IX

Hey!

For the first time here I´ve visited another city than Stockholm in Sweden. There was a trip to Uppsala! This is a typical student city, where around 50% of the population is students. We got a guided tour there, where among other things we saw the very nice old university, but nevertheless this was kind of boring. So we decided to part ways with the group to check out the little town on our own. We found out that there was a guitar festival that day, and after an hour of wandering around we finally found it! There was a little fair, a lot of classical guitars and some case shows. Afterwards we went to the various student unions that are established in Uppsala. It was quite similar to the student union bars in Tilburg or any other Dutch student cities. Afterwards there was a big student party. It was a welcome change from Stockholm, but after 1 day I longed back to my current hometown again!

Many students go through different stages during their exchange period, while adjusting to life in a new country. The early excitement fades, some students get frustrated because of cultural differences, or maybe you are completely adjusted to your new life. I would consider myself in the latter section. First of all, I did not have a period of real frustration because of cultural differences. The cultures of the Netherlands and Sweden are to similar for that, and when I consider the cultural differences between the Swedes and the Dutch, I can often authenticate more to the Swedes view. Secondly, a lot of Swedish customs have become a part of my life here, almost unconsciously. I drink 3 times as much coffee here as I would do in Tilburg, for example! I would almost say I´m at the last stage of adaption, where my 2 cultures perfectly blend. Since we have a lot of freedom here, and you mostly meet and interact with exchange students, it´s not really the question if you get used to the culture of Sweden. A better question would be if you are adapted to the exchange student life. And for me, this happened rather quickly. To me, the life here is almost self-evident, and especially with a lot of awesome trips coming up, the time seems to fly!

I decided I haven´t been to much concerts here, a hobby that consumes a lot of my time and money in Tilburg. Also, I had noticed a lot of posters of concerts and venues around the city, especially in the hipster southern parts. Therefore I decided to look up if something interesting was playing, and of course found too much to see in a lifetime, let alone a semester! I found two concerts of bands I wanted to see in one weekend, a perfect catch! The first one was ´The Subways´, a UK rock band. They played in Debaser Slussen, one of the more popular alternative places here in Stockholm. It was for free, which was quite the nice surprise since normally you’d have to pay just to get in, even if there wouldn’t be a concert at all. The support act was a Swedish rock ‘n roll band. There were quite a lot of exchange students there, who mingled perfectly with the typical Swedish crowd.
The second concert that weekend was in another popular venue here in Sweden: The Strand. It was a bar that lied at the water, which gave it a very cool atmosphere. The band of the evening was ‘The Melvins’, a very loud stoner rock band that I’ve been dying to see for years. They played for two hours straight, an amazing set! As expected, the

Last weekend my sweet girlfriend visited me again. Even though it hadn’t been such a long time, I was very glad to see her again and, again, we had a fantastic weekend! Next week some exams are coming up. On the fourth of November I’ll have my international marketing exam, which I don’t expect to give too much problems. On the second of November I’ll get my home take exam for history of the welfare state. I expect that one to be a lot more complicated and it will be quite the challenge to pass it with a good grade!