<p>What is it like to study in Sweden?
I am a 20 year college student from America and I am thinking of studying abroad in Sweden or Australia. I am trying to get some information to help me decide
1. What is it like to study in Sweden?
2. Is it easy to travel to different cities or european countries?
3. Kristianstad University in southern sweden or Malardalan University in Vasteras a better choice for an entertaining experience?
4. Do Swedes, girls in particular, accept or like attractive american boys?
5. I do not smoke anything and very rarely drink, what is the drug culture like there?
6. How is the cost of living?
7. What some cool things people do for fun in Sweden?</p>
<p>[Lonely</a> Planet Travel Guides and Travel Information](<a href=“http://www.lonelyplanet.com%5DLonely”>http://www.lonelyplanet.com)</p>
1 Like
<p>Smoking and drinking are not drugs.</p>
<p>i haven’t studied in sweden, but i do have many friends there & i study swedish. i’m not a huge help but i can give a couple answers. </p>
<ol>
<li>not a clue :p</li>
<li>yes, i believe so; one of my friends lives in malmo (very southern sweden) and her mother actually works in denmark. according to friends sweden has become very open to immigrants in the years since wwii. the same girl has grandparents from romania and latvia.</li>
<li>no idea! </li>
<li>all the swedes i’ve known are very friendly, tolerant, and speak excellent english. it’s quite easy to get along with them, especially if you’re a good sport when they try to confuse you in swedish. </li>
<li>can’t personally attest, but i’ve heard drinking and smoking are very common. i’ve felt no pressure to join in though, and i know swedes who abstain. </li>
<li>fairly high, although the cost of uni is fairly low. the dollar compares well to the kronor, however. if you are taxed (i imagine study abroad students are not) the rate is very very high, but the social benefits (healthcare etc) are very good.</li>
</ol>
<p>hope that helps a little!</p>
1 Like
<p>Being Swedish and having been there many times, I can try to help:</p>
<ol>
<li>Education in Sweden is much better and more focused than here. Their “High School” type schools graduate all of their students with AA degrees. Colleges there are very flexible too; the government pays for students to go and they are allowed to switch majors multiple times if they choose.</li>
<li>Very easy; Scandinavian borders are always open between Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, no passport required there. Cities are small drives, usually through forest, such as from Malmo to Helsingborg.</li>
<li>Wouldn’t know.</li>
<li>Actually, the show “Manswers” did a segment among which country’s girls would have sex on the first date. Sweden won. Just putting that out there.</li>
<li>Smoking and drinking are very common there, as in most northern countries. Other than that, no real drugs are used or abused there.</li>
<li>Slightly higher than living in the US. I know that when my relatives visit they get excited that their Swedish money is worth so much here because it has a fairly high exchange rate.</li>
<li>Drinking (lol). But seriously, Swedes, for the most part, are not people who seek excitement; most wish to find steady jobs and go to work and go home or the bar. But I’m sure Americanization has its place there; I know the last time I visited I went to a race track in Malmo.</li>
</ol>
<p>I just got back from a semester in Copenhagen, so here are my two cents about Scandinavia:</p>
<p>• If you think you might suffer at all from seasonal depression, go to Australia instead.
• A lot more blondes than I could’ve imagined, though of the places I traveled too, it was in fact Iceland that one for highest density of beautiful people. Shocking.
• The cost of living is high. Staples like milk, flour and some produce are reasonable (milk was even cheap, compared to the States), but anything processed (like coffee and peanut butter) got real expensive, real fast.
• I spent most of my money on travel, and didn’t go out much at night in Copenhagen because of the cost. [Young Danes tend to go out and do a lot of drinking, but they also get paid to go to University, so…]
• The train network here is good, but it’s not really cheap, and it can take quite awhile to get places (if you look at a map, Stockholm is roughly the same distance from Copenhagen as Amsterdam or Warsaw). A lot of people on my program made use of budget airlines like RyanAir or EasyJet, though. Cheaper flights (with more hassle, mind you) than we usually see here.</p>