The Last Blog a.k.a. This is It - Conclusions

Dear readers,

I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying their return to work and/or school/university after the summer break. This will be my last blog on studying in Sweden as an exchange student. I've really enjoyed writing these blogs and hope that you, my readers, have found my blogs

1. Informative
2. Clarifying
3. to have opened your mind to studying in Sweden (either at SLU or at another Swedish higher educational institution).
4. Inspiring (I hope that some of my readers have felt inspired to go study abroad)
5. Fun to read

So after ten months of blogging for SLU I would like to ask the questions: where does this blog leave us (both myself as a writer and you as readers)? What do you as a reader and potential (exchange) student here in Sweden get from my blogs? What is my overall conclusion to studying at SLU in Uppsala, Sweden to complete my Master's?

Over the past ten months I have written about my experiences in Sweden, pro's and con's about studying here and have suggested things to do during your exchange year here in Sweden. I have really enjoyed blogging and communicating with people from all over the world. Blogging has been very fulfilling for me, and I actually realised that I really enjoy writing and conveying my thoughts to you, my readers. I hope that you have found my blogs similarly inspiring and enlightening.

What do you get from my blogs?
Well, that's a question for each of you to answer individually, but I think that my blogs provide a good general idea and overview of what it's like to study in Sweden. If you have any questions about studying here, simply read through my blog articles.

What is my overall conclusion to studying in Sweden?
Overall, I think studying at SLU as an Erasmus exchange student has been rewarding (completing my studies), enriching and fun. As with all international experiences, I think I grew the most by immersing myself in a culture and foreign country that I was previously not acquainted with or had ever visited. I got to know some really good, interesting and annoying people during my stay. That's part of life though, but I still think meeting new people from other cultures and living in another country (and climate) is always interesting.

I've had some great times in Sweden and some not so great times. I've had some excellent professors and impeccable and professional guidance from my professors. The hardest part about Sweden was the winter and the weather (for me at least). In my personal opinion, the weather really sucks in Uppsala. On the other hand, bad weather just makes the good days seem so much better!

Overall conclusion: do a study abroad year, whether it's in Sweden or somewhere else on this planet! I think it's a really great experience that you will not forget. I can only recommend SLU if you're a person that get easily distracted by all the various impulses and happenings that you'll commonly find in a (large) city environment. Uppsala is a small place (in my opinion) and I think it provides for a really good and pleasant study environment. There are not as many distractions as in other places I've been to (e.g. events, parties, places to go, etc.). Yes, Uppsala is very small, but I've really gotten alot of work done here, mainly because of just that reason. What did I ultimately come to Uppsala for? For studying, not partying!

SLU has some really friendly and supportive professors, and I urge you to sieze the opportunity to collaborate with one of SLU's professors! If you're looking for a good research opportunity, I definitely recommend SLU and Uppsala (especially if you don't mind the subarctic climate and a relatively laid back and in my opinion a little monotonous environment).

Well, that's it. There's my take on Sweden and SLU. I wish everyone the best of luck and success for their future endeavors, and who knows, you may read my materials again someday!

Best wishes to all!

Julian

P.S.: On the right hand side of my blog you will find "Blog Archive". Please click on the dates in order to find older blogs. Happy reading! :-)

Warm Summer Greetings to Everyone and Answer to a Study-Related Question

Dear readers,

I've been quite busy with moving these past two weeks. However, I am enjoying the summer weather that we've had. The past few days have been quite pleasant with temps around +23°C.

Recently, another blogger interested in Swedish Study-Abroad opportunites in the Uppsala area asked my the fellowing question:

[...] I recently graduated with a BS in History from a college outside of Chicago. I am considering studying abroad for my MA or perhaps PHD. I would love to read about the step you took leading up to attending SLU including expenses and the like.

-Another blogger (keeping the username private...)

This is a really great question to ask! Really relevant and really interesting question! I'm going to answer it!

 LEADING STEPS...

Long story short I was in the United States working for the Forest Service as a Wildland Firefighter. I wanted to come back to Europe to study and live (I was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, so I'm also a German and with that an EU citizen), so I applied to the EnvEuro European Master of Environmental Science programme. It's an EU program with universities in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Sweden. One year you have to study at one location and for your second year and during your thesis writing you have to study at another location. I chose to begin my studies at Uni Copenhagen and then for my second year I decided on SLU in Uppsala, Sweden. That's how I got to Sweden. For further information, here's the website of my program.

www.enveuro.eu

The leading steps again in short.
1. Wanted to come back to Europe, so I applied to the EnvEuro Programme
2. Got accepted into my academic programme and began studying in Copenhagen
3. Moved to Sweden for my second year of studies (at SLU, Uppsala)

You're probably interested in why I came back to study in Europe. In short I'm a European citizen. As a European citizen I did not have to pay any tuition. In addition, I received a European Erasmus Study Abroad Grant, so that help finance part of my second year in Sweden.

EXPENSES AND MISCELLANEOUS


Bottom line, as a European (EU) citizen I didn't have to pay tuition to attend uni. I had to pay rent. I had some money saved from work in the USA. That payed for the first half of the year in Copenhagen. Then, I found a job in Copenhagen to help pay for the rest of the time here in Denmark. In Sweden, my rent was around €380 per month and my Erasmus International Grant money payed for some of that. For the latter part of the academic year at SLU my parents helped with costs, I took out a small student loan and found a job.

Expenses in short again:
1. No tuition
2. €420 monthly rent in Copenhagen
3. €380 monthly rent living in SLU on-campus housing
4. (Sweden) food: approx. €200 monthly
5. Approx. €150 for moving from Denmark to Sweden

So there you have it. Steps leading up to attending SLU plus expenses and the like. Bottom line, I would keep in mind that as a NON-EU citizen you have to pay tuition if you attend SLU or many other European universities. Please keep that in mind and check out the tuition fees on the university webpage.

I really recommend coming to Sweden to study for your Master's or PhD. Sweden provides a good learning environment (at least at SLU Ultuna, I don't know about other Swedish universities), great professors (I've dealt with) and a pretty good/easy living environment. Once in the EU you have the opportunity to participate in a variety of European-wide study and exchange programs. More often than not these study abroad programs are supported by a variety of scholarships. Remember though, you don't get all of the perks if you're not an EU citizen or within the Schengen Economic area (countries within the EU economic zone).

I hope this blog has answered your questions and please feel free to ask other questions in the form of comments. Should there be anything else you're interested in, please just write the question in a comment to one of my blog posts! That would be great.

Fellow readers, have a pleasant day and look for my next blog sometime early next week!

Take care!

Julian

So You've Been Accepted Into a Swedish Study Abroad Program! What To Pack and Expect Upon Arrival in Sweden (Specifically If You're Studying At SLU)? (Sorry about the length of this blog!)

Dear readers,

First of all, I hope that all of you are doing well, as usual. Here all is well, I'm currently planning the next steps of my life after having finished my Master's at SLU.

This blog is intended for those readers that have been accepted into a Swedish study abroad program. Of course when I discuss travelling and arriving in Sweden, I'm referring to Uppsala and/or the greater Stockholm area. You may have other experiences if you got to northern Sweden e.g. Umeå or southern Sweden such as Gothenburg or Lund.

Right, now let's get on with the blog! :-)

First of all when you arrive, you will probably arrive by airplane and will land at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. This is the major airport in Sweden and if you want to arrive in Stockholm, this is most likely where you will land. Now here comes the surprise. Arlanda Airport is NOT a city airport. Actually, it lies in the middle of nowhere. In other words, don't think your long journey to Sweden from wherever you're coming from is over as soon as you arrive at the airport. Many people miss this little detail and are overwhelmed by the fact that they must continue their journey by bus or train.

If you're headed to Stockholm or Uppsala city from Arlanda Airport you can either take the taxi, bus or train to your destination. Taking the taxi is an expensive option and will cost you around €50 for one way. An advantage about taking the taxi is that it's door-to-door service and upon arrival in Uppsala or Stockholm you won't have to take another bus or for that matter pay for another transport ticket. Taking the bus or train is the cheapest solution. A one-way ticket will cost you roughly €8-10.

If you're headed to Uppsala be prepared to walk and/or take the bus for around 15 minutes to arrive at your final destination.

Just a reminder: Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is NOT the classical city airport such as JFK in New York City or LAX in Los Angeles or London-Heathrow or Paris Charles de Gaulle and you WILL have to take public transport or make arrangements to be picked up, in order for you to arrive at your final destination.

Here comes part 2 of this blog: What to pack when you're leaving for Sweden?

