I studied in Jönköping, Sweden
For my elective semester I decided to study in Jönköping, Sweden. I had been to Sweden many times with my family for vacation and wanted to experience living there for a longer time. From friends, I had heard great things about JU (Jönköping University). I also wanted to take a course on peace and conflict studies, which was offered at JU.
Arrival and introduction
To reach Jönköping, which is located in the south of Sweden, I took a train to Copenhagen. From there I took a FlixBus. Settling into Jönköping was made quite easy for new and international students.
The first week was kick off week. Everyone becomes part of a team with which you participate in challenges, explore the city and party. The outfit for this week is the Ove (short for overall) in the colour of your faculty. Mine was blue for the School of Education and Communication.
Throughout the Intro Week - and your whole semester or degree - you can collect patches from different events, faculties and clubs. During this week we also spent a lot of time at AKA. AKA is a club for JU students run by the student association. It usually opens its doors on Wednesday nights, but during the kick off week it is open every night. The dress code for AKA is also always the Ove.
This week was a lot of fun, and I met most of the friends I spent time with throughout the semester in this week.
Busy weeks
A typical week included my classes, usually around 3 a week that lasted 90 to 180 mins (of course with breaks). I also had a lot of fun joining some of the many exercise courses offered by the sport association; I tried out badminton, bachata, and stunt cheerleading. I also joined the Language Café as an event organizer. This is an after-uni club in which students can take small language courses/language-speaking sessions in various languages offered by other students. With two other event organizers, we had weekly meetings planning special events such as trivia nights or a Halloween scavenger hunt.
My friends and I also liked to visit ice hockey matches to watch the local team. Other than that, we of course also had many fikas. A fika is a short coffee break with friends, family, or colleagues. Fika was a great excuse for us to enjoy many cups of coffee and eat cinnamon buns called kanelbullar.
During the semester I also took some trips with my friends. To Gothenburg and Norway for example, or to meet some moose.
Accomodation
I stayed at student accommodation called Delta, only a few minutes away from campus by foot. I had my own room and a shared kitchen with 10 other students. I liked the location and my room, but living with 10 roommates was quite exhausting.
Courses
I enjoyed some of the courses a lot, while others were more academically challenging. They were more theory heavy compared to what I was used to at GPCM. I struggled with the teaching style, which was mostly lecture-based and not as practical.
The course in peace and conflict studies was interesting. My original plan was to test if I might like the topic so much that I would pursue a master’s degree in it. This turned out to not be the case; instead, I enjoyed the course Conflict Management a lot more.
Overall, I had a great time at JU. I would always chooise this university again! What stood out for me about JU was how dedicated students (both international and local) are to being part of the student life. They take responsibilities for facilities, clubs, extracurricular activities, the kick off week or student association. My time at JU was especially good because I met really great people who I am still friends with today.