Uppsala Universitet

Hej!

I’m currently settling in to life at Uppsala University in Sweden following 6 weeks of travel around Europe. This has been my first trip to Europe and I’ve had an awesome time. Some highlights of the trip so far have been Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, riding motorbikes along the south coast of France, and Tomorrowland in Belgium.

I’ve been in Sweden for just over a week now and it’s really nice to settle down in one place after a hectic few weeks. I’m living in a student accommodation area called Flögsta which is made up of 16 buildings chock full of international students and Swedes. It’s also home to the ‘Flögsta Scream’, where all students yell out of their windows at 10pm every night, which I’m told is for the explicit purpose of stress relief. The accommodation here is based on traditional Swedish corridor living, with 12 individual rooms in each corridor sharing a kitchen and living area. My corridor is made up of a heap of fun people from all over the world and a few Swedes from different regions and I’ve really enjoyed sharing meals and learning about their different customs and worldviews. People seem to have very idyllic preconceptions about Australia and all they want to talk about is how many sharks and kangaroos I’ve fought.

The town of Uppsala itself is really cool, there’s a lot of history around and the Swedish government puts a lot of money into upkeep of the historical areas. Everything centres on the river and the Cathedral, which is the oldest in Scandinavia, and all the streets are tight and colourful. Because Uppsala is a university town, this means that all the university buildings are spread throughout this city centre and I’m looking forward being able to ride my bike to class through all these areas.

Anyway, I’ve had an awesome first week in Uppsala and I’m really looking forward to the next 4 months, bring on winter!

Hamish Gates
98076502
Bachelor of Accounting
Uppsala Universitet
Sweden