In general during the late summer, during the end of August or beginning of September (remember Uppsala is around 60°N, so end of August-September is really pushing towards the late summer) the weather is relatively pleasant and pretty stable. My experience in Uppsala in terms of weather in August-September was actually quite pleasant. Daytime temperatures range between +15 to +25°C, while nighttime temps are anywhere between +5 to +15°C. Some days however, can be pretty nasty and the highs can be around +10 to +15°C.

So what to pack? During the end of August and September you'll need summer stuff and a good jacket for the cool nights. When the fall and winter arrives everything changes. Basically for the winter bring everything with you that will keep you warm. Don't skimp on the good winter jacket. I assure you, you WILL need your winter jacket to stay alive during the frigid and long Swedish winter. During the dead of winter daytime highs range anywhere between -15 and +1°C and the nighttime temps range between -5 and -35°C. So this is F%¤#@() cold! Pack a few summer clothes that you can wear during the last month of warm weather after you arrive in Sweden. More importantly, pack winter stuff! You WON'T regret doing that.

I know they're all the predictions about global warming and things. Despite this, when it comes to the Swedish winter, global warming somehow miracoulously freezes over into a 6 month ice age!

To recap what I've discussed in this blog:
1) The Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is NOT a city airport and you will have to take public transport or make arrangements to get to your final destination

2) For the short summer pack summer things (remember: cool days are possible even during August)

3) For the winter pack all the warm things you can in order to survive.

That's it! In addition, once you arrive you will be advised to register in Sweden at the Migration Office or "Migrationsverket" in Swedish. Small tip: if you're NOT an EU citizen, registering with the Swedish Migration Office will cost you 1,000 SEK or around €110. This IS a sort of "hidden" fee when you arrive in Sweden. If your school has worked around this, you're in the clear. Here is the website that explains everything about registering for a residence permit in Sweden:

http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/studera_en.html

On the left hand of the page you can click on your situation. Remember to check out the "fees" section!!!! This IS a hidden fee. Also, I advise you to have medical insurance. People that live in Sweden for a longer time are entitled to all the social services, but if you're an exchange student, don't expect to get free health care just because you've arrived in a social democratic country!

That's it! I wish you all the best upon your arrival in Sweden and a successful year!

Look for my next blog at the beginning of next week!

Peace and Love!

Julian

Great Perk About SLU Housing and Things To Do During Summer

Dear readers,


I hope that all of you are enjoying some nice sunny and warm summer days, wherever you are. Here the days have been quite pleasant, although the last few days have been somewhat grey and windy. There are two things that I would like to discuss here in this blog.

The first thing deals with on-campus housing at SLU. During the months of June and July SUSBO (the on-campus housing contractor) does not require that you pay rent. That means that you can stay in Uppsala for free during the summer break. Actually this is sort of pleasant. Yes, Ultuna (SLU campus and also the location of the on-campus housing) is somewhat dull and not much happens here. During the summer though and when the weather is nice here and you have one or two friends around, Ultuna can be quite a blast. Especially since all the dorms are practically empty no one will bother you if you play loud music at 2 am! :-)

The second thing I want to cover is ideas of what to do in the Uppsala area during the summer months. Besides going to the city and enjoying the warm summer days in one of the many parks in Uppsala, you can also go to one of Uppsala's many restaurants and bars.

Unfortunately most of the student nations are closed during the summer months due to a lack of students. It wouldn't make sense to keep the nations open during the summer without any customers (a.k.a. students) around.

Here's another idea! As you have maybe read in my previous blogs, in the Uppsala area there are a multitude of camping, hiking and sports opportunities. This past weekend my girlfriend and I went camping on Lake Mälaren, the lake just to the south of Uppsala and the SLU campus. Lake Mälaren is a huge lake with a very extensive and diverse shoreline. There are many nature reserves, small beaches and great large and small camping sites along the lake's shoreline. If you feel like camping at some large and official camping ground you can do that, or what I prefer is to find a tiny and hidden spot along the lake. Choose whatever you prefer.

Here in Sweden you are allowed to camp on private properties for one or two nights. In Sweden the term used to describe this is "allemansrätt" or in English this means "freedom to roam". This is a truly great thing about Sweden. Basically it states that everyone can use nature and forests as they want, provided that they follow some basic etiquette guidelines. Don't create trash and don't disturb other people. Here's the Wikipedia link on "freedom to roam":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

This is sort of nice, because in the USA some farmer dude may threaten you with a gun if you're on his property. This intense situation will most probably NOT occur in Sweden, besides the fact that in my opinion most Swedes are anti-gun and pacifists. GO SWEDEN!!!!!

Anyways, there are many things to do in Sweden over the summer. I recommend to stay here in Ultuna for free over the summer and use the rent money that you save to enjoy some of Sweden, as this is not really as possible to do during the cold winters and during the school year when you're crammed with school work and projects.

ENJOY A PIECE OF SWEDEN DURING THE SUMMER!!!

Peace and love people!

Julian

Great Day Trip!!!

Dear readers,

I hope that all of you are well and you are enjoying some summer weather. Today the weather in Uppsala is rather grey and rainy. Actually this sort of weather is actually a pleasant change from the long spell of warm and sunny weather. I occasionally enjoy a cool and moist day. Good for the plants and animals and good for keeping the air fresh. :-)

So, this time I want to tell you readers about a small and very pleasant day trip that you can do while studying in Uppsala.

I personally can't stay in one place for too long. Generally after two months of being in once place, town or city I need to flee from that place and visit and relax at some other location. The city of Uppsala is rather small in my opinion and it's nice to see something new.

What do I do to get my time away? Go to Stockholm for a day! :-) (Yeah, it rhymes!)

Stockholm is a really nice city. The city has a beautiful old part called "Gamla Stan" and you can enjoy your time at various bars, restaurants, clubs and just hang out at the piers off of the road named "Strandvägen". Strandvägen is really great especially on a sunny day. You're basically walking along the water all the time and you can sit down for a beer and relax in the sun. Besides this, Stockholm has some nice museums that you can visit. Entrance is a little expensive sometimes (around €7-12) but I think it's worth it.

The train ticket is also affordable and is around €7 for one way. So all in all if you feel like spending around €30-40 you can have a really great day in Stockholm and walk around and see most of the city's attractions. Moreover, there are often sports events and concerts in Stockholm. You just need to find them. After a long day in the city it's great to return to the serenity of Uppsala and ultimately Ultuna campus where you can rest after a long day.

I've "escaped" a few times and I always feel more relaxed once I'm away from my regular work and living place for a while. Just an affordable idea and a great daytime low-budget student trip.

Take care my readers and look for my next blog!

Peace and love!

Julian

Update & THE WEATHER IN SWEDEN IS AWESOME!!!!!!

Dear readers,

As usual I hope that everyone's having a great day and week and enjoying the warm and long summer days, depending on where you are on the planet. For the rest of you, I hope that you're enjoying some beautiful winter days if you come from the southern hemisphere.

All is well here. I'm so thrilled to be done with my master's. Here's some advice. Don't take forever and procrastinate while working on your master's. Get it done already! I don't think it makes sense to sit with an unfinished master's for a long time. Of course the work is challenging and it requires alot of time, energy and thinking, especially in the "discussion" section of your master's thesis. Despite this, you really only need to sit down and do it. Basically a master's is like a normal class research paper on steroids! :-D If you know what I mean. It's (just) a supersized research paper. It takes a while, but overall I think it's a manageable task if you work on it a little bit every day. I really recommend NOT to drag it out longer than you need to.

Now to the real point as to why I'm writing this blog. The weather here in Sweden is AMAZING!!! This whole past week it's been really nice and warm and dry. The temperatures are around +15°C during the night and around +23 - +25°C during the day. Of course if you're coming from a tropical country such as India or Bangladesh or Panama that temperature is not very warm. Remember though, you're in Sweden and located 60°N! So you take what you can get here! :-)

Bottom line the weather's great here. Really great to go camping and hanging out. Over the past days I've just been chilling and relaxing. Today I think I may do a BBQ later and possibly go camping at Lake Mälaren either this or next weekend.

So good stuff going on here during the summer in Uppsala!

Julian

Gälbo (On Campus Housing) and Uppsala is Emptying Out and A Word About On-Campus Living!

Dear readers,

Wow these past couple of weeks have been really crazy. I finally presented and defended my Master's thesis, so I've officially graduated with a Master's of Science. This feels really good, but I must take the whole thing with a grain of salt because I still need to revise some things on my final thesis manuscript before it's published in the SLU library system. Nevertheless, I'm still very happy to have the bulk of the thesis finished.

