Uppsala University, Sweden

At the start of this year, I would never imagine that I would have travelled to Sweden alone to study at Uppsala University. Uppsala is a relatively small town in the grand scheme of things however, it is the 4^th biggest city in Sweden. I am in awe of the country’s approach to recycling and the overall forethinking to save the planet. There is a vast amount of greenery here that I have already explored with my friends, hiking and swimming every day. For example, last week we stayed in a traditional Swedish cabin in the middle of the forest (free of charge!).

I was quite hesitant the last few days before coming to Sweden, I knew that there would be people coming from UTS in the same boat however I was still quite nervous. There was no real basis for this, and I have already made a great bunch of mates. We regularly have family dinners together where we all contribute toward to ingredients, cook and eat together. Although the main cook is generally the wonderful Tobias, the crew consists of around 8 people, although we have a much larger group as well. Myself, Jordan- who comes from UTS- he’s the unorganised one of the group (having to stay on my floor the first night because he didn’t collect his keys) and always needing a personal 4am bike escort home from one of the nations , Annie- a sporty English girl who studies at Durham, Celia who pretends she comes from the ‘ends’ of London when really she’s a privileged posh Londoner, Emma and Tess add some diversity both coming from the States with Tess having a new bike story every week ranging from crashing into car barriers to popping tyres 15km away from Flogsta in the middle of nowhere. Charlie the chav who comes from London – everyone says the pomms can drink but I still am yet to see this guy finish a night out.

I came to Sweden at the start of August to do an intensive Swedish language course before the actual semester started. Even though the semester hasn’t properly started yet, this month has been the busiest of my life, with new weekend or daily trips constantly being organised all whilst attempting to learn a foreign language. For example, I went to Amsterdam with Celia, Jordan and Julian for a festival 2 weeks ago called lowlands, it was a super fun experience and it’s given me an even greater urge to continue to travel over Europe while I’m here. There’s a big group of us planning to go to Berlin in a few weeks for a friend’s birthday, as well as Munich for Oktoberfest and many many more (and Stockholm this weekend).

There’s so much to write about but I think this blog is already a tad too long. Exchange has been an unreal experience so far and if you get the opportunity, I wholeheartedly recommend you do it. So that’s been some of my experience so far and I’ve loved every minute of it, I can’t wait to keep studying here and continue to explore Europe! Vi ses- see you later in Swedish.

If you want any help or are indecisive about exchange and taking the plunge, chuck me a message on fb! Or if your just feeling lonely and want a chat, I’m all ears. Cheers!!

Also, live in flogsta.

Kain Thompson
Bachelor of Business
Uppsala Universitet
Sweden

For more information about the UTS Global Exchange program please visit: www.global-exchange.uts.edu.au