This month, we’ll be featuring stories from UBC students who had a recent Study Abroad experience every week as our Campus Celebrities. Look out for this section every week for travelling advice, personal stories and helpful insight into what having an exchange experience is all about! Go Global deadlines to apply for exchange next year are November 28th, 2013 and January 17th, 2014. We hope we’ll help you make a decision if you’re considering going on exchange!
Mireille Seguin is a fourth-year Geography Major at UBC. She’s currently working with the Canadian Cancer Society as part of UBC Co-Op this semester, after going on exchange in January to Lunds Universitet, Sweden!
How Exchange Ruined My Life
When most people speak of exchange they talk about how it was “the best decision they made at university,” or “the greatest year of their lives.” Perhaps for certain people this is the case, but for me all I can say is that exchange ruined my life. Since my six months spent abroad in Sweden, I can no longer appreciate roads that are not winding and cobbled. I have come to feel a great sense of emptiness and loss when a day passes and I have not had my mid afternoon fika (coffee and pastry) break. When I’m rudely cut off and sworn at while biking to work I yearn for the safety of cyclist-dominated streets. How can I return to my day-to-day life after spending six months in a fairytale?
Rewind to January.
The setting: Lund, Sweden. A small college town in the very south of Sweden, a 45 minute train ride away from Copenhagen, Denmark. The town of Lund can only be described as truly magical, possessing a charm and mystery that seems straight from the pages of an old Viking fable.
The quaint streets of Lund
I can’t really explain why I chose Sweden over any other country in Europe but I can say that after some research of possible options (Wales, France and Denmark on that list) something about Sweden just felt right. It was like “you’ll know what you’re looking for once you’ve found it” and I think research and preparation are key in making this decision. Lund, Sweden seemed like the perfect setting for my exchange due to the combination of environmental leadership, strong gender equality and high levels of student engagement.
Ven Harbour, Sweden
The Lund Cathedral, built in 1080
University Life
Life as a Lund University student is never dull. I found the classwork itself to be engaging and, for the most part, very interesting. The style of teaching seems much more informal than at UBC with most classes following a more “seminar” approach than a lecture. As well, it’s very common and encouraged to call your professors by their first names, which took some getting used to.
The main university building at the beginning of spring!
Student Life
Time outside the class is filled with activities put on by the student nations. Every student in Lund joins one of these nations that are run by students for students. They put on events such as pub nights, lunches (a cheap respite from normal Sweden food prices), dinners, club nights and my personal favourite: sittnings! A sittning is a three course dinner that is often themed (Disney, 90s, formal etc.) and more often than not ends up singing and standing on tables!
Getting fancy for an end-of-exchange sittning
On the next page: Read about Mireille’s travelling highlights – she managed to traverse 12 countries in her six months abroad!
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Gallivanting About Europe
My move to Sweden was the first time I had ever been to Europe (let alone out of North America) so I arrived with big plans to see and do it all. Where did I want to go? Everywhere. What did I want to see? Everything. I may not have seen everything, but you can’t say that I didn’t try. In my six months there I checked off 12 countries and passed through 20 airports on my way (three of which were slept in!) One of the greatest things I took away from this traveling was just learning to appreciate being by myself. In unfamiliar situations where I didn’t know where I was, where I was going and couldn’t speak the language I learned that it will be okay and that things are only as stressful and as scary as you make them.
One of the most common things people ask is “what was your favourite country??” or “what was the best thing you saw?” Answering this question is like trying to pick your favourite Backstreet Boys song. But here is a brief list of some of my top experiences.
1) Seeing the Northern Lights. A trip up to northern Finland involving a deathly ill overnight bus ride was made entirely worth it when the entire sky was illuminated with dancing green and pink.
The freezing weather was worth it for this sight
2) Skinny dipping in a frozen ocean. A trip to the sauna in Sweden goes something like this:
1. Get into sauna and revel in finally being warm for the first time in weeks.
2. Work up the courage to run outside, down the stairs and into the frozen water.
3. Scream and splash around for a few seconds.
4. Dash back into the sauna at Usain Bolt-like speed.
5. Repeat.
View from the Sauna in Lund, Sweden
3) A $300 Groupon to Turkey. I found that Groupon (with the help of Google translate) was a fantastic way to save money and take adventures you normally wouldn’t. For me, that came in the form of a $300 (basically) all-inclusive trip to Turkey for a week. My friend and I embarked on this trip with no knowledge of our itinerary and only the hope that our plane would land safely on the other side. We were pleasantly surprised with not only a safe flight but also 5 star resorts and amazing day trips through the countryside.
The “Fairy Chimneys” of Cappadocia, Turkey
4) The amazing group of people I can now call my friends. I have this entire network of friends around the world from Colombia to Australia that I would never have met without taking a risk.
My friends and I on a huge group trip to Stockholm, Sweden for the weekend!
I say that exchange ruined my life back home, but there is also so much more I can appreciate about living in Vancouver now that I’ve been away. The beautiful mountains, the mighty ocean and the ability to wear sportswear in public without being hardcore judged are all things I have a newfound appreciation for since returning home. I loved every second of my time abroad and all I can say is if you have the chance, let exchange ruin your life too—you won’t regret it.