Week 1 - Personal Development (If you can't pack them wear them!) 13/01/12 - 20/1/12

So my journey to Sweden begins.

‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’ (St. Augustine)

I believe that experiencing travel is an education in itself and I want to fully embrace my Erasmus experience throughout the next four and a half months in Sweden. This experience will allow me to experience a different culture than Northern Ireland and allow me to develop both personally and professionally.

Megan, Rebecca and I wearing as much clothes as possible.

The Swedish term starts very early so it did not leave me a lot of preparation time; but when I said my final goodbyes to my family and friends it was then the experience I was about to embark on really hit me. We flew to Gothenburg on Friday the 13^th, once we arrived we got on a bus which left us at the train station where we met by our buddy Johan who kindly showed us to our accommodation. He was very friendly and helpful and throughout this week I have realised that most Swedish are. When we arrived at our accommodation we discovered we were on the seventh floor. All I can say is thank God for lifts! On the plus side I enjoy looking out at the view we have.

From exploring the town, we have realised it is quite small but with the cold weather here this is a good thing as most places are close together making things easier to access. Also, Sweden as I was warned before I came here, is very expensive and I can clarify this from been here only one week. Thankfully, there is a LIDL store next to our accommodation; I think we will have many trips here throughout the next few months.

I also noticed that the Swedish are very dependent on Technology; everything is organized through mobile phone or email. The Swedish also pay for most things using credit card and you cannot pay to get on the bus you must use a card. I found this strange. However, it is more efficient as in Sweden as everything and everyone is on time. I am a person who tends to be late so I think my time management skills will definitely benefit from this experience as it not acceptable to be late.

We have been to two classes this week for our Power, Gender, Ethnicity and other Inequalities module. It is quite a small class with Erasmus and International students from Italy, Namibia, Turkey and Wales. Therefore, discussing topics such education is much more interesting as we are getting the perspective of different cultures. I have noticed that the Swedish class is much more informal than the classes in Stranmillis. I think I prefer this as it is a more relaxed atmosphere with more emphasis on participation and group discussions. 

Before I set off my younger brother gave me a 'Swedish for Beginners' dictionary I hope to try to learn some Swedish during my time here even though everyone here speaks perfect English. The fact that the Swedish can speak English has definitely been useful for us when asking for directions and information. However, I have been working on trying to slow down my ‘Derry accent’ to allow people to understand me better.

Rebecca, Megan and I attended bowling and pool on Tuesday night. It was a great opportunity to meet other Erasmus students both new and old and find out different things to do especially from those students who have already been studying here during the Autumn Semester. I managed to get a strike on my first shot in bowling however, it went downhill from there and I think I got worse the more we played. Although, Rebecca and I were definitely on a winning streak when it came to pool.

Getting my bowling shoes on!

Me and Rebekah with our bowling team.

It has taken a few days to adjust to the Swedish surroundings but overall it has been a brilliant first week and I am excited for what next week brings. The University has good sporting facilities so I will look forward to joining the badminton club next week.

Until next time,

'Hej då'