buy a bike it is highly possible that someone will offer you a stolen one at a very low price.

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1 I decided to go to the University Of Twente (UT) as an exchange student for the 3 rd semester of my master program in Integrated Product Design. The equivalent Master program in UT is called Industrial Design Engineering (IDE). Some similar courses are available but there are also a lot of different approaches in common subjects and various product design and development related courses. In order to prepare myself for the exchange studies I did some research in the website of UT and I also asked information from people that had experience of studying in the Netherlands. Finding accommodation in Twente area is usually a lot easier than finding a room in Stockholm. Two small cities (Enschede and Hengelo) are near the UT campus so there are different possible options for accommodation. It is even possible to stay in Germany in Gronau which is 10 by train from Enschede. After searching for a room for 3-4 weeks I got an offer from the Housing office of UT to live in the ITC hotel. I accepted the offer even if it was a bit expensive for me (450 euros/month). ITC hotel is an old hotel, partly renovated, in the center of Enschede. It belongs to the Faculty of Geo- Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of UT. Students from this faculty usually live in the hotel and most of them are from Africa and Asia. UT is a relatively new university with a lot of new buildings and modern architecture. Unfortunately university s philosophy is that every student should have his own laptop and UT is actually selling customized laptops to the students. As a result, there are only some old computer rooms and there is no design related software installed. Also students have to buy most of the books needed for the courses. Some books are available in the library but in limited copies that are not enough for everyone. So students use to buy their books from their student association and then, when they no longer need them, they sell them, usually through facebook. Finding courses related to my Master program was easy but in order take some of them I had to go through negotiations with the IDE department. The reason is that they offer specific course packages to incoming exchange students and these courses are not always suitable for any student. For example, I needed to take a course (Research methodology and Academic Skills) from a different department (Construction Management) in order to replace a compulsory course in KTH. So I needed to communicate by with some persons responsible for course selection and exchange students in order to achieve this. In another case, the course that they offered me (in the course package) was similar to a course I had already taken in KTH. I also had to go through negotiations to manage to change it to another course. However, teachers and contact persons for exchange students are usually nice and helpful. So in the end anyone can find and take interesting courses, suitable for her/his program. The different courses I had were: Create the future A very interesting project course (10 ects) (replacing MF2061) in which students learn how to identify future trends and create realistic future scenarios before they create a product about this future.

2 Design Management A management related course about how brands and companies are related with products and design. Although the course is really interesting, it has not much to do with design. It is mostly Brand Management theory with little relation to design. Research methodology and Academic Skills In replacement of the compulsory for me MF2072, I took this course which is what the title indicates. This course is mainly meant to be taught to Construction Management (CM) students so after the research methodology approaches and techniques are introduced, the students have to apply them in CM area and in related problems. However, the knowledge and experience acquired can be applied in every field. Scenario Based Product Design The most interesting course in my opinion. It is about applying scenario techniques in product design and also about participatory design methods. The city of Enschede where I lived for almost 5 months is a relatively small Dutch city near the German borders with a population of around people. There are a lot of pubs and coffee shops in the city and usually if you walk in the city center at night you can smell marijuana in the air. Also Enschede has a big market with stores from big chains (e.g. Media Markt, H&M, Primark, McDonalds etc.) where almost anyone can find something for his/her taste. An important fact for low income students is that prices in the Netherlands in consumer products are much lower Sweden. Every Tuesday and Saturday in the big square downtown there is an open market with fresh vegetables, fish, meat, dairy and various other products in low prices. Students, the UT and Saxion (a Dutch school of higher education) organize a lot of events and parties usually at the beginning and after the end of every study period. UT has many groups active in sports, music, games and other activities. Consequently, there are many possibilities to do interesting things almost every day if the study schedule is not too tight (unfortunately usually it is). Some of the activities I tried during my stay were climbing, scuba diving, canoe and singing in a choir. I eventually joined a choir for some rehearsals but because of the amount of projects and study load I had to quit at some point since there was not enough time. Additionally, in the campus, there are two music studios fully equipped, that can be used by students who have a union card. Along with some friends, interested in playing music, we did not miss this chance and we created a rock group and had some great rehearsals in the popstudios of UT. Someone who visits the Netherlands for the first time will be surprised by the number of bicycles that are used by locals and students. Bike is the most common mean of transport and almost everyone uses it, no matter their age or the weather conditions. Literally, there are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands. The whole country is flat so it is very easy to use the bike. But everyone must be cautious since bike theft is very common and when trying to

3 buy a bike it is highly possible that someone will offer you a stolen one at a very low price. A beautiful tree tunnel in the park between Enschede and UT The area of Twente is at the east end of the Netherlands but the big Dutch cities are only 2-3 hours away by train. Utrecht, a beautiful city with amazing canals

4 and great night life is just 1.30 by train. Amsterdam at 2.15 is not far away either and this is the most alive city in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam you can find anything you can imagine. However, in my opinion Hague is the city that anyone should visit in the Netherlands. The combination of the old city, the canals, the modern city and the coastline in this city, is truly amazing. So if someone has free time, it is very easy to travel around and visit big beautiful cities but also enjoying the peaceful Dutch nature. An Autumn Sunday in the beach of Hague Apart from the city, the country and the university, what was most valuable for me and still makes me feel really happy, is the friends I made. I met a lot of people from all around the world and with some of them we got closer. We travelled together, we cycled in the Dutch countryside, we played music, had a lot of study parties (the kind of party when everyone has to study about some subject, so we gather and we do it together), we had interesting discussions sharing different views and experiences. I hope to meet them again!

5 for contact: I amsterdam with great friends