Here in Sweden (at SLU more specifically) you will write your Master's thesis and eventually present it in front of your external examinor(s). Once you have done that, you will be given the possibility to revise it and hand it in again. This final manuscript will then be graded. This is different from most countries, including Denmark (Copenhagen University) where I began my studies. At other universities, you're expected to fully complete your manuscript on the date that you graduate and present and defend your thesis. At SLU you first complete, present and defend your thesis and then you will revise it to later publish it in the SLU library system. This is actually good, because your thesis will become available online and will be accessible online via a Google search! This is a pretty cool system and in my opinion blows the other universities' Master's publishing methods and policies out of the water! Most other universitites merely make your manuscript available in the form of a booklet in the institution's library and not publicly available online.

My second thing that I want to discuss in this blog is the city of Uppsala during summer break. It's dead but still charming. At this time you can really enjoy the "Swedish" side of Uppsala. There are very few international students left in Uppsala. Most have left for the summer and the many new ones haven't arrived yet. So Uppsala is back to good 'ol Sweden and not anymore a mixing pot of various cultures and minds (a.k.a. exchange students). Bottom line, there are much fewer people around.

My final topic I would like to discuss is the SLU on-campus housing at Gälbo. The place is even more dead than the city! :-) There are extremely few people around. Almost no Swedes left (that I've seen) and some international students that haven't returned home. I like this though. Finally I don't have to see all these damn dogs that they have on campus.

A final word. If I would have the chance to redo this year in Uppsala I would've not lived on campus. Yes, it's very close to classes which is extremely convenient during a frigid Swedish winter (ca. -25°). The real negatives of living on campus is 1. the people you live with, 2. the fact that you're living in the middle of nowhere and 3. the dogs (no not police, the actual dogs, Canis lupus familiaris).

The people I lived with were extremely boring and very senstitive about even the smallest sound that I made which is really annoying. I'm not always a loud person, but being sensitive about the smallest things is sort of unnecessary in my opinion. Another thing is if I wouldn't have said "hello" to my housemates and actually attempted to talk to them, I would have never conversed with them. I think this is really strange and really just boring. I think if you live with people, you could at least have the courtesy to say "hi" to other people living there. I guess it's a thing here in Sweden that everyone must be really quiet and introverted!

Secondly, Gälbo is literally situated between a forest and a field. It's really pretty but really boring. It takes ca. 20 minutes to get to the city by bike and the way home from a party is often long, cold and really sucks!

Finally, DOGS!!!! There are sooooooo many dogs on campus. SO MANY, SO MANY, SO MANY DAMN DOGS!!!! I cannot stress this enough. ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOG!!! I don't mind that, but many residents that are dog owners seem to let their dogs have the same rights as humans, e.g. jumping up on the counters and tables, eating food from tables and just generally being allowed to misbehave. Really annoying! People, if you own a dog, discipline it! Also, the place is for humans, not dogs. People don't seem to understand that dogs do not pay the rent, people do. So following that idea, dogs should take the second place, not people. Some on-campus friends of mine and I had a pretty big problem with this and I really think it needs to be addressed by the housing committee.

Again, if I would redo my Uppsala year, I would live in the city with more people, more open and creative minds and attitudes and more things to do. Just a piece of advice for all you incoming students!

That's all folks and stay tuned to my next couple of blogs. This should be my last few weeks of blogging, as I will be leaving Sweden shortly.

Enjoy your summer days!

Julian

After all this information on Sweden, where does it leave us?

Dear readers,

I hope that the past weekend and days have been pleasant for you. Right now is a super busy time for me because I'm getting my Master's Thesis draft done. Unfortunately this means that partying is not really in the picture. Last week I spent an average of 12 hours a day working on and writing my Master's Thesis paper. Just a little word of warning for you getting ready to do your Master's: it's really quite a bit of work at the end. Also quite a few organisational details need to be addressed.

Anyhow, my past blogs have dealt with studying in Sweden from an American Perspective. You guys can now find out information of what it's like studying, partying, living and eating here. Great! So where does all of this leave us at the end? Do I recommend coming to Sweden, and what's the take-home message from my last series of blogs?

Let me begin with the overall experience that I've had in Sweden so far. In general, I've had some really nice and interesting times here in Sweden during the past 9 months of living and studying here. I've met some very interesting people, seen many new things (including the city of Uppsala and Stockholm and some other parts of Sweden) and of course attended some very fun and academically challenging classes here at SLU.

My final verdict. I think it's great to come to Sweden for one exchange year. At the same time, I've met some students here that have been here for several years. They all really seem to like it. I like it here in Uppsala, but it's just too rural for me. I wouldn't live here for more than one year. Also, I prefer a place that has more relaxed rules about alcohol and partying. I can understand that the Swedish government doesn't want people drinking (especially in Northern Sweden where the winters are completely dark) and alcohol is a HUGE source of tax revenue, but when it comes to having just a couple of beers to relax I don't like the government control of the Swedish liquor stores, the Systembolaget. It's a little too much government and too many rules for me.

On the other hand, I think the educational system here in Sweden is great. Everyone has the chance to attend university without any larger worries about finances as education is free and the cost of attending university can be subsidised by the government.

Uppsala is a really nice place during Spring when it actually gets warm here. The winters are beautiful but too cold for me! :-) I prefer a more temperate climate with shorter winters. I don't mind the cold very much, just if the cold is between -10°C and -20°C for more than one month (which it is here) it gets too much for me.

I've had a great time here and it's been a wonderful opportunity to study here, but I really look forward to moving on with life and to a warmer place where I speak the language and that is more populous.

Before writing this blog I've discussed with some other exchange students the experiences they have had in Sweden and their views on their entire study period. There seems to be a general consensus among the people that I've talked to. I've talked to around 20 or so exchange students during the past few weeks. The general consensus is that everyone is very happy that they came here, but most are ready to leave and move on to other places.

For you that are planning to study in Sweden, don't be biased by this opinion. I still think it's a great opportunity to study abroad in Sweden, and you should seize that opportunity. See for yourself where your new experiences and studies take you!

Get out and see the world! Come to Sweden to study! You won't regret it and who knows, I know some people that have moved here from Germany and have stayed here for over ten years. So see for yourself!


Julian

An addition to my last blog about Swedish food....

Dear readers,

I hope that all of you had a great and relaxing weekend. I spent most of this weekend outside in the sun, the weather was absolutely amazing here this weekend. Really great sun and warm temperatures. During these days I'm really beginning to notice how far north I truly am. The sun sets around 20:30 and it's light until shortly before midnight. Not totally light that is, there is still some sunlight in the sky facing towards the north. It starts getting light around 03:00 again and the sun comes up around 05:00. Really cool!


In my last blog I wrote about Swedish food. I want to add a website link to last week's blog on food. This web site is a Swedish online version of a weekly periodical called "Land". In my personal opinion it's sort of an exceedingly boring Swedish old-people's magazine. My on campus corridor receives this periodical every week. My house mates seem to enjoy reading it and looking at the images, but as it is in Swedish and the articles seem utterly pointless and about the most petty and uninteresting stuff I could ever think of, I refrain from reading the whole thing. The only part of "Land" that I look at is the recipe section. The food looks pretty good and it's interesting to look at some typical Swedish dishes.

Here's the link to the website. It's all in Swedish, but I think you'll be able to look through it. All you have to do is click on a link that will take you to a recipe page. Here it is:

http://www.mixr.se/mat-dryck

Enjoy looking though the typical Swedish recipes and should you have any questions please feel free to ask me this question as a comment to this blog post. My last blog which discussed Swedish food was a little abstract in my opinion. With this website you'll be able to more "tangibly" see what Swedish food is about.

Take care and have a great week!

Julian

Studying in Sweden- An American Perspective: FOOD!!!!

Dear readers,

I haven't posted anything in a while. I hope that Easter break was as good for you guys as it was for me. I hung out with friends and partied and of course also thought about my future. Soon I will be done with my Master's degree and will have to decide what to do for the next months and years to come. Such decisions take lots of time and thinking.

Finally the time has come for me to write my last blog on what it's like to study in Sweden from an American perspective. This time I will write about Swedish food.

Well, there are two ways of looking at Swedish food. If you're a food connoisseur and a real lover of Italian, Japanese, French and Spanish food, in other words really gourmet style food, then Swedish food is not very satisfying. If however, you prefer simple and filling foods, you've come to the right place.

Swedish food tends to be very basic in my opinion. Lots of meat and lots of potatoes, bread, crackers, cheese, milk, rather heavy things. There are many different types of breads and milk products you can find in a Swedish supermarket. Many Swedes eat bread and cheese for breakfast including a variety of cold cuts. A good food many people eat in Sweden is fish. Many Swedes eat dishes made with salmon and other types of fish such as cod, flounder and halibut. So there ARE some very good things to choose from.

