Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

When they tell you Sweden is dark and cold, listen to them. Past Review

By (Creative Writing., Brandeis University) - abroad from 08/26/2012 to 12/15/2012 with

The Swedish Program: Stockholm, Sweden

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I learned that host families can be pretty hard to handle. Three different students on my program had to leave their host families because of various reasons. I was glad I chose an apartment.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The classes weren't particularly hard, I wrote some pretty terrible essays and still got good grades on them. That may be in part due to the fact that English is the instructors' second language so grading papers must be difficult.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

While I liked our staff quite a bit and they helped me a lot with several personal problems throughout my stay in Sweden, they seemed to struggle with a lot of things. Our director (who was amazing) was fired in the middle of the semester and they refused to tell us why and the student co-ordinator (Roscoe) acted as if doing his job was beneath him. Heaven help you if you needed something from Roscoe because he would moan about it before finally doing something.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The house I lived in was very nice, in a beautiful location right on a lake! The only issue was that we lived so far from Stockholm itself - a 45 minute train ride - and we had a 20 minute walk to the train station from our house. It often meant getting up at 6 for a 9am class.

* Food:

Stockholm is a very international city, you can pretty much get whatever you want. Though do watch out for prices, it gets pretty expensive.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Sweden really isn't all that different from the States.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

The healthcare was excellent.

* Safety:

I felt perfectly safe in Stockholm, though it can get a little scary walking home in the dark because the sun sets so early.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? No

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Stockholm is an expensive city! Be prepared to cook your own meals and look out for good deals. If you go out and party every weekend, you'll go broke pretty quickly. Luckily, this program does provide a food stipend to help you.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $140
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Cook your own meals! It's way cheaper.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? None
How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? None

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Apartment
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? 0

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • The city
  • The gender class
  • The food
* What could be improved?
  • Roscoe
  • The Film class
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Sweden is really, really dark in the winter. The sun was setting at 2 pm in December! People tell you that before you go, but it's worse than you think.

Reasons For Studying Abroad

To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you.
The Academic or Linguist
You went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you!

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Swedish Film and Television Culture
Course Department: Film
Instructor: John Alexander
Instruction Language: English
Comments: This class was ridiculously easy, you didn't even have to watch the movies to participate because we rarely even discussed the movies we saw for the week. We had one field trip to the Swedish Film Museum and it lasted all of an hour for our three hour class. Though we turned in a short paper every week, he never graded or returned them and they didn't count toward our grades - he only counted attendance and the final paper which was only 5 pages long. Also, he made us read his book for class and he is a TERRIBLE writer.
Credit Transfer Issues: Not that I know of.