FINAL REPORT OF MY EXCHANGE SEMESTER IN HALMSTAD, SWEDEN (1 ST SEPTEMBER TH JANUARY 2015)

Transcription

1 FINAL REPORT OF MY EXCHANGE SEMESTER IN HALMSTAD, SWEDEN (1 ST SEPTEMBER TH JANUARY 2015) UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES BIBERACH STEFAN BETZ-MORS

2 Table of content Preparation... 2 Sweden... 3 Halmstad... 5 University... 7 Studies... 8 Accommodation... 9 Review

3 Preparation As I did not speak English very well, my decision was to study for at least one semester abroad. When a fellow student of mine had called my attention to the Bachelor Plus programme, I got curious and started to inform myself in the second semester. First of all I had to choose a partner university. For whatever reasons, northern countries have impressed me from the cradle. Maybe it is due to the untouched nature, the endless lakes or the cold climate. Therefore Sweden and Finland were taken into consideration. Thinking of the long dark days near the polar circle during winter, it made me go to Halmstad University. Then I applied for the Bachelor Plus programme. After being accepted to this programme in the third semester, I looked for courses at the partner university. It was necessary for the study model international to attend courses with 20 CP in total. The next step was to find an accommodation in Halmstad. Fortunately, some students had been at Halmstad University the semester before. So they recommend an accommodation and assisted me with everything I wanted to know. Now, it was time to arrange the trip to Halmstad. For this purpose there are various possibilities to get to Halmstad. Either you take the train (Europa-Spezial 39, but at least 16 hours travelling) or you book a flight from Stuttgart to Copenhagen (Youth ticket 59 ) and then get in a train or bus to Halmstad (about 25 ). In my case I drove to Halmstad by car. It took me two days. The first day I stayed in Rostock. The second day a ferry brought me to Trelleborg (49 and a six-hour trip). This is probably not the cheapest and quickest way, but a car is beneficial in Sweden. 2

4 Sweden Although the area of Sweden is 25 % larger than Germany, Sweden has a population of around ten million inhabitants. Most of the people live in the southern part of Sweden. The landscape of Sweden is characterised by countless lakes surrounded by hardwood forests. While a lot of farming exists in the south, the north concentrates on reindeer farms. Basically, Swedish houses are made up of a wooden construction. Compared to German houses they are smaller. The typical colour for walls are red, the saddle roof contains dark colours, windows and frames are mostly white. What surprised me was that almost every house has a flag pole with the Swedish flag on the top. Sweden is a very friendly country. Swedes work in a more comfortable and relaxed manner and not as hectically as Germans. While customers in German supermarket really throw their products on the conveyor, customers in Sweden put their products on the conveyor belt in a lovely way requiring more time. Then Swedish customers often talk to the cashier about everyday life. In general, Swedes are polite. They always spend time on your questions and try to help you as much as possible. However, the style of s differs completely to the German style. As if to say less is more, s are usually short and to the point. It is unnecessary to use titles between Swedes. Actually the first name is enough. Sometimes they just write hello. Moreover Swedes keep their private and business life separate. So if you write an to a professor on Saturday, you do not receive an answer before Monday. By reasons of cold climate and long nights Swedes prefer to stay at home and only go out if they really need to. 3

5 In terms of equality Swedes have a very progressive attitude. Women and foreigners are not discriminated. In addition, if you want to send a postcard, you do not go directly towards the post counter. First of all you have to pull a ticket with a number on it. Then you have to wait until the person at the counter calls your number. This time-consuming method guarantees the first in-first out principle. I was astonished how seldom I could pay fuel in cash at the gas station. Normally there were only automats and no employees. Swedes pay everything with their credit card. Even in the clubs you use the credit card to order drinks. The prices in Sweden are more expensive than in Germany. Here a few examples: Diesel costs 20 cents more per litre. A cucumber costs about two euros. One litre milk costs more than 80 cents. The greatest difference might be when you buy alcohol. Unfortunately, you just find drinks with less than 3.5 % vol. in supermarkets. When you want to have drink with a higher alcohol level, you have to visit shops from the Swedish state, called Systembolaget. But here you have to pay through the nose. Before I went to Sweden, I attended a Swedish course at the home university in Biberach in order to avoid language barriers. I am not sure if this was necessary because the only things I had to say in Swedish were hello, thanks and bye. Sometimes my Swedish knowledge made it easier for me to understand food and signs. Every Swede, whether young or old, speaks English perfectly. I only remember two persons who could not talk to me in English. Despite my little Swedish skills I hardly understood what Swedes were talking about. 4

6 Halmstad The city of Halmstad is directly at the west coast of Sweden, half way between Malmö and Göteborg. Approximately 60,000 people live in the city throughout the year. By reasons of its closeness to the sea Halmstad has more visitors during summer. Along the coast there is a nice sandy beach. Behind the dunes lots of small houses were built which are used as summer residences. In addition, Halmstad has some camping sites, but they were closed when I arrived at the end of August. Compared to the cold, windy and rainy season the city life differs completely during summer. While it was sunny with pleasant temperatures up to 20 degrees in September and October, it was rainy and windy until I went back home. Nevertheless I have never seen any snowflakes. Temperatures were rarely below zero degree. 5

7 Apart from this Halmstad characterises nothing special. The city centre is not that big. In one hour you can walk through the whole centre. Furthermore Halmstad does not have any sights which you have to see. Besides several parks there is a castle, a church, a modern library and a market place with a fountain in the middle. 6