An interesting Swedish dairy product is "Filmjölk". Basically it's a type of rotten milk. I know this sounds really weird, but it's actually quite good. Filmjölk is actually fermented with a type of Lactobacillus or bacteria naturally found in raw milk products. Give it a try when you're here with your breakfast cereal! It's very healthy and I promise you, you won't get sick! ;-)

Another thing very common here in Sweden is hamburgers and a deal of (pretty healthy) fast foods. So it's sort of like home! :-D

Despite my opinion on Swedish food not being the best in the world, Swedish pastries ARE among the best in the world! You will find a great variety of cakes, cookies, sweets and candies here in Sweden, and they're all very tasty and professionally made if bought from an up-scale pastry store.

I personally prefer to cook here and not go out very much. Going out is sort of expensive and I consider myself a pretty good cook. I certainly satisfy myself when I make my own dishes. Don't expect to cook with gas stoves here, as all stoves are electrical here.

My overall opinion: Swedish food is ok, meaning average. It's not the best in the world and other countries have much better track records when it comes to variety and tastiness of food (for example France or Spain), but I promise you, you will get by without any problems. And if you ever get too sick of Swedish food, there are always the world-class pastries or the occasional ethnic restaurant in Stockholm to lighten up your days!

That's all for now folks! Take care and look for my next blog on Sunday!

Julian

Happy Easter Everyone and SLU Campus is Dead!!!!

Dear readers,

I wish you all a great Easter Vacation and lots of fun times with your friends and families or by yourselves, whatever you choose to do over the break.

SLU campus is totally dead. Almost all people have left. That IS another thing to mention about living on campus. Around holidays seemingly everyone leaves campus to go home or on vacation for this Easter weekend. People already started to leave at the beginning of this week and now after a week of people leaving, the place is more or less completely desolate. (Over the Easter weekend people have several days off, or they take several days off from work, so it's a real vacation for everyone!)

While everyone leaving campus can mean that SLU campus becomes incredibly boring, I sort of like the lack of people and most of all DOGS!!!! There are dogs everywhere here!!!! Besides this, the dogs have hairdos!!!! This is the first country I've ever been in where I've seen many dogs with different hairdos. I mean that's unique to say the least!!!! Anyway, back to the point, there's no one here. I like the emptiness. I can play loud music whenever I want and hang out in the yard without being distracted by some people walking by.

During the past few days I've been working on my Master's degree and calculating things in R and enjoying the nicer weather that's starting to appear here in Uppsala. The sun has been shining for many hours during the past few days.

I wish everyone a great and relaxing weekend!

Julian

Studying in Sweden From an American Perspective Part IV - Swedish Culture

Dear readers,

This blog is a continuation of my last blogs on what it's like to study in Sweden from an American perspective. In this blog I will discuss the Swedish culture and in my next blog (the last one of this series) I will write about Swedish food, as I've been requested to do. :-)

So what's Swedish culture like? Very interesting and unique indeed. There are many things in Swedish culture that revolve around the very extreme weather contrasts that occur on an annual basis here, namely a very cold, long and dark winter, and a short, light and warm summer. The winters generally last from end of October or November to end of March, with December being the darkest months where the sun rises around 8:30 and sets and 14:30. During the summer sunrise may be around 3:30 and sunset around 23:30.

During the winter many Swedes love to go to the saunas. As you probably already know from my previous blogs I also frequently attended sauna sessions during the winter. I think it's a great way to sweat and sit in a warm room where you can forget about the frigid outside winter temperatures.

In addition to going to saunas, many Swedes ski during the winter. There are IDEAL cross-country skiing conditions here during the winter (at least during this winter). There are many cross-country skiing courses close to Uppsala that run along some extremely picturesque winter countryside. Really a great way to get out during the day and get your exercise.

On Lake Mälaren, the lake south of SLU and Uppsala (which also leads all the way down to Stockholm) there are some great ice skating conditions during the winter. During the coldest months the city of Uppsala plows the snow on the ice from south of Uppsala all the way to Stockholm. So there's plenty of distance to go on ice skates. It's free to ice skate on the lake and a wonderful way to experience the sunny but cold Swedish winter days.

During the summer months Swedes are OUTSIDE all the time. As you will also experience, as soon as the warm sun re-emerges after a cold and long winter you will want to be outside and in the sun all the time. Swedes love to be outside and have barbecues. Now as the weather is warming up here more and more people are going out to eat, read, relax, party and barbecue. Lots of fun!

Finally, Swedes are always up for a beer or a nice Koskenkorva vodka with a pine branch in it in the saunas. This is one of the Swedish cultural facets that I love most. A great way to pre-game before a party: do some physical activity or play sports (for example soccer), head into the sauna after that and enjoy some beer and vodka. The night will surely be a fun one! :-)

The northern people- the Swedes' culture resembles our usual impression of the "western" culture, with a few quirks. Swedish people are very, very friendly and helpful. I've never had a problem with rude or unfriendly Swedish people. Finally, Swedish people have a very special sense of humour that I've not fully grasped either and I can't explain. It's strange, that's all I have to say. Strange in a positive way. Quirky is maybe the right word. You'll have to figure that one out for yourselves! :-D

As usual, take it easy my readers and stay tuned for my next blog on Swedish food!


Julian

Studying in Sweden From an American Perspective Part IV

Dear Readers,

Welcome back to my blog! You haven't seen very much activity from me over the past week. I've been really busy with my Master's Thesis. Currently I'm doing a wide range of statistical tests in the statistics computer program "R". All is going well and my first draft is due this coming Friday! So lots going on!

I've also started working. I coach kids aged between 12 and 18 rowing at a private boarding school 30 kilometres from here. I love working with the kids and it's really alot of fun training and coaching them!

The time has come for my next blog on Sweden from an American perspective.

This time I will write about something that all of you are surely interested in: PARTYING!!! Uppsala's night life is uniquely Uppsala and I guess I could put it, Uniquely Swedish. I'll explain what I mean! :-)

To begin. It is obvious that in a city with around 30,000 students there will be some hardcore partying going on. That's the case! On almost every day of the week you can find parties. If they're not at the Student Nations, the parties are at private student residencies or in corridors (dorms). There are no shortages of parties here in Uppsala. At the parties you meet many new people and can (if you want) get plenty of phone numbers, depending on your ambitions and goals. :-)

I enjoy going to the Student Nations, but after a year of living in Uppsala I feel that the parties at the Nations become somewhat monotonous. Instead I prefer going to house parties. After living in Uppsala for more than six months I have made some good friends here and always enjoy having a beer with them and hanging out. I'm sure it will be the same for you once you're studying in Uppsala.

Despite all the positive points about Uppsala's night life, there are a few minor points that I personally criticise. First of all, alcohol is REALLY expensive here in Sweden. Drinks are affordable at the nations (around $3-5 for a beer, more for cocktails and other fancy drinks), but not at all at "normal" bars where you'll end up paying around $8-10 for a beer. I think that's a little pricey. Also, when you go to the liquor store called the "Systembolaget" (the Swedish version of a massive tax revenue source; alcohol is taxed around 300% here in Sweden), I recommend to buy beer and wine and drink that. If you would like to go a little fancier, say with vodka, be prepared to shell out around $40 for a 1 litre bottle of vodka!!!! Yeah, not cool! Furthermore, parties generally end excessively early. I have also mentioned this in my earlier blogs. Most Student Nations' parties end around 2 AM and bars close around 1 AM. Additionally, when all the bars and nations close, there are only two options: 1. find an after party or 2. go to bed.

I'm a city person and am used to going out late and having countless choices of affordable and ritzy places to go to. In my opinion you can enjoy a fun night life in Uppsala, but don't expect the parties of your lives. Uppsala night life is cool but not great in my opinion. Of course I've had my fun and great times here too. Partying in Uppsala bears the Swedish restrictions: very early start and finishes to parties, limited number of places to go and expensive alcohol.

Either way, it's a nice experience here in Uppsala and despite the few negative points with partying I always have a good time here!

Take care everyone and stay tuned for my next blog which I'll post towards the end of this week!

Julian

Studying in Sweden- An American Perspective III

Dear readers,

Welcome back to my blog and I hope that all of you had a relaxing weekend. This weekend I just relaxed, had a few beers and watched a few movies. It was really pleasant to just kick back. I also looked for jobs for after I finish my Master's and also spent some time working on my data analysis.

In my last two blogs I discussed (1) Weather, (2) Transportation and Surrounding Environment and (3) European and Swedish education, comparing all to experiences I had while studying at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, New York.

