NEWS
Every morning, Laura Steiner is excited about walking to the university. Laura, who studies sports management in Cologne, Germany, is currently an exchange student at Umeå University. "There is a lot of snow here, which I like. Everything looks so beautiful, that even trivial things like walking to the university are a great experience," she says. Laura has lived in Umeå for four weeks now and so far, she thinks it is “amazing”.
"Every day is exciting here," Alice Höller agrees. Alice, who studies education for primary teaching in Salzburg, Austria, is also spending the spring 2012 semester in Umeå. Her first impression of the university is very positive: "Everything here is very well organised. I feel that I am in good hands.” Laura adds: "We were welcomed warmly by the university. And the campus is really nice and compact."
Both girls particularly enjoy the buddy programme, organised by the International Office. When asked about the programme, Alice and Laura instantly come up with a lot of activities that they have done with their buddy groups so far: international dinners, sledge races, laser tag, curling, pre-parties, movie nights, or just meeting for a cup of coffee. Laura says: "The buddies do their best to organise a lot of fun things for us. And it is nice to meet some Swedish students. " The two girls regret that it is challenging to get in touch with Swedish fellow students. They perceive the Swedes as friendly, but reserved.
Even though you can get by in Umeå with speaking English, they attend a language course to learn Swedish. Alice's impression after her first lessons: "The language sounds absolutely beautiful, so melodic, almost like singing." German-speaking students have a clear advantage: Many words and the sentence structure are very similar in Swedish.
There is one Swedish word Alice and Laura have learned immediately: fika, which means taking a coffee break. "Coffee breaks are way more important here than in Germany. During each lecture, there is a fika," Laura says, and Alice adds: "The Swedes truly celebrate their fika culture."
However, Laura and Alice do not recognise many cultural differences between Sweden and Germany or Austria. Although they both were a bit shocked by the high cost of living, they feel comfortable, and even got used to the climate in northern Sweden. "It's not as dark here as I feared," says Alice, and Laura laughs: "Minus 20 degrees is not as bad here as at home. However, I am never going outside without warm tights."
Laura and Alice look forward to the eventful months that lie ahead of them. For example, they are planning a trip to Lapland to go dog sledging and visit the famous Ice Hotel. Yet Alice is excited for spring to arrive: "It will be amazing to see how the nature and environment change."
