Hej Lund!

Hej (hello)! My name is Eliza and I have just MOVED TO SWEDEN!! I never thought I’d be able to say I’ve moved overseas by myself but here I am and it’s fantastic!

After a month of travel on a Topdeck Tour around Europe, I’m settling down now in a tiny student town called Lund in the South of Sweden right near Copenhagen. The past week has been a whirlwind of orientation activities, buying a bike, moving in to my share house with 17 other people(!), spending many hours in a Swedish supermarket using google translate and making many new friends. One of the most important things to mention is how well organised the exchange program here is.

En Kanelbulle (a Swedish cinnamon bun a.k.a. What I’ll be eating for the next 4 months)

Lund organises students into mentor groups to help connect people. There are mentor group challenges like a treasure hunt, a sports day and we go on different outings e.g. we went to Lomma beach and had a mini BBQ and used a one time grill (it’s fricken amazing!) to make hotdogs! I did inform my mentor group that in Australia we have sausage sizzles and they were quite confused. We also have many other activities planned (a night out in Copenhagen anyone?)!

Here you can also take a Swedish language course for the first 2 weeks and it has been so helpful and I’ve made many friends because of it.

There are also uni organisations called nations (they’re like sororities/fraternities) that run the student life here. You choose one nation to belong to but it doesn’t matter which one because you can go to all nation’s activities anyway. So far, I have been to a baking night, a swedish film night, a pub quiz night and last night I went dancing at one of their many parties!

For me, I have one day of classes this week! How great is that! So a couple of friends and I are planning on going to Stockholm for a few days. I’m also about to sign up for a Northern Lapland trip where the uni takes you up to go to the northern lights and dog sledding etc.

I’m also in the midst of planning to fly to Ireland next week while it’s not freezing. (I’ve been told over and over again that it gets dark here in Sweden and cold and snows but I am SO EXCITED for that!).

Lomma beach and a one-time grill! How amazing!

Anyway I’m bursting with stories. I hope that despite my rambling, you have seen a glimpse of what exchange can be like. I highly recommend this university for student life. The only thing to consider is many students have had difficulty in finding housing. I know that’s put a dampener on some people’s experiences. Luckily I’ve found myself private accommodation but uni housing unfortunately did not work out for me. I’ve also heard great things about Uppsala university (another Swedish uni).

I can’t wait for more adventures on this trip! Tack for listening!

Eliza 12565899

B Business/B Creative Intelligence and Innovation

Lund University, Sweden