In this blog I will discuss student life in Uppsala as an SLU student and compare it to my student life in the US. Overall, student life in Uppsala is really a blast. I can't put it any other way.

There are two ways of looking at student life in Uppsala: from a "living on campus" and "living off campus" point of view. In general living on campus is more convenient than living off campus, however you're closer to the city while residing off campus. (See my previous blogs for more info on living off or on campus). On campus I live a pretty relaxed life, and classes are close and I can come home to have lunch. I live with 7 other people, 6 girls and one other guy. Overall, it's quite a bit of fun living in on-campus housing. I meet many people while in classes and during my free time. My criticisms with living on campus are (1) there are only a limited amount of people that you meet, as not very many people live here, (2) there are not very many international students living on campus and (3) Ultuna (campus) is pretty far from the city, aka it can get dull here at times. A good point about living on campus is that you will immediately have the opportunity to meet many Swedish people and really gain insight and immerse yourself into the Swedish culture.

If you want to meet many different people all the time, I would really recommend that you live off campus. In off campus residencies, you will live in close proximity to Swedes and many other international students. I find this slightly more appealing, after spending much of my stay here in SLU campus housing. Living off campus allows you to meet everyone from everywhere at any time! No end, lots of social interaction and great opportunities to make new friends and meet new people! Moreover, living off campus will allow you to enjoy the city of Uppsala more, as it's only a few minutes' walk away. Uppsala is a nice town to stroll around, meet other new people, relax and shop in. As I'm a city person, I would have chosen to live closer to the city as opposed to living on campus. Also, if you live close to the city the distances to and from the city are more bearable, especially after a night of partying.

SLU's on campus housing is similar to Ithaca College's in the way that it's a bit far from the town of Ithaca, just like Uppsala City is 5 kilometres away from Campus.

I think that here in Uppsala I meet and interact with a greater variety of people from different cultural backgrounds, as opposed to when I attended Ithaca. I really embrace meeting people from diffent cultures as I enjoy learning about their home countries, their backgrounds and memorising a word or two of their languages. Overall the amount of social interaction that I have here in Uppsala is far greater compared to that at Ithaca. I meet new people almost every day!

My final word. I think that participating in a student exchange program not only increases your academic capacity, but at the same level your social skills. During these past 1.5 years (last year in Denmark, this year in Sweden) I've really grown from a social point of view. I think it's really fun and a great life tool to learn and know how to interact with a variety of people with different backgrounds, languages, beliefs and values. If you're planning on working internationally (and I do) knowing how to communicate with all people I think is of great essence.

My advice: go on an academic exchange program!!!! It's sooooooo worth it!

That's it for this blog. Next time I'll discuss parties in Uppsala! :-D Until then and enjoy your week!

Julian

Studying in Sweden- An American Perspective Part II

Dear readers,

GETTING CLOSE TO SPRING!!!! :-))) Finally the weather is beginning to shape up and warm up here a little. Winter doldrums seem to last forever. Over the weekend and these past days the sun has been shining and the temperatures are beginning to rise. Today it was around 47°F or about 8°C. So it's really starting to become nice around here. We still have snow, but it's melting quickly! Good thing and finally this is happening again.

This is the second blog of my series about studying in Sweden from an American perspective. Last time I discussed the weather and the environment and surroundings.

This time I will write about education, i.e. my experiences as a university student here in Sweden, my experiences and how this compares to my experiences I had at Ithaca College.

To begin with education, it's free here in Europe for Europeans. This has several impacts on the way I feel people view education here. Some students are much more relaxed about education and thus don't work as hard as in the U.S. where some (including I) worked their butts off to get every penny out of their education. By saying this, not everyone takes education lightly here. As everywhere there will be some slackers and some people that choose to put lots of effort into their school work. In general, my impression is that most students at SLU are very dedicated to their work and studies. So that's a good thing.

Second, the classes I've taken here have been pretty relaxed as opposed to some classes I've taken at Ithaca. I think there are two reasons as to why I view classes as easier here. First of all, while at Ithaca I was taking classes that I wasn't very interested in or they were really difficult (e.g. Organic Chemistry I and II, we all know about these classes). While attending Master's Level classes I feel that information comes to me easier and I have less trouble grasping it. I believe that's the case with everyone. If you're interested in a topic, I think it's more fun, easier and more gratifying to grasp as opposed to information that you're not interested in. Of course I'm not saying that all classes here are really simple. I have buddies here at SLU that are dying from all the material and homework they are assigned in their classes. So I guess it all depends on your selected courses.

Third, there is a really nice and relaxed teacher-student relationship here. There is no hierarchical structure or behaviour between professors and students. This makes the learning environment here at SLU really nice. Sometimes though I think some professors let students walk over them a little too much. I think that sometimes there needs to be a little bit more guidance or authority on the professor's side. Overall though, I've never had a problem and get along really well with my professors here at SLU. Whenever I have a question, concern or suggestion (for example ways to improve the class and teaching), most (more than 95% or professors) will listen to what you have to say. My experience is that professors here ALWAYS have time for students, provided they're not swamped with their own work. I think this is great! Lastly, I've never had a professor here that's been so obsessed with their egos that it interferes with their teaching, as opposed to some professors I've had at Ithaca.

I really feel that my professors, supervisors and PhD students that I've worked with and am currently working with now all really care about me, my work, well-being as a student and learning progress. I really love this aspect about SLU. At Ithaca I had the feeling that some professors really didn't care whether or not I understood class material or how things were going. As an explicit example, one of my professors at Ithaca almost failed me because my grandmother passed away and I had to go to Puerto Rico for the funeral. Of course I missed class and a test and a deadline for a research paper. This professor gave me so much grief and was not at all understanding; she just gave me a failing grade for everything and didn't allow me to make up the work. I honestly believe something like this would NOT happen at SLU. Professors here are extremely accommodating and fully understand if you need to miss a day for e.g. a job interview. Of course they expect you to make up missed information, but they are very understanding.

Finally, studying here is lots of fun. There are so many international students in Uppsala. There are more international students at Uppsala University than at SLU, but SLU also has its group of international students (including myself).

That's it for this blog, I know I was supposed to cover student life in this blog, but I don't want it too be overwhelmingly long. Next blog I will write about student life here in Uppsala.

So long readers and stay tuned to Julian's Blog! Look for my next blog towards the end of this week!


Julian

Studying in Sweden as an American Part I

Dear readers,

As usual I hope that all is going very well. This is the first blog in my series comparing my experiences as a student in Sweden to being a college student at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, USA. Of course all my statements are my personal observations and opinions. Please note that my descriptions may not represent the observations that you will make or opinions you will represent while studying here in Sweden. At the same time I will try to stay as objective as possible. I will begin discussing Uppsala, Sweden's weather and transportation and surrounding environment.

Here we go!

1. Weather:

Well, Swedish winters seem to last forever. They begin end of October to end of November and last until April. The US Northeast (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Northern New York State) best represent the weather here in Uppsala. Long, cold winters, some Spring, some Fall and generally nice summers. The summers here are cooler and less humid than in the US Northeast (US NE). Generally temperatures peak around 80°F or 28°C and very seldomly climb above that mark. A difference between Uppsala and the US NE is that Uppsala's Winter days are painfully short. The sun rises around 8:30 am and sets at around 2:30 pm. So not very much light.

2. Transportation and Surrounding Environment

This is Europe. We don't use cars nearly as much as in the US, and I do recommend to (as much as this may undermine your belief in conveniently using a comfortable car for everything) buy a bicycle. A bike is a great, cheap and healthy way to get around campus and Uppsala. Practically everyone owns a bike here. A normal second hand bike will cost you around $100. Remember though, the Winter is long and it really sucks riding your bike in -4°F or -20°C weather. I did it and am still alive, but I don't really recommend it as a comfortable way to get around. Convenient yes, but not really pleasant. For everything else there are busses and taxis. On the weekends (Friday and Saturday night) busses generally run all night long. Not very frequently, but they still run. I very seldomly ride the bus here. I use my bike for everything. Taxis are really expensive here in Sweden and a ride from the city to SLU campus will cost you close to $20! So get ready to work those muscles and walk or use the bike. Great for getting exercise.

In terms of the surrounding environment, Uppsala is a typical 100 000 inhabitant relatively suburban college town. I compare Uppsala to Ithaca, New York. There are many student-related events and student parties in the city and countless students out and about. Uppsala has a large clean lake just south of the city, Lake Mälaren. During the summer and winter months the lake is especially beautiful and I definitely recommend hiking, camping, fishing, swimming, rowing, chilling and ice skating around and on the lake, depending on the seasonal and weather conditions. The city of Uppsala is much more historic than any other city I've been to in the USA, probably also just because it's Europe and cities have been around for a longer time here than in the US. Uppsala has its famous historic castle, cathedral and other houses throuhgout the city.

