Emma

How did you prepare for your stay abroad? What practical arrangements did you make before the exchange?

When I was doing my Bachelor’s during COVID, it was not possible for me to do an Exchange, which is why I really wanted to go abroad during my Master’s. The FH Technikum provided an info session about going abroad, which I attended, where former students that went abroad held a short presentation about their experience. This was also the day where I should have signed up for the Swedish housing website “Studentbostäder.se”, because the sooner you sign up the more points you accumulate and the easier the housing situation is going to be. So even if you are not sure whether or not you want to go abroad (especially Sweden), sign up regardless, it will save you from a lot of stress and anxiety. Also check your health insurance status and also the back of your E-card (if you have one) should be filled out so you don’t have any problems with going to the doctors.

How were you welcomed by the host institution?

There are scheduled Welcome days, where they pick you up from Linköping Airport (if you fly directly), but I did not take advantage of that because I flew via Stockholm and took the train to Linköping. After picking up my keys and checking out my dorm room I went to Campus Valla to the international office. They had a little welcome package and signed the confirmation of arrival, we also got our LiU card and our access information for the portal. It was very organized and well structured. There was an organized welcome week with activities and the opportunity to meet new people.

How was studying at the host university?

At LiU the semester is structured into 2 halves, where in the first half you have 2 courses and then again 2 courses in the second half. For us each course had 7 ECTS, which already indicated that, although we only had 2 courses at the time, it was still going to be a lot of work. The Sweeds love little study group sessions called “problem based learning”, where one has to brainstorm and discuss a certain topic, come up with questions and answer them until the next session. This is more time consuming than one might think, but looking back it was really helpful for the exams later on. The lectures where usually held by different professors each time, which corresponded to the quality of the lecture. Some people were reading off of the slides and others were really engaging, it really depends on the lecturer (but it is like that at every university I guess).

How would you describe the country, the culture and the leisure activities you experienced during your stay abroad?

The swedish people are rather shy, calm and quiet. They probably will not come up to you at uni and randomly start talking to you. Usually internationals stick to each other. The student life at LiU is amazing. Each study has their own party committee and student organization. You can tell who studies what depending on their overall color. The overalls can (after their inauguration) be worn to all kinds of parties and can be decorated with patches from said parties. Apart from parties Linköping has a lot to offer. When it was still warm we rented Kayaks and paddled along the Canal or once you have a bike you can go to Lake Roxen to have a swim. We also visited the Air Force museum which is pretty impressive. There are a lot of cute Cafes in the city with my favorite being Babette’s. If you want to take some trips I can recommend to one day go visit Norrköping or Jönköping. For longer trips we went to Stockholm for the weekend or to Helsinki, Tallin and Riga. Great tip = go to Lapland!!

About finding a room/apartment and accommodation

For me this was a struggle haha. As mentioned before I should have signed up for the housing website months before. With each day you are signed up you accumulate one point and depending on the number of points you have you can apply for certain rooms. There are 2 websites “Studentbostäder” and “Heimstaden”, the latter does not have this point system! They both start publishing rooms in July (which in my opinion was super late) which is more than enough time when you arrive in the middle of august. They have a lot of rooms and usually everyone that needs one will get one. I panicked and took the first room that I was offered without looking where it was. It turns out I agreed on renting an UNFURNISHED room directly above the local “pub” Flamman. To be clear this was not a pub,, it was a night club and it was insanely loud until 3 in the morning every Friday and Saturday. I went there once and saw that my bed was directly above the dance floor. I moved out after 1 ½ months.

What financial precautions did you take? What was the average cost of living?

I was very fortunate to have financial support from my parents, as well as from ERASMUS+. My rent was approx. 380€ per month. Groceries are a bit more expensive than in Austria. It depends on your eating habits (I’m not vegetarian usually, but meat is too expensive for me alone so I hardly ever bought it). I spend roughly 120€ on groceries each month? Sometime more and sometimes less depending on what I had left from the month before. Eating out is also rather expensive. A Döner costs almost 10€ here :(.
Think about Transportation cost. Flying directly to Linköping is much more expensive than flying via Stockholm. Also don’t forget the additional cost of the bus/train from the airport to Linköping, it accumualtes quite quickly if you take more trips!!

Do you have any tips on what else to consider?

I would definitely recommend participating in the “welcome week” or if you come in the Autumn Term the “Nollan Weeks”. Another great advice is to say YES to everything, go to the party, go to the lake, go wakeboarding at the canal, go biking, go camping, go dancing etc. It is so much fun and you most definitely won’t regret it!

What new skills and qualities have you acquired?

I definitely learned to be more independend and how to maneuver a country with new language and new currency. I think i opened up more to all kinds of possibilites because i said yes to (almost) everyting that sounded exctiting. I tried new food and drinks and i learned new traditions. At university i learned a new teaching method (problem based learning) which i have a love/hate relationship with. (You will understand what i mean when you do it haha)

How have your values and attitudes changed during your stay abroad?

Throughout my stay i continued to be grateful that i had this opportunity to study abroad. I visited a lot of new places and new countries that i never had been to before. I went to Lapland and saw polar clouds and northern lights, which is something i will never forget!!

Looking back, what was the biggest challenge in preparing for or during your stay abroad?

The biggest challenge was the struggle with my dorm room and having to move after 1 1/2 months. I would have loved to not experience that again. Then again at the end, while studying for exams i had to start getting rid of all my furniture. This also turned out to be more stressfull than anticipated. In the end it worked out and i got rid of almost everything before i moved out.

What was your most positive experience during your stay abroad?

The best moment was our Overall inauguration. It was so much fun participating in this tradtion and having this feeling of community. We made some good friends along the way. Also all the visitors from back home. Showing them around in this beautiful city and letting them experience part of my new day to day life was amazing.