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Former Buddy Programme Coordinator: Helin Bäckman Kartal

In 1999 the Buddy Programme was started at Umeå University. Since then, thousands of international and domestic students, have met and made friendships for life. Every year one person is hired at the International Office to coordinate the programme. For the 20 years celebration we've interviewed some of the former coordinators about their time in the Buddy Programme.

Name: Helin Bäckman Kartal
Buddy Programme Coordinator year: 2017/2018
Studies at Umeå University: Sociology and Peace and Conflict studies

How would you describe your time as a Buddy Programme Coordinator?

It was a time mixed of cultural exchanges, lovely people, a lot of fun, and tons of post-it notes to structure all the multitasking! It was a mix-match of everything, and evenings could be filled with eating sushi, falafel AND dancing salsa.

It was also a year filled with learning, especially about cultural differences, how other cultures work, about hosting events, but also regarding food related things, like how to perfectly roll a sushi roll.

What’s your best memory from your time in the Buddy Programme?

It is impossible to only pick one. It might sound a bit cliché, but I would say all the great people I met. Whenever I throw myself into something new, and find out that I really like it, it is always traced back to the great people I’ve met. It’s the people that makes the place, and I truly met more than a handful of great friends for life.

And of course, another memory that I’ll never forget was the first time I went on the stage in Aula Nordica to welcome all the new internationals and introduce them to the Buddy Programme. I was so incredibly nervous speaking English in front of the biggest audience I’ve ever faced. It was a great experience though, but the nervousness I felt the minutes before I started speaking hit 12 on a 10-degree nervousness scale.

Approximately how many students were involved in the Buddy Programme then?

During the fall semester, I would say it was about 900 students involved (700 internationals and 200 students from here). During the spring the semester it was about 700 (550 internationals and 150 from here).

What kind of activities were popular?

The overall activities amongst the buddy groups that were most popular was everything food related.

All the international dinners, baking Swedish fika, celebrating all our dedicated days for pastries and cookies, those were always the ones engaging the most.

Regarding the activities I hosted I would basically say nearly all of them! It was a great turn out on the volleyball tournament, the trip to the moose farm, the hike to Hamptjärnsstugan, the team building day, the brännboll tournament, the international pubs of course, the Christmas dinner sitting, and so on. The only event that did not have a great turnout was the Easter Hunt, though that made the whole event a bit more intimate, which had its advantages!

What happened after your time as a Buddy Programme Coordinator?

I went back to my studies! I took the coordinator job during a gap year from my studies, so I went back to actually finish my education.

What are you doing now? Living where? Working with or studying? Etc.

I’m actually still a student at Umeå University. I just started my first year on the Masters Programme in Crisis Management and Peacebuilding. I’m not living on the same address as back when I was a coordinator, but overall most of it is the same!

Do you have contact with anyone you met in the Buddy Programme then?

Yes I do! I have some great friends who still stays in Umeå that I hang out with, and some others that lives all over the world that I chat with. Then there are always those people that you never talk to whenever you are apart, but that you know that when you visit each other everything will be as it was last time we saw each other. With other words, I have a lot of sporadic contact with friends who live abroad.

Also, since I’m still a student at the university, I regularly bump into people who was engaged in the programme at that time, as well students from here and some internationals.

Latest update: 2019-10-18