These are the first couple of things about Sweden. I don't want to make this blog too long, so I will continue to publish posts during the next days, comparing Sweden with the USA. Next time I will write about education and student life here in Uppsala, Sweden.

Take it easy readers and look for my next blog!

Julian

New Week, Very Busy, Studying in Sweden as an American

Dear readers,

I hope that you're all having an efficient week and getting many things taken care of, hopefully also with no stress. :-)

All is well here. My blogging hasn't been as frequent during these past weeks because I've been exceptionally busy with several things. First and foremost I've been working on the writing and data analysis part of my Master's. This has been quite time consuming. As I wrote on last week's post I'm working with the statistical program R and have also started entering coordinate global positioning data into ArcGIS. So there's lots going on. Parallel to this I'm beginning to plan my life beyond SLU and beginning to look for jobs. Of course this includes time surfing the internet for jobs, lots of thinking and writing and updating cover letters and my CV.

As I promised in my last blog, I will begin to describe what it's like to study here in Sweden from an American perspective. I'm not writing this because I'm an overly patriotic American. Instead, after looking at the blog statistics the most number of people that read my blog are Swedish and following that are people in the USA. I'd like to give my US readers some good information. ;-)

There are several points that I would like to discuss. If you feel there should be more points or subjects that I should discuss, please leave a question or topic in the comment section and I will address that topic in my next blog and hopefully answer your questions. In this and my next blog I will discuss the following: weather, surrounding environment, education, student life, partying and the student nations and health care, of course comparing everything with that I've experienced while studying at Ithaca College in New York and living in Utah and Oregon. I will brainstorm more over the next days and maybe add more points that I discuss.

In order to keep my blogs to a manageable length, I will publish on a daily or on an every second day basis.

Here we go and look for my first blog comparing Sweden with the USA tomorrow!

THE SUSPENSE IS UNBEARABLE!!! :-))))

Julian

Busy Past Few Weeks and Much Thinking....

Dear readers,

I hope that all is well with you and you are all enjoying your weeks. Today is hump day, the middle of the week, so not too much longer before the weekend is here.

My past week and a half has been pretty relaxed in terms of doing things here in Uppsala. I've mainly been working on my Master's Thesis. Things are going very well though. I did have a bit of a hard time getting used to the statistical program "R", but after many strong nerves and a few days of experimenting with the program I finally worked everything out and completed my statistical calculations. (I'm using "R", not "SAS" or "Minitab", etc. for my statistical analysis of my data).

My collaboration with my supervisors and professors has up until now and continues to be absolutely wonderful and very efficient.

Otherwise the winter in Uppsala seems to be approaching its end. FINALLY AND HECK YEAH!!!! Cool stuff! There IS and end to a Swedish winter, believe it or not! :-D The days have been getting longer and warmer and the sun is actually beginning to emit some heat. It's really nice to see the sun and feel it on my skin again.

Over the past few days, I've looked at my blog's statistics. The most people reading this blog are from Sweden and following that are people in the United States. Therefore I've decided to write a blog dedicated to my fellow American blog readers. In my next blogs I will describe what it's like to study here in Sweden, from an American perspective. I think I can pretty well spot and write about the differences between Sweden and the United States. I would like to share these thoughts with you, my fellow readers. So look for my next blog which I will publish over the next days.

Should you have any specific questions about studying in Sweden, please ask me your questions in the "comments" section. I will answer you the best I can.

Enjoy your days!

Julian

Decent Last Week, Good Weekend

Dear readers,

I hope that you are all doing well as usual and are having the best day of your life! (I really mean this!) :-)

Again, last week I worked on my Master's Thesis doing more literature research. Now I'm done doing literature research, and during this week I will begin my data analysis. I'm really excited about everything and also the progress of my Thesis.

I quickly want to update you on what my past weekend was like. Friday night I went out to the nations again. This time my buddies and I went to Kalmar Nation. It was pretty cool. They had a live rock band and after that they played Balkan and Eastern Dance music. It was lots of fun. I got home pretty late and around noon the next day my buddy Erik called me to go ice skating on the lake. That was a great idea!

We took the bus to Fjällnora Lake where the city had plowed the ice sheet free from snow. One loop was 11 Kilometres and we skated around it twice. I had to rent ice skates as I don't own any. At 50 SEK per hour, I think they were cheap to rent. It was tons of fun and it felt so good to be back on ice skates. While I was younger I used to ice skate pretty often, but since attending college and working in the USA I haven't been skating since. This experience was really great and the weather was awesome. Cold but really sunny.

 Pic. 1: After skating for a while, I took a little break to take some photos of other people skating. Here you can see the plowed skating ways.

  Pic. 2: My buddy Erik on ice skates. As you can see Nordic skates are longer and slimmer than regular ice hockey skates. I think he was a little pissed off at the fact that I was slow and couldn't skate as well and as quickly as he could. But we both had a good time and he took off after a while, speed skating a round by himself.

  Pic. 3: At this point I was pretty tired after skating for nearly two hours. Still a great day though!

While you are on your international stay here in Uppsala, I DEFINITELY recommend that you go ice skating during the winter. It's a great workout and way to get out into some sun and get some fresh air!

Well, that's it for now. Take care everyone and enjoy your week!

Julian

Very Eventful Week Part II !!!!!!

Dear readers,

As you probably already know from my last blog, I was on the frozen Mälaren lake with a Swedish rowing buddy of mine.

Now I would like to tell you about the rest of my week. Of course I spent lots of time working on my Master's Thesis. I did some thorough literature research, found 11 new and relevant researchpapers and now I have lots of new reading material! :-)

Otherwise, towards the end of the week I began partying. Again with some rowing buddies and some other buddies of mine that studied together with me in Copenhagen. They are in the same European Environmental Science Master's Program. Friday night we went to the student nations. It really was a good time. They had great music, cheap beer and many interesting people to meet! Friday night we all stayed to party and dance for quite a long time. After that I went home with my buddy Erik and spent the night there, as it was a smarter idea to do so than attempting to ride the bike home to campus.

The next morning Erik and I got up and took a walk around town. The sun was shining and it was a really nice day! The great thing about Sweden at this time is that it still is cold and snowy, but the sun really warms things up. I know this may sound ridiculous, but after a winter with an average of -12°C or so, -3°C is a heat wave! :-D

We walked along the head of the Fyris river, which runs through the town of Uppsala. We then approached the Uppsala Ice Artwork Exhibit. If you would like to see pictures of the ice sculptures, please look at Rami's SLU blog for some excellent images of Uppsala's ice statues!

http://www.slubiotechnology.blogspot.com/

Now the unexpected part of the day began. Another rowing friend and an old friend from Berlin, Helena called us to meet up. This was great, as we were beginning to get a little bored and our company lacked some estrogen hormones :-). Erik and I met Helena and we decided to go to a student nation to grab some great and affordable breakfast sandwiches.

After criticising the student nations so much, I would like to change my opinion on them. Since I've been engaging myself in more social activities and meeting more people at the nations and buddies of mine, I've really started to enjoy the student nations. One thing about living on campus is that it's somewhat far away from the city. It's easy to stay at home and become a little bit of a hermit. The distance to the city and the cold weather make staying home a really lucrative choice nearly all the time.

If you live on campus make sure you get out of here! You will go crazy if you stay on campus and don't do anything in the city!!! Listen to this, this is a word of wisdom!!!

Long story short, we had lunch, walked around, I went home to have dinner with Helena and then I returned home to take a shower and relax a little. As soon as I got home, my other buddies from Copenhagen called me: "Hey Julian, feel like going to the nations tonight? There's a great party going on!"

Well, I had to reflect a little. Should I go out or not? Well I had taken a shower and then thought, "what the hell, why not? You only live once!" :-) That was a good choice! The party at the nations was good and I met quite a few interesting people that night. (Some of you may ask what interesting people are. In my vocabulary they are girls!) :-)

Overall it was an amazing weekend here in Uppsala. In fact, it was the best weekend that I've had so far in Sweden! Believe it or not, a small town called Uppsala in Central Sweden can actually be quite a bit of fun. It's just important to find the right people, parties and locations to have fun at!

That was the end of my last and very eventful week. Take care my readers and you'll hear from me soon again!

Julian

Very Eventful Week Part I !!!!!!!

