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
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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
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
Friday, March 18, 2011
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
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
Thursday, March 17, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)