Växjö Universitet

I stayed in an off campus residence that was located between the university and downtown. The walk or bike (all international students are allocated bikes) to school was along a path by a beautiful lake. The walk or bike ride was always fantastic except during snow storms! The residence itself, used to be part of a mental institution - so the rooms were very hospital like. Most rooms except for a few were quite small, but has nice big windows. Also our kitchen and commons rooms were much larger then the on-campus residences - which were great for parties. The main thing I had to get used to was the common bathrooms and showers (men and women together!!!) Of course there were seperate stalls but it still took some getting used to i.e. someone could be in the stall next to you shaving or brushing their teeth while you were taking your shower. All in all I really got to enjoy my residence. At first I was a little dissapointed because I was not on campus and did not even have a sink in my tiny little room. But once I made friends it really did not seem important anymore.

The on campus student pubs Sivans and Stallana were the best - in price and in fun. Alcohol in Sweden is super expensive so because of this students usually had a pre-party in residence before heading out much later in the evening. Many students even started brewing their own beer.

Travel travel travel!!! You are so close to so many countries - Denmark, Germany, Finnland, Russia - go and see it all!

Save a lot of money before you go to Sweden, and be prepared to spend most of it on your every day stuff.

Most Swedes speak English so it was pretty easy to get around. Although you need basic knowledge for everyday things like groceries, bank stuff, buss schedule etc all in Swedish.