Hello winter birds,

It’s time for me to bring you onto the second part of these mini series about my experience and thoughts around my programme, the university, and Sweden in general! So last time I talked about specifically my field of studies, Computational Social Science, and how I am experiencing it here at LiU. But what about the university in general? What do I find good, and less good, about it?

Back in the summer I put together an IGTV for our Instagram channel on my thoughts regarding this.

Watch the video to see my points summarised, or read here below.

5 Good Things About LiU

  1. You can get really close to your professor (respectfully informal!)
    What does this mean? Essentially that university here at LiU is really informal. So it’s easy to get to know your professors and establish a comfortable setting where you can easily voice your thoughts and opinions, as well as not fear asking for questions (obviously we are not meant to pester them or treat them as if they were friends…). But it’s great how informal it is, I think a lot of people benefit from the breaking of hierarchical barriers between students and lecturers 🙂
  2. Great research opportunities (but it can be competitive!)LiU is well connected with industry, and similarly it’s at the forefront of many research fields. Being a student at a LiU programme often means coming across opportunities to either collaborate in research at your programme department (but be prepared to work hard and also stand the competition with your other classmates), or to do an internship in an organization!
  3. Easy to find and cheap housing (apply ASAP!)Because Linköping and Norrköping are smaller cities than Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, finding cheap and affordable housing is generally easier than in the biggest cities. As an international or an EU student, you need to proactively apply for housing, (read more about this here), so as soon as you know if you are accepted, get active and search for accommodation! I got sorted already in April, just a few days after receiving the news that I was accepted into the programme 🙂
  4. Amazing living standards and infrastructures!LiU campus, both in Linköping and Norrköping, has a really fresh, modern outlook. Studenthuset, our main library building, is brand new, and so are many study spaces in campus Norrköping, where I am based. I love how modern and edgy the university rooms are. To get a glimpse of what it looks like inside, check out my campus tours videos on our IGTV – there is one for each campus, including Campus US, filmed by my fellow student ambassador Julia, with whom I have been podcasting about being a student at LiU!
  5. It’s easy to survive university (as long as you are prepared and smart about it!)University here is manageable. A lot of work is split in weekly assignments, and smaller tests. Sometimes you do also have big final exams, it kinds of depend what you study! But generally, so long as you study regularly and organise yourself, you can totally do it! There are also plenty of re-do opportunities in case you fail, our student unions make sure we are given the space to succeed if we cannot do it at the first round (sometimes life just gets in the way —- especially during a pandemic!!!!!)

5 Less Good Things About LiU

  1. Not so many traditions for Master students compared to Bachelor students (get proactively involved in student organizations)I was a little sad to find out that a lot of the traditions promoted about the university life did not apply to my Master programme. The overalls, the “fadderier”, was just not something that existed for my course. So I got to look from the outside. Despite this, things still happened and there are lots of events and activities open for everyone that as an international Master student you can join here!
  2. Embedded in the inescapable Swedish winter setup!Get ready for 9am sunrise and 2pm sunsets. It’s not easy, especially if you are like me and love using the afternoon after studying to go into nature and be outside!  But I think it makes you also really appreciate spring and summer. And it also teaches you to make your indoor space cosy and inviting! And make use of the weekend, to explore the beauty of Swedish winter, like Asia did! Also see my IGTV about hiking in Norrköping last weekend!
  3. Norrköping students need to actively travel to Linköping to experience students life to its fullestIf you, like me, are an international student based in Campus Norrköping, that means that you are surrounded by around 4000 other students. In Campus US and Campus Valla there are near to 20k students! So most events and associations are in Linköping – which means that to experience student life to its fullest you might want to travel there at times. This takes approx 45mins with the campus bus, or 35min by train! There are student events in Norrköping too, but I think as a LiU student it can be nice to see student life at its fullest (at least before the pandemic started hehe…)!
  4.  As highlighted by fellow students: it can be hard to find internships within Swedish-speaking companies (but there are still plenty of opportunities!)Obviously studying in a country where English is not the primary language means facing language barriers to certain extents. Swedish people speak a huge amount of English (compared for example to Italy, where I am from), but at the same time be prepared to reduce your pool of internship/workplace opportunities due to language barriers. Don’t worry, there are opportunities, just gotta dig deeper if you don’t have the language!
  5. You won’t be living in a capital cityRealistically, Linköping and Norrköping are two beautiful mid-sized town (around 80-100k citizens in each), which means that depending on where you come from you might find it big and lively, or small and quiet! To me, coming straight from Dublin, it all felt a bit small at first. But I have to say the peace and quiet allowed me to focus on my studies. This to say: know yourself – if you are a bit of a big city addict, then you should take this into consideration!

 

All in all, LiU is a great modern and thriving university, receiving plenty of grants and expanding its network constantly, and I think the campus exceeds the expectations of many!

Best,

Simona

Pin
Comments are disabled for this post