Dear readers,

As promised, I'm writing another blog about my experiences that I had during the past week here at Uppsala. It was really a great and also somewhat of a sad week. My buddy Carl from my rowing club and a really great guy to train with left Sweden for an exchange program to New Zealand. I hope he has a good time there. So during the first part of last week we hung out and of course trained together at the rowing house here at the SLU campus. The reason why I enjoy training together with Carl is that we really push each other. His splits are close to mine and vice versa. Often we are neck to neck during a rowing piece, while some times he's better, sometimes I'm a little better.

Anyways, what did we do besides training? Carl introduced me to something that I was unfortunately pretty ignorant about. We biked from the SLU campus where I live onto Lake Mälaren, which is completely frozen over. According to some ice reports the ice sheet on Lake Mälaren is between 15 and 35 centimetres thick. That's a ridiculous amount of ice. It makes sense though because it has been below -10°C practically since the end of October or the middle of November. So it's not surprising.

We began our bike trip across the frozen lake on a relatively thin sheet of snow until we approached something that I've never seen in my life! The ice on lake Mälaren was ACTUALLY plowed!!!! Now this was something totally new to me. The ice was perfect in the plowed areas and according to Carl leads all the way down to Stockholm, which is 80 Kilometres from Uppsala (not to forget).

Below are some pictures that I took which show the plowed ice sheet. Notice how the plowed ways lead to different parts of the lake and Uppsala's surrounding areas.

 Pic 1: This picture faces North towards Uppsala

  Pic 2: This picture faces South Southeast from Uppsala

Pic 3: This picture faces South, so away from Uppsala

Can you notice the ice skating marks on the ice? Many people do recreational ice skating here with nordic skates. Nordic skates have longer and sharper blades than regular hockey or figure skates. This allows for more speed. Unfortunately I don't have any picture of Nordic skates, but here is a link where you can see what they look like. 

http://freizeitalpin.at/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/lundhags-studio-091020-19699-ok_new.jpg 

Pic 4: My rowing buddy Carl and I taking a short break from our bike rides. Notice how our faces reveal how cold it was that day? As the snow pack was hard to bike on and hence I got a little warm, I took my jacket off.

 Pic 5: Me posing on the ice. Notice our bikes in the background and the sign on the ice? The sign showed the directions to places one could acces via the plowed routes. ULTRACOOL!!!! Swedes know how to make the best of a long and cold winter!

Biking on Lake Mälaren was really fun. I asked my parents to send me my ice skates from Berlin, so I can also do some ice skating on the lake. Can't wait to get them and integrate ice skating into two days of my training for rowing. Ice skating is a great cardio workout and tons of fun!

That evening Carl, a couple of his other buddies and I all got together for some dinner and a small beer cruise to the Student Nations. Overall it was a really great beginning of the week!

Of course I also worked on my Master's thesis. I had some meetings with my professors, finally have my hypotheses set and am actively conducting literature research. I've really been having lots of fun here in Uppsala during this past week. Some new experiences and slowly I'm finally really feeling like I'm integrating with some Swedish people. I really enjoy it!

In my next blog I will talk about my second part of last week. As mentioned before, last week was really packed with experiences and tons of fun! 

Farewell my fellow readers and until next time! Have a great Tuesday!!

Julian

Sweden Has Decided: More Winter! But that's good!

Dear readers,


I hope that all of you are doing well and, as usual, are having a great week. So, my last blog calls for Sweden to decide between winter and spring. That decision has clearly been made: winter. Over the past week we had 20 cm of new snow and more cold temperatures.

Actually I'm beginning to like the winter here. Right now it's really beautiful here. Days are getting much longer and the sun is actually beginning to feel warm again. The new white and fluffy snow reflects the sun really well. Despite the cold temperatures, the sun makes the air feel alot warmer.

Last week has been quite an eventful one. Over the next few posts (beginning tomorrow) I will explain what I did over the past week and write comments. Until tomorrow my friends!

Julian

Pretty Relaxed and Uneventful Week, Sweden decide: Spring or Winter!

Dear readers,

As always, I hope that all of you have been having a pleasant week with little stress and much success. All's well here. This week was pretty relaxed for me. Almost every day I worked on my Master's Thesis for a couple of hours. Right now I'm developing hypotheses, looking at my data sets and deciding what I would like to statistically test. This means lots of reading, and that's what I've been doing plenty of this week.

Also, I now have my own work room at the SLU Ecology Building and my own computer to use in the room. It's quite a nice setup. I have 24 hour access to the ecology building. Today I met with my professor to discuss our progress. All went well and we're making good progress.

One thing that is currently not so pleasant about Sweden is the weather and the slipperiness that is associated with the current snowmelt. During the day the temperatures are around +1°C - +4°C and during the night around 0°C - -5°C. That means the snow melts during the day, becomes a puddle and freezes at night again. I've fallen twice from my bike now because I slipped. I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO SPRING. I know this is a terrible thing to say, but WE NEED SOME GLOBAL WARMING HERE!!! :-)

That's what's happened this week. Pretty relaxed, not too much going on.

I know that the time to apply to Universities and exchange programs is here. If you have any questions regarding student life here in Uppsala or my experiences as an ERASMUS exchange student, PLEASE ASK!!!! I'M HERE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!!!

Have a GREAT weekend people and you'll hear from me next week again! Have fun over the weekend!

Julian

One Critique of the Swedish Train Service, SJ

Dear readers,

It's the end of the week!!! Whooooo!! Do you have plans for the weekend yet? Tonight I will hang out with one of my room mates and relax and Saturday night it looks as though I will be attending a party that I was invited to with some friends.

I have one point of critique towards the Swedish train service, SJ.

Why are we not allowed to bring bikes aboard the X2000 trains? I understand that they are new and look good and everything, but why isn't there a place for bikes?

Every time I travel to Copenhagen I prefer to bring my wonderful bicycle with me. I can ride around the city and I save quite a bit of money by not having to buy expensive public transportation tickets, and also time by not having to wait for slow busses. The last time I brought by bike onboard the X2000, of course the bike frame with the wheels taken off, the SJ staff gave me soooooooo much stress! Totally uncool.

The Swedish train service portrays themselves as environmentally friendly, but bikes are NOT allowed on the long-distance trains! Even in the USA where very few people use bikes as a means of transportation, AMTRAK (the U.S. train service) allows you to bring a bike onboard! C'mon SJ pick it up, and allow us people that are trying to be even more environmentally friendly to bring a bike onboard (or have a place to store the bikes) and promote bikes as a means of transportation! I love the Swedish train service, and I've never had a problem with them.

I would love them even more if bikes were allowed aboard the long distance trains. In Denmark, Germany and in the USA (the countries that I've lived in for a while) you can take bikes aboard long distance trains without any problems.


SJ, bikes on trains are cool and environmentally friendly!!!!

Anyways, that's my rant. 

Have a great weekend everyone, and I look forward to a new week of working on my Master's and blogging!

Julian

Part 2 of My Weekend a.k.a. You Will NOT Believe This!!!

Dear readers,

I hope that you are all doing well and today has been a pleasant day so far. My day has been pretty productive. I woke up, had breakfast, wrote some e-mails and this blog, and will be going to read background information for my Master's shortly.

As promised, I want to tell you, my fellow readers, what happened on Monday night on my well planned trip back from Copenhagen. A small but crucial mistake that I made, turned my well-planned trip into an adventure and a little bit of compromising and a loooooong (but nice) bike ride home! :-)

So it all began at Stockholm Central Station. My itinerary was the following:

Copenhagen -> Stockholm Central Station
Stockholm Central Station -> Upplands Väsby
Upplands Väsby -> Uppsala.

I know that this itinerary seems a little inconvenient as I had to switch trains three times, but it was a cheap ticket and late at night, that's why I booked it. I prefer to travel later during the evening as the trains are emptier and there is more space to spread out.

I got off my train from Copenhagen at Stockholm Central Station. I had to walk to another track to catch the 00:20 train to Upplands Väsby. I had my travel bag with me and my bike.

I walked to the right track where I was supposed to catch my train. It was around 00:12 and a train pulled in. Of course not knowing which train I should take, and my train also leaving the same track at 00:20, I got on the train. NOOOOOO!!!! I didn't realise that instead of going to Upplands Väsby, the station that I had to go to, I was on my way to the more western town of Bålsta. Of course before my litte excursion, I had never heard of Bålsta. Not like this town is really large or really apparent on maps! :-) (No offense to people from Bålsta). 


