The admission period’s approaching and soon there’ll be a new set of students moving in to our little city. What’s Linköping like? Will it be fun? Is it really cold there? These were some of the questions that I had on my mind when I was accepted into the Aeronautical Engineering programme. I have now lived in this beautiful little city for over a year and it’s been eventful. Here’s a quick low-down on life at Linköping.
Size and demographic
Linköping is Sweden’s fifth largest city, spread out over an area of 43sq.kms, with a population of about 157,000 . It is Sweden’s centre for aviation with SAAB headquartered here. A number of other industries and research facilities also have Linköping as their home and as a result the crowd here is pretty international. The city isn’t really big and everything is just a short bike ride away.
Weather
I was really worried about how cold it might get here! Long, dark winters and sub-zero temperatures were what I expected, but I was greeted by a rather pleasant winter (Global warming FTW!). We’ve had snow for about 10 days last year and about 3 days this year. The winters are much more tolerable than I was led to believe. It does get dark, but it’s really not as bad as people make it out to be.
The long dark winters are compensated for in the summer. The weather’s great with the temperature mostly hovering around the 20 degree mark. It’s all nice and rosy right up to the point where you want to sleep. It doesn’t really get dark enough and you’ll hear birds chirping as early as 3AM!
Autumn and Spring however are my favourites. They are short, delightful periods where Sweden’s nature puts on a show that you can’t get enough of. If only they lasted a little longer..
Living
The university provides student accommodation in “corridors” where each student gets a room with an attached bathroom. The kitchen and other living areas of the corridor are generally shared between 8 people. The student residences are spread over Ryd, Valla and Flamman. The student areas are away from the city and closer to Valla campus.
Living with a bunch of strangers is one of those situations which could go either ways. I got lucky and was blessed with wonderful corridormates! We were a mixed bunch of international students and it’s been a fun experience living and learning of their many cultures.
Social Life
A significant part of Linkoping’s population are it’s students and where there are students there are pubs, parties and a whole lot of stupid decisions! There are a few student pubs around with great music and cheap-ish booze that stay open really late into the night. Do not expect a major clubbing scene though, because we only have a couple of them here and they are not really all that.
However, drinking out in Sweden is an expensive affair which can cause some serious damage to your monthly budget. The alternative? Corridor parties! Come Friday evening and you hear music blaring from different directions. All you need to do is dress up and walk in the direction of the music and find yourself a corridor to spend the evening in.
I’ve had a great time living here so far and hope this gives some insight into life here.
