Swedish Stories
What does it really mean to be an exchange student? Well, it is hard to explain what the whole experience is about; therefore we have asked some of our former exchange students in Sweden. Read and enjoy their stories. Hopefully you will be even more excited to be an exchange student in Sweden when you are done reading.
Carolyn from the USA spent a year in Sweden:
In preparation for my year abroad in Sweden I heard over and over again that my experience as an exchange student would change my life. Every time someone told me that, I thought to myself, "they are crazy! I am me! Nothing can change me!" I was only in it for the adventure, not to become a new person. But in the end it turned out that all those people saying the same thing were right! And I am so glad that they were.
The challenges you face as an exchange student can be really difficult because they are so different from anything you have been faced with at home. Plus they all happen in a different language! For me, as an American not from New York City, learning to use public transportation was the most difficult challenge I had to overcome during the entire year. I was so used to driving my car wherever I needed to go. I never even walked anywhere, because nothing was within walking distance. Buses are scarce and subways are non-existant in my hometown. So when I arrived in Sweden and discovered I had to take the city bus to school I immediately became incredibly nervous. I had already been nervous about making new friends, and with the news that I had to use public transportation my nervousness doubled instantly!
I had never been on a city bus before. How would I pay for my trip when I didn’t even know Swedish yet? How would I know when it was my stop? How would the bus driver know that I wanted to get off? Where would I go once I finally did get off the bus?
Needless to say, riding the bus was not nearly as frightening as I had imagined, and I became an expert after only a few days. Overcoming what I saw as an impossible obstacle made me feel like I could do anything! If I could figure out how to ride the bus, then I could figure out how to do everything that Sweden threw at me.
All the other things that I had been afraid of were no longer a problem with my new-found bravery. I made friends, was brave enough to speak Swedish, rode the train, and even asked for help from store-workers in a new language!
I used to be a skeptic of those who said you change as a person during your exchange year. But now I am proudly one of those people who tells all future exchange students that they will learn so much that they will be a new person after their experience. For me the biggest change was getting over my fears and anxieties. It may be the same for you, or it may be something completely different like learning to be more independent, or learning to adapt to a different lifestyle and share your living space. Perhaps you will learn how to do your own laundry for the first time or cook a meal for yourself, or maybe even have to learn to let someone else do those things for you. Whatever happens, being an exchange student will be one of the most exciting experiences of your life, and it is worth all the nervousness and uncomfortable moments. You get new friends, a new family and a new you out of the year, and that is not too shabby!
// Carolyn exchange student in Sweden 2005-2006
Hayley from Australia also spent a year in Sweden, here are her thoughts.
Hi, my name is Hayley Sullivan, and I’m a 19 year old Australian. I spent the best year of my life in Örebro, Sweden.
I could never imagine, while nervously waiting at Brisbane Airport on August the 7th 2005, what would be in store for me in the coming year. I got to stay at the Ice Hotel in the Artic Circle, go on a dog sled through the forest, see the northern lights, see a moose, eat an ostrich hamburger and meet the best people in the world. Nothing can fully prepare you for what you are about to experience as an exchange student. Everyone lived a completely extraordinary life but there were some things we all shared that were quite different from what we had experienced before.
One of the biggest parts of your exchange is your host family. They are the first people you meet and the last people you hug before being sent back home. I think the most important thing to remember with your host family is that as scared and nervous as you feel, they are probably feeling the same. Be open and honest with them, joke with them and act how you would at home. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about everything because the more you know about them the better your relationship will be. There were times when my host parents and I misunderstood each other (as is to be expected when you are speaking another language!) but talking to them is the best way to sort any issues out.
School is the place to meet your friends and where you will learn heaps. Coming from astrict Australian school with uniforms and a rule for everything, it was a huge shock to see school in Sweden. The starting and finishing times for class each day were different, we called the teachers by their first names and even got a hot meal in the cafeteria each day. Needless to say, I loved it!
It was tough when I couldn’t understand Swedish, but luckily many people in my class could speak in English with me at the start. I remember going on an excursion on the 3rd day of school and the entire day the only word I understood was the word ‘blue’. However, when you know nothing, the only way to go is up. So whenever you understand a new word its encouraging, and after one year it is shocking when you can understand everything on the street signs and what is being said on TV. Its amazing to see how much I’d learnt in one year, not just with the language, but culturally.
Swedish customs and their way of life was mine, it was no longer foreign. In fact, when my parents came to visit me just before I came home, speaking Swedish was much easier than English. Being an exchange student is really the best way to see a country. I made some of the most amazing friends from all over the world and had some great adventures with them. Choosing to be an exchange student was the best decision I ever made, and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
// Hayley exchange student in Sweden 2005-2006
