Arrived in Jönkoping!

Hi all,

Here is my first blog from
Jönkoping, Sweden! I arrived here exactly 1 week ago. Saturday, one week ago, I
flew from Eindhoven to Skavsta, Stockholm. Stockholm Skavsta is a little
airport, 90 minutes to the south/west of Stockholm. The airplane wasn’t very
full so I had three seats only for me. On a very long flight, this would have
been very comfortable. But also for a journey of 1,5 hours, the extra space
was very nice.

The plane arrived on time in Stockholm. When I got out of the plane, I was very surprised because there was snow! I was leaving the Netherlands with rain and arrived here in the snow.


That was very nice! However, I don’t know if I still like the snow if I live here for a month ;) But for now, I enjoy it! Stockholm Skavsta is a little airport and is located nearby Nyköping. Because from the airport Skavsta it was almost 3,5 hours to Jönkoping, I had booked a hotel in Nyköping for the first night. The next morning I took a taxi to the busstation of Nyköping because my bus to Jönkoping would leave from there. At the busstation, I met a boy from Tilburg University. He would also go to Jönkoping to study there for a semester. What a coincidence, right? The bus was leaving at 12.15 and we arrived at Jönkoping at 15.25. The bustour was very nice. The nature here is so beautiful! Especially with the snow now it all looks very good. It is good to see that they do not know the highly populated parts like in the Netherlands. We signed up for the pick-up service at 16.00 so we had to wait for a while. When we arrived at the University, I was a little bit disappointed because I wasn’t placed in my number 1 favorite accommodation. I didn’t get it. I assigned for my accommodation the first day it was open. The boy from Tilburg had assigned a
few days before arriving but he was placed in his favourite accommodation. But maybe this is a difference with the Netherlands, it wasn’t like first comes, first served. Never mind, it is going to be ok!

I was a little bit surprised when I arrived at my accommodation. But I met another Dutch boy and he was telling me that our accommodation was a hospital before. That explains a lot! But I’m very lucky, I have a private room. I have to share my kitchen, bathroom and toilet with 5 other people. And I have to say that after a week, I’m very happy with my accommodation! It doesn’t look very cozy because it was a hospital before. For future students, my accommodation is Vilhelmsro. To compare, my first choice accommodation was Raslätt. There you get an apartment
with 3 other students. But the main advantage here is (and a disadvantage of Raslätt) is that we are with 60 international students in this accommodation and still meeting new people every day and every night I’m eating with different students. That’s very nice I think. In Raslätt, you have to get along with the other students in your apartment because for the upcoming 5 months, you will be roommates. Both Raslätt and Vilhelmsro has a common room. However, the Raslätt common room is much bigger but in both accommodations are a lot of parties ;)

Ok, let’s go back to my arrival in Vilhelmsro at Sunday. That evening, there was a diner with 15
students. The idea was that everyone would prepare a dish what is very typically for their home country. Unfortunately, I didn’t had the time to do some groceries but I promised to make ‘hutspot’ some other time. What is really nice though, the supermarkets are open every day. So also at Sunday!

The next day, we had to go to the university at 1.30 PM for the kick-off of the introduction week. I decided to go early because I had to buy a bus card. Though it’s not very hard to go to the university, I got lost. However luckily I was still on time.

After the first meeting, we were separated into different groups. I was part of the ‘Robin Hood’- group. They organized some winter games. This was quite a success, until it began to snow during the games. After doing a ‘name game’ inside, we went home for a nice dinner.

The meeting at Tuesday started at 9 AM so we had to get up really early. In the afternoon, we went with a couple of students to the A6. The A6 is a large mall with a think 3 large supermarkets and 100 shops. Also an Ikea is located there. I was very happy when we walked into the supermarket. I have a food allergy. I cannot eat gluten and therefore I have to stick to my gluten-free diet. But what a paradise is Sweden! They have so many special gluten-free products! I’m very lucky I think!

On Wednesday, we had also a meeting at 9 AM. And in the afternoon another meeting. At the university, they are doing their best to give as much as information to us as exchange students
so that’s very good. Although the Netherlands and Sweden are not that far away, there are some organizational differences. So it’s good that they give us information how to work with PingPong (that is the name of their own ‘Blackboard’) and about how lectures are organized at JIBS (short for Jönkoping International Business School). This day ended with a party at our ccommodation.

It’s nice that there are also differences in public transportation. In the Netherlands, busdrivers will only stop at a busstop. But this week, we were walking between two busstops and we
saw the bus passing us. We waved at the busdriver and he stopped! That was so nice. And this happend two times this week. So it’s nice that (when it is not dangerous for them to stop), they will stop to let you in!

Thursday was another day of meetings at the university. In the evening, there was a pub crawl. This was very nice! We only went to 2 pubs but it was nice to meet a lot of new international students. The planning was not very good because there were two meetings planned for us at Friday morning. One about written proficiency (but luckily they use the same methods as Tilburg University) and one how to survive outside your comfort zone. After the last meeting, the first kick-off week was ended. Next week the lectures will start. However, my first lecture will be on
Thursday so I have a very long weekend ;)

For all of you in Tilburg, good luck with the last exams and I’ll post a new blog next week!

Greetings from Sweden!

Lotte