My first week in Sweden
Aug 29th, 2009 by philipp
It’s already been five days that I left beloved Marburg for my journey to Sweden. While I still don’t realize that I am going to stay 2000 kilometres from my home city for the next ten months, I am already getting quite used to my surroundings. But let me tell you step by step about those first days.
On Monday the 24th I went to Frankfurt airport for a flight to Umeå via Stockholm. After two hours the plane landed in Stockholm and I tried to get the connecting flight to Umeå. Unfortunately that didn’t work out very well and I missed the plane. Being a little shocked at that moment this wasn’t really a major problem as I was handed out a new ticket for the next flight just two hours later without further costs. In these two hours I met three Germans who had also missed their flight. Together we took the next plane to Umeå and arrived in our rooms in Ålidhem at about eight pm. I used the rest of the day to get to know the other people on my corridor as well as to talk to a friend from back home via Skype.
Tuesday morning started with a 20 minute walk towards the university in hope of actually finding the campus. While the road took me through a forest and past something that looked like a factory I arrived at the Universum Building 30 minutes early. Inside this modern looking building I found the “Aula Nordica” where the orientation week was supposed to take place. It’s a huge auditorium that would be perfect for presenting a theatre performance: There’s a big stage, different light settings, lots of curtains, remarkable acoustics and a nice atmosphere. Talking to some people already sitting there the Aula Nordica filled with international students. In the next two hours we were introduced to the University, the city of Umeå, some major facts about life in Sweden and upcoming events of the orientation week. Later that day most of the international students met in the city centre at the “Rådhustorget” (the town hall square) for a beer/water/wodka or in my case, a cold Coca Cola 
The second day at Umeå University started just like the first one did except that I found the buildings I was looking for immediately and even five minutes earlier. We were introduced to the University Library, heard even more interesting stories about “Sweden and the Swedes” and were presented Umeå’s sport centre IKSU, Europe’s largest sport centre. In the evening we met at Mariehemsängarna (big meadows near the University) to play some Swedish games. Divided into several groups we played “Kubb” and “Brännboll“. Already knowing Kubb I decided to try Brännboll. It was actually great fun until rain set in. Somehow we decided to keep on playing and had even more fun sliding from base to base. As the rain grew stronger and stronger we were all soaking wet and finally decided to head home. About 40 minutes later I arrived in my room in Ålidhem and enjoyed a nice warm shower.
Thursday started surprisingly healthy but a little tired as I was (and am) still waiting for the post to bring my pillow and blanket. At the Universum Building we were introduced to the Swedish system of study, the municipality of Umeå and the student unions. At two pm we started a campus race. In groups of eight to twelve people we walked around the campus looking for small boxes containing hints that could lead us the next boxes. Although we haven’t been able to find every ten boxes we had a great time and got to know each other a little better. Besides that we actually got to know the campus which was probably the main goal of this “friendly competition”, as the organisers called it.
Today we were offered some further insights to society and life in Sweden as well as a very interesting and entertaining presentation of the Sámi.
Later on we went on a bus tour around Umeå and enjoyed our first fika. After a guided walk tour in the city centre we finally met for a welcome reception at Rex. I put pictures of this day in the gallery. If you’re interested in seeing them please contact me as the gallery is password protected.
Looking back to those first five days I am really enjoying Umeå so far. Except the excitement of living in a country you don’t know and enjoying a week like you’re on holiday there are some things I am really starting to like about this place. For example, everyone involved in the organisation of the orientation course is obviously doing a great job as they are trying to get us new students socialised as soon and as good as possible. Even the housing is great. Something special that’s come to my attention is the university’s staff apparently caring for questions of equality in an extend that can hardly be compared to German standards. There seem to be a lot more people in this university that have actually heard of and thought about questions of gender, class and race than there appear to be in German universities. Having in mind that I only got to know a few Swedes, it does already seem that the Swedish society is a lot more open-minded and influenced by the thought of equality and justice than others, including my home country’s, seem to be. It will be quite interesting to see how this point of view might be confirmed, changed or argued. I’m looking forward to this. I am also very happy about meeting all those different people from all around the world. I am not sure about the countries but I have at least seen and talked to one person from every continent. It’s great to get the opportunity of talking to all those people with different social backgrounds and different cultures. There’s so much you don’t know about other countries and cultures that you can find out by just talking to people.
After my first week in Umeå I am quite happy to be here. I will let you know about my first courses and trips as soon as I find the time to do so. There will also be some pictures of Ålidhem and the room I’m living in.
