenhagen (CPH, called "Kastrup") is the closest airport, easily reached by train to/from Lund (running every 20 minutes).
They have a nice web page which includes a flight timetable and route maps by destination city so you can see all flights in/out of the airport, a page where you can look up and buy flights to/from CPH on some budget airlines, and even a free iPhone app (for info on flights and gates when you're at the airport).
The budget airlines that fly out of CPH (and don't seem to be listed on American search engines) include: Cimber Sterling OLT
Finally, some airlines have special pages for Sweden (customer service, mileage plus, etc.) You can buy tickets in your local currency. The page for United is here.
Getting to the airport in Malmö:
Miljö taxi costs 315 SEK 1 way from Lund. 046-30 66 04
Airport bus is 199 SEK roundtrip to Sturup from Lund. http://www.flygbussarna.se/
Be prepared that finding a suitable place to live from afar is time consuming and frustrating. Have patience and be resourceful & tireless... it will work out! And it's a huge relief to know you have a place to land when you arrive.
Write up a "housing wanted" ad describing a bit about yourself (include a picture to show what a nice, normal tenant you are) and what you're looking for, and send to EVERYONE you know in Sweden... your department, people you met for 2 minutes when you were there... word of mouth really helps.
Just like everywhere else, there are a few rotten apples... scammers who would love to cheat you out of your money, so be careful. (The first person to contact me wanted to rent me a nonexistant apartment, sight unseen, without someone able to check it out because he had "already moved overseas" and would mail me the keys... sketchy!!). It really helps for peace of mind to have a local contact available to check out the place and make sure everything seems OK.
In Sweden, they refer to the number of "rooms" as including a living room... so a 2 room apartment would be 1 bedroom + living room.
Note that many apartments in Sweden are owned by the state and work from a long waiting list that takes a year or more to make you eligible. You may want to sign up for those to increase your choices down the line, but you will probably have to find a private party rental at first.
This may be either "firsthand" (direct from the owner, how it is usually done in the US) or "andrahand", which is Google translated as "in the alternative" but I think should be thought of as "second-hand", meaning you are renting from a tenant (since people tend to keep their apartments for a long time, because they are so freaking hard to find!!!).
Websites to look for housing in Lund:
Helpful guide for students looking for housing in Lund here
1.http://www.blocket.seSwedish craigslist, the main source. Browse posted ads for free; posting a housing wanted ad costs about $15, and is how I found my place (and was contacted by several good possibilities, in addition the scammer; lots of people do not post their housing available, but instead look for a suitable tenant and contact them directly). However I needed a Swedish credit card to make this work, my US one did not. Look at first listing (Lagenheter) under 3rd category (Bostad) from pulldown menu
(use Google Translate for individual listings, doesn't work for website. To mail the person who posted an ad, use the Swedish version of the website, the Translated version won't work. You can match the ad by time/date posted).
