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
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