One year in Sweden, a year that went by way too quickly, filled with trips, events, adventures, and a lot of new people. I learned a lot about Sweden and about myself. These are my main takeaways from this year and what I’m looking forward to during this next and last year of my Master.

First and foremost, I realized that in the beginning there are lot of bureaucratic things to do: applying for a personal number, getting a swedish ID, opening a swedish bank account and setting up Swish. All of these steps gave me a bit of a headache and took a long time (almost 5 months) to get it all together. But I have since come to appreciate all of it. It really makes life in Sweden easier and gives you a lot of possibilities. You can sign up for membership account with your personal number and start saving money. You can easily pay for event tickets or get even with your friends via Swish. It’s also important to mention that I really love the fact that you need no cash at all, especially once you have Swish there is no need for it at all. So even if you get frustrated with the process, it definitely is worth it.

Secondly, I have noticed that the university culture here is quite different to what I was used to. I really enjoy the way my programme is taught with just one course at a time. It was much easier for me to keep up with the matter and exams. But I was also really surprised about all the parties and events organized by student sections. Some of my favourite memories are from parties at Campus where really cool and known Swedish artists performed.

Now I’ve also come to learn that Swedes are in fact not held back or shy. They are really nice and open people. Since I’m still lacking behind with my Swedish skills, I always have to ask them to switch to English. They are always very understanding and have no problem with speaking English. My Swedish friends are really fun to be around, and we do a lot of different activities together.

I haven’t really come to term with the fact, that I now only have one year left in my programme. I really want to make the best of it, go to a lot of events, especially those that were cancelled last year because of Covid. I also want to spend a lot of time with my friends and go on trips with them to really take advantage of the time we have left together here in Sweden. And of course, I hope finish my Master thesis on time!

I hope you are going to make just as amazing memories!

All the best,

Emily

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