Anyways, I got off the train and realised that I was not in Upplands Väsby. I then asked security guards where I was. They were extremely friendly and really helped me alot. Long story short, it was the last train and I ultimately had three options:

1. Wait in the cold for 4.5 hours for the first morning train
2. Take a taxi home for around €80 (waaayyy to expensive for a student!!!)
3. Build my bike together, pump up the tires and ride the 40 Km home!!!! :-)

I weighed my options. Clearly a taxi and waiting out in the cold were the worst solutions. So I did it! Built the bike together, pumped up the tires and decided to bike the 40 Km home. The security guards (I'm sure thinking I was absolutely crazy) were really friendly and escorted me with their car to the right road home. Otherwise, it was easy and simply followed the signs back to Uppsala. It wasn't that cold (only around -1°C) and it was snowing ever so lightly. I had water and an apple. Ate the apple, drank some water and headed home. I wasn't worried about my training level, as I am in good physical condition from all the rowing training that I do.


In the end, I think biking was the best idea. I got home in less than two hours, the roads were good and it being 02:00, I met about 5 cars along the entire 40 Km of riding. It was cheaper than taking the taxi and warmer and faster than waiting for the next train in the morning. Below is my route:


http://maps.google.de/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Ultuna,+Uppsala,+Schweden&daddr=Ulleviv%C3%A4gen&geocode=FRTKkAMdlWQNASnHT19xZslfRjERDs9V3WYvgQ%3BFTr1jAMdJn8LAQ&hl=de&mra=ltm&sll=59.69009,17.629885&sspn=0.355543,0.874786&ie=UTF8&ll=59.568419,17.560272&spn=0.356832,0.874786&z=10


So, a little word of advice, PLEASE TAKE THE RIGHT TRAIN!!!! :-D I thought it was the right train, but it wasn't. TAKE THE RIGHT TRAIN!!!!


Anyways, have a pleasant day and take care!


Julian

Lighter Days, Part 1 of My Weekend...

Hey people!

I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying your week.

Finally the days are beginning to grow noticeably longer here in Sweden. It seems like forever since the sun set so late during the day. Sunset is still at around 16:00 or so, which is still really early, but it's amazing how much extra light there is. In comparison, during December sunset was around 14:30 and it was basically night by 15:15. This is one thing I'd like to warn you about Sweden. If you're a person that needs light, remember the winters are very dark here. Winter gloom can be easily overcome by doing sports, going into the sauna and having good friends and people around. In contrast though, the summer here will be amazing. Then the sun will go down closer to 23:00 and will rise around 03:00 again! That will be awesome! Here is a link to a website that will tell you sunrise and sunset times for any day during the year.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=1376&month=1&year=2011&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

What I also want to mention is my weekend. I had an AMAZING weekend. I went to Copenhagen to visit my friends that I made during my first year of my program. (Just as background information, I study ENVEURO MSc, European Master of Environmental Science. During my first year, I studied at University of Copenhagen and now I'm completing my MSc. as an ERASMUS student at here at SLU in Sweden). For more information on my program and the program's university network, check out:

http://www.enveuro.eu/

It was alot of fun to see my buddies from last year. We partied and had a good time. I strongly recommend that you stay in contact with your fellow classmates and friends that you make during your international studies. It's really great to see them again and hear about their life journeys!

On Monday night I took the train back from Copenhagen to Uppsala. I arrived at Stockholm Central Station, and got on a train that was supposed to take me to Uppsala! :-)

...and here the story ends, it did not go as smoothly as you may imagine!...

 ...to be continued... :-)

I'm beginning to enjoy these days quite a bit!

Dear readers,

Happy hump day! Yes, it's the middle of the week and we're half way (passed the hump) through the working week! Got any weekend plans yet? This weekend I plan on visiting my friends in Copenhagen. I'll be taking the train down to Denmark. The nice thing about the Swedish train service called SJ is that if you book well in advance, you can get quite an affordable ticket to your destination. You can check out their website at:  www.http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=10&l=en .

Otherwise, I've been enjoying my past few days. I'm beginning to enjoy this time while I work on my Master's Thesis. I wake up in the late morning, eat, go train for rowing, come back home, eat and finally go work on my Master's Thesis after.

Right now I'm looking at my data sets, reading research papers and collecting background information. Of course I'm also filling out plenty of required paperwork. The next thing I must do is come up with hypotheses. One thing I think is challenging and interesting is making sense of the data presented to me in the form of Excel spreadsheets. Numbers at one glance don't mean very much to me. What I think is interesting is making sense of them. That's what I'm trying to do right now. My supervisors have been very helpful, and this makes my work much easier. I like knowing that I can always ask my supervisors, which are professors here at SLU, for help on my Master's Project.

So far I've experienced excellent support from my supervisors here at SLU!

I hope that all of you have a pleasant remainder of the week!

Julian

Great Weekend and I Did Something Swedish :-)

Dear readers,

I hope that all of you had nice and relaxing weekend again. This weekend I met with some of my friends from rowing and other people that I hadn't seen since before the Christmas holidays. We had a great time.

The end of last week was busy for me. I met with my Master's Thesis supervisor and we discussed our work, timelines, co-supervisors and other organisation matters regarding my Thesis. Things are starting to get serious! I look forward to all the work for the Master's, but I must say I'm slightly nervous about all the statistics that we will be doing for our statistical analysis part.

For my Thesis, we will be comparing Micarea globulusella (a formerly Swedish red-listed lichen species) growth, frequency and distribution in old-growth forests and younger forests. I will work on more concrete information as my work on the project progresses. Right now I'm in the starting phase, reading papers and developing hypotheses that we want to test. Also, there will be many questions to answer. I look forward!

Otherwise, last Thursday I did something extremely Swedish. Every Thursday I join circuit training sessions organised by members of my UARS Rowing Club. You might ask what circuit training is. Basically it's working out without weights. You just use your body weight. This sort of training really exercises your body control and core muscle groups.

Circuit training is part of our winter training program, and is also free of charge for whoever wants to participate. Circuit training is offered every Thursday at 17:30 at the Sylthallen gym here on Ultuna Campus. Anyways, after training we always go to the sauna (also located inside the gym). Normally after the sauna, we go under a cold shower, but not this time!

This time we ran outside in the snow and rolled around in it! :-D Supposedly this is a very Swedish thing to do, go into the sauna, get very hot and run outside into frigid temperatures and roll around in the snow. At first it was a shock, but once you're back indoors it feels really good. Try it! :-D

Anyways, these were the interesting points of my last days here in Sweden. Have a great next few days!

Julian

Return to Uppsala, Great Start of the New Year, Many Positive Comments

Dear readers,

I hope that all of you are doing well and just jumping through this week with joy and positive vibrations (as Bob Marley put it).

All is well here. I returned to Uppsala late last night. The connection between Uppsala and Stockholm Arlanda Airport is really good. I took the bus, but supposedly taking the train is just as easy, and the ticket costs between 70 and 120 Swedish Crowns, which is around €7 - €12. I think that's a really good price.

The bus driver that I had was very nice. I actually arrived in Sweden a little earlier than I expected, so I was able to catch the earlier bus back to Uppsala. I originally had bought a ticket for a later bus, but the bus driver was nice enough to allow me in his earlier bus. Taking the earlier bus to Uppsala was very practical, as I still had enough time to catch the last bus at 00:30 to Ultuna. (Ultuna is the name of the town where SLU campus and my student dorm, including all the other on-campus student residencies are located).

I was very satisfied with the way yesterday went. Cool bus driver! I hope that you all get back to school safely and enjoy the first school days of the year.

Also, I would like to thank all of my readers for their positive comments they have left me. Thank you very much and your feedback is making my blogging for SLU an enjoyable and exciting experience! Keep up the comments. Also please remember, if you don't agree with something I write or you would like to see something else, please feel free to comment on that too. I will respond by altering my blog text accordingly. :-)

All the best for 2011!!!

Julian

Happy New Year

Dear readers,

I would like to wish all of you a happy new year and much success for 2011. Where did you guys celebrate new year's eve?

Currently I'm back at home in Berlin and celebrated with friends. I hope that everyone had a good evening and a not too painful morning after all the New Year's Eve parties! :-)

I will resume blogging about my experiences in Sweden next week when I arrive in Uppsala again.

This upcoming semester should be an interesting one, as I'm getting ready to begin working on my Master's Thesis. Currently I'm in the process of filling out all the required paperwork for SLU and working on other organisational issues related to the Thesis. I will keep you up to date on how the entire Thesis process is going for me.

So far, I've had a very good experience with the SLU administration and my supervisor for my thesis. Everyone (administration, supervising professor) seems very helpful and motivated to help me begin working on my Thesis. One of my supervising professors has already provided me with reading material, and I began reading the research papers and articles yesterday. I look forward to continuing my Master's Thesis work!

Take care everyone, and you'll either hear from me again another time this week or early next week!

Julian