An Experience of a Lifetime Past Review
By Shannon L (International and Global Studies, Brandeis University) - abroad from 01/27/2013 to 05/18/2013 with
The Swedish Program: Stockholm, Sweden
I learned a lot about the culture and being on my own and taking care of myself. I gained knowledge from my teacher and made some great friendships. It was definitely worthwhile.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Out of the four classes I took abroad, only one class really stood out to me. Two of them were fine and I did learn some, but the last one was pretty awful. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The administration was very helpful. There were times it was difficult to get in contact promptly, but they always followed through. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The apartment itself isn't the greatest when first looking at it, but overall it's amazing. The location is great. It's right near the t-stop and also the local grocery store. It was only 20-25 minutes away from school through public transportation and the neighborhood is nice. |
| * Food: |
I didn't eat out much in Stockholm unless it was for lunch after class. Usually things are too expensive to eat out all the time. Even buying groceries can add up as well. However, they do have a lot of cultural variety in the city. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
It's interesting being in Sweden. While people are friendly, if you are not obviously Swedish, you get the sense that you're not treated the same as any other normal Swede. After being here for over 3 months, I would say that I feel somewhat integrated but I would have to be here a lot longer to feel better acquainted with the culture. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
I myself did not have any first hand experience with the health care system, but I took a class on it and it is definitely better than the US system for sure. |
| * Safety: |
The city is very safe and not difficult to navigate so it wasn't a problem getting lost in the city if you had any inclination of where you were and where you were going. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* 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) |
The program required us to pay a food subsidy before hand and they would give us money every month so that we could budget our money with some guidance. I thought this was a great way to make sure we didn't spend all our money within the first month of being here. However, that being said, Stockholm is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and it was a given that we would be spending a lot of money no matter what we did or ate in general. If one knows how to use their money wisely, they would be fine. But if an individual is used to splurging, they are going to spending a lot more money than they originally thought they would. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I would say probably about $50 a week at least. It depends on how often you eat at home, go out to meals, go to bars, and buying alcohol (very expensive). |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | If you're traveling around Europe and you're actually studying abroad in Sweden, buy alcohol duty free if you really want it. It's SO much cheaper because the government has a monopoly on alcohol in Sweden. Also, if you're planning on going to clubs, make sure you go before they start requiring a cover charge (usually before 11pm) because the cost at least $30 to get in (and that's the cheapest cover charge I've seen). Meat can be very expensive so try to buy it on sale or already frozen if you're not picky about having fresh meat. Don't eat out all the time because it can get very expensive. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
It wasn't necessary to know Swedish while being in Stockholm but we were encouraged to study it on our own. |
| 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? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | For the host country's lanuage, none. |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Use it whenever possible and read signs and advertisements. It's a great way to see if you have been progressing in your studies. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| 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? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | It really wasn't as cold here as I thought it would be so I would have packed one fewer winter jacket. I also wish I knew how expensive things were going to be here. |
