Umeå Universitet (UMU)

Get a membership card from IKSU. It's very cheap and good facilities. Sports is very popular in Sweden. Fika is too. This is drinking coffee and eating cake every single day! Unhealthy, so you will need to get the IKSU membership card ;-) Be aware of the short amount of daylight during autumn/winter. Go home for Christmas and during summer time. Hardly anyone will stay in Umeå so the city that has about 1/3 of students will seem dead. Be aware of the amount of snowfall (6 months a year). It can be very slippery in the last months of winter and the first months of spring! It takes long to disappear completely. Be aware of the Swedish drinking habits. They are quite shy (they say the further up North you go, the shyer they get). This is why they drink heaps when going out and they might get a bit annoying.

My overall experience here in Umeå has been really excellent, as I can say. I learnt so much from other students, the local folks around and most of all the accademic culture was just perfect for me. I could travel internationally at cheaper rates and had international excursions organised by the school for international students. The city of Umeå is small and friendly and provides the necessary tools and requirements for a perfect study environment. Honestly, I haven't been to one better than this yet and you can study while catching some fun alongside. I loved it so much and it has been a big and wonderful experience in my life.

Sweden is a very nice country. It's easy to travel there. In winter you can visit the Ice Hotel upnorth. You can do dogsledge, snowmobile, ski, ice skate, and visit very nice cities like Stockholm, Malmö or Goteborg and other very nice wild places. And enjoy Northern lights

Don't miss the opportunity to travel around Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia and the Baltic countries, you won't regret it! Just remember that Finland is the "cheapest" country and Norway the most expensive one (Sweden stands in between!).

Try to see as much of Stockholm and Sweden as you can. The service for exchange students at the university is very good. The student association arranges a lot of travelling and sightseeing, just ask them for more details.

Travel as much as you can, the stand-by flight tickets are excelent to get you anywhere in Sweden. The train is rather cheap too. I don't really know what to say, just ...enjoy!