Apparently our new experiences become way easier if we have some food prints of people who walk the same road before us. Moving to Sweden was a quick step in my life. I did not have enough time to ask people who are here, read Liu’s blogs, or do some searches. Learning lessons the hard way is very important and makes you appreciate each step. However, knowing that a cup is hot before holding it will prevent your hand from being burnt. In this blog, I will state some valuable tricks I wish I knew earlier before moving to study in Linkoping.

  1. Apply for the personal number as soon as you arrive. When I arrived at Linköping, I was only considering which café would be my favorite? Which supermarket is cheaper? How many good friends would I have in these two years? Would I meet the love of my life here??? The one thing I wish someone told me about is applying for a personal number as soon as possible. The PN is like a Bible here. Most of the time you will be defined by this number, so, you will not be able to do many important things without it, like having a bank account, applying for a job or signing in any academy. Unfortunately, PN normally takes between 1 to 18 weeks to be granted, so sometimes you are lucky to receive it after one or two weeks, or you are like the unlucky me and will receive it after 18 weeks. Thus, do not depend on luck, go and apply for it once you are here. 
  2. One other thing I wish I were aware of before it happened is how the healthcare system is going here. When you get sick, there is one thing you can do  if your case is not very urgent and you do not know what exactly you should do. Firstly and most important is calling 1177. It is a service that provides healthcare by telephone in Sweden. It is great as you will have a rough guidance of what you should do based on the symptoms you have. You can call around the clock and nurses will answer, however, sometimes you will wait for a long time as the queue may be long. Calling in the early morning may reduce the waiting time as the queue is usually short.
  3. Another point I can mention here, if you are so sick that your case requires you to go to emergency then having a PN will save you from paying around 8000 kr and instead you will pay 200 kr. If you do not have a PN but you have applied for it, you can tell them that so they can extend the deadline of paying your pill until you have your PN, and in this case you will only pay 200kr. 
  4. If you are a fee paying student, you can reclaim the money you pay for hospital or surgeries you have here. By going to the info disc in the student-huset, they will give you a  claim form that you fill in with the invoices or receipt of what you have paid and they will give you your money back. Remember, you have to pay first on your own before having a refund. 
  5. Buy your winter clothes from here. I made a stupid mistake before coming here which is buying winter closes from my country. If you visit Egypt before then you know that the coldest temperature we ever have is 10 degrees, which- compared to Sweden- is the summer weather :D. The actual winter clothes that fit Swedish weather should be bought from Sweden ( or any place that has the same weather). Do not make my fault and fill your bags with clothes that you will never wear in -20 degrees. 
  6. Want to buy many staff for your new accommodation? Check ISA-buying and selling telegram group or ESN Linköping Flea Market facebook group where you will find students selling second hand staff with great prices and in good conditions like routers, bikes, chairs, carpets and many things you will need in your new room. 
  7.  Need to hear a silly tip :D?  save the bags that you bought from shops to put your groceries or shoppings in. You will reuse them again for future shopping instead of buying new ones every time. 
  8. Do not enroll in expensive Swedish language courses. With your PN only you can apply for Swedish for immigrants (sfi) which is the national free Swedish language course that is offered by sweden. 
  9. Always check the weekly offers in all markets around you. There are always a bunch of great offers that are released weekly in Ica Maxi, Hemköp, City Gross, and Willys. 
  10. Transportation is also a critical point that everyone should be aware of when moving to new countries. The main transportation that you will probably need here is your bike. Also, you can use buses, but you need to download the Östgötatrafiken application and buy your digital tickets from it( choose the student option, it will give you a discount). For moving around Sweden, you can book your tickets from SJ app for trains and flexbus app for buses. Important hint, try to book your train ticket as soon as possible as  it gets very high when it is close to the traveling date.
Pin
Comments are disabled for this post