8 University The university is famous by reason of the best introduction week. During that time I met a lot of exchange students. Today 9,000 students attend courses of 50 professors in Halmstad. All in all 500 employees work on the whole complex containing 19 buildings. The university is situated in the southern part of the city. The feature of the university characterises one of the highest tower of the city. In addition, the complex includes a sports hall and a fitness centre. The library is bigger than in Biberach. You can borrow books, print papers or you use the computers. But be aware that they did not install windows on the computers but apple. You might spend some time understanding the system in the library. The library offers some rooms which you can rent for free in order to learn in groups. All you need to do is, reserve the room via Internet. 7

9 Studies A Swedish semester is divided into two parts. Every part lasts about eight weeks. After one part exams are written, then the next part starts, at the end there are exams once more. The university offers courses for only one part with each 7.5 CP or you can choose courses which require both parts. On the homepage you have to apply for the courses you want to attend. There are sufficient courses in English. Not only exchange students select the courses, but also Swedish students join them. So it is no problem to make contact with Swedes. For the study model international it was necessary to attend courses with at least 20 CP in total. That means I had to select three courses. Since I attended only one course in the second part of the semester, the second part was not as exhausting as the first one. Timber construction: This course was mixed up with both exchange and home students. I chose the course to learn more about the building material wood. The professor organised some excursions in the closer surroundings. First we visited a city called Vaxjö which is mainly made up of wooden buildings. Then a trip to a company was made, which produces wooden houses in modular design. At the end we went on a guided tour through a saw mill. Besides the excursions we had a few lectures. Furthermore the professor gave us projects which were done in group work. Our findings were written down on papers. Afterwards they were presented in front of the course. Business Culture I: Nearly every exchange student attended to this course. That is the reason why there were about 100 students from all over the world in this lecture. The professor informed us about business behaviour in different cultures, described us some cultural models and handed out advices avoid cultural conflicts. He was assisted by a visiting professor from Brazil. As part of the course we were occupied with cultural topics, which we present in groups. Last of all we wrote an exam, which is doable. Sustainable Building: This course aims to provide knowledge of the sustainable impacts of buildings through the entire building process. Surprisingly, there were only one dozen students in this course. Divided into groups, we were engaged in future projects. So we had to deal with the subject sustainability in the building sector. After writing a paper, we presented our results. Moreover, an individual assignment was sent to the professor. The topic was chosen by yourself, which in turn made it interesting. 8

10 Accommodation The easiest way to find an accommodation is that you register with the student organisation Kåren. But you should remember that you share your room with another student. Fortunately, a student of a higher semester recommend another place where you can rent accommodations. After having contacted the reception, I could select between 7 m² and 14 m² rooms. My decision was to take a big room. In my case the common areas like kitchen and bathroom were used with 6 other students. The prices for small rooms are 280 and for the big rooms 330. Energy, waste, warm water and internet are included in the prices. Sometimes it could happen that you do not have internet for a few hours. Then you have to take your bike to drive to the library. Furthermore I could park at the housing area for free. Another advantage of this place was that they sold very cheap bicycles. Usually you pay about 15, but you must not expect a high quality product. For example my bike had only one gear, which was the lowest. The sea is not that far from my accommodation, maybe 200 metres, whereas you need 20 minutes to get to the city centre by bike. When the weather was not that bad, I took the bike to university, which lasted 10 minutes. Next to the housing area was a race track for go-karts. It was opened until the end of September. Some other students and I competed for the golden trophy, which was just a Twix. When my accommodation was downwind, I had the problem that it was smelly because of the vicinal industry, which has not often been the case. The accommodation itself was okay. The kitchen had the most essential cooking equipment, expect you wanted to cook. Regrettably the bed was not that good. You did not have a mattress, you slept on a piece of foam rubber. Therefore my bedtimes were not very long. In addition, there were no roller shutter which is why the lights of the opposite house were 9

11 shining in. Contrary to my expectation, it was no problem to live in a small hut with only two bathrooms and kitchens. My housemates were really likable. I shared the house with a French, a Netherlander, a Bulgarian, a Brit, a Swiss and another German. 10

12 Review Before starting my studies in Halmstad, I did not expect that I would have enough time to travel through Scandinavia. As a lot of work was done in groups, I was able to organise my time more freely. The deadlines for the presentations and lectures were the only things, you had to pay attention to. Having a car, I cruised the streets along the west coast of Sweden. In addition to cities such as Varberg, Göteborg and Malmö I had the chance to see elks and bisons in a safari-park. At the end I stopped driving along the west coast, when I had arrived in Oslo. Having spent a weekend in Norway, I really know what expensive means. The UFO (University Friendship Organisation) offered a bus trip to Lapland for all exchange students. I have started the trip with great pleasure, but I was brought back down to earth when I realized how long a 24-hour bus ride could be. Driving a snowmobile and exploring the fjords in Norway were my favourite activities. Since it was the end of November, nights were long. The sun rose at 9 a.m. and set at 2 p.m. Add to this fact, the temperatures remained somewhere below zero degree all day long, wherefore the most lakes were covered in a thick layer of ice. Henceforth I know why only two people live on one square kilometre in Lapland. Well, this was the first time I had to take care of my own. I look back on a successful semester abroad, where I gained a lot of experiences. Managing not only the household, but also getting into contact with students of different cultures will help me in everyday life. I am glad that I took the chance which the study model international offered me. 11