August 2013 –January 2014 Gävle in Sweden Report

One semester abroad at the University in Gävle, Sweden. As part of the program of the University of Applied Science in Biberach Germany.

Schorpp Daniel

Content Studienmodell International ................................................................................................................... 3 Facts about Sweden ............................................................................................................................ 3 Partner University Högskolan i Gävle .................................................................................................. 3 Gävle .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Pre-arrangements................................................................................................................................ 5 Packing................................................................................................................................................. 5 Taking off ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction week ............................................................................................................................... 5 26th of August, start of the lessons...................................................................................................... 6 Description of all courses .................................................................................................................... 6 Swedish............................................................................................................................................ 6 Indoor Environment ........................................................................................................................ 6 Sustainable Cities............................................................................................................................. 6 Alpine Ecology ................................................................................................................................. 6 Studies in general ................................................................................................................................ 7 BRO Association................................................................................................................................... 7 Trips ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 Latvia, Riga........................................................................................................................................... 9 Estland Tallinn ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Lapland ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Thanks ................................................................................................................................................... 10

Studienmodell International The program Studienmodell International is offered at the University of Applied Science Biberach Germany. As part of that program a semester abroad at a partner university is absolved as well as an internship at a company in the same country. The university provides therefore a scholarship which is distributed by the DAAD.

Facts about Sweden The kingdom Sweden did had about 9.5 million inhabitants in March 2013. It is placed in the North of Europe and extends over 450 000 km². Thereby it is the tired larges country of Europe. In Sweden you still pay with Swedish Kroner. One euro did in September 2013 correspond to 8.5SEK. But honestly all Swedish people pay by credit card. I the busses they charge you even more when you pay cash. If you want to know more about Sweden, please watch this movie. After my stay in Sweden I can confirm those facts. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djFx6j0E9rU)

Partner University Högskolan i Gävle The University is about 10 by feet from the city center. It’s an old military building from 1902. A huge park is directly in front of the school. A green courtyard at this place creates a beautiful atmosphere for studying.

Picture 1: Högskolan i Gävle

Gävle Gävle is a city in middle Sweden and has about 70000 inhabitants. Old stone buildings like the city hall, as seen on figure 2. Or wooden houses like figure 3 create the appearance of the city.

Picture 2: City hall, Rådhuset

Picture 3: Old city part, gammal stan

Pre-arrangements A stay abroad should somehow be prepared a little bit. But I also can tell you that you at the end still will have to improvise a lot. It is actually pretty smart to keep care about the flat in advance. If you register for Gåvlegardana early you have a higher chance to get the flat you would like. Gåvlegardana is the company renting out flats here in Gävle (www.gavelgardarna.se/student/). The city part where most of the students live is called Sätra. Of cause is it nice to learn a bit about the country you are traveling to. Very important is for example the health insurance for abroad. The best preparation ever is to be able to do this step abroad!

Packing It’s kind of a hard decision what you are going to bring with you if you stay abroad for one year. I did decide for one huge backpack. My family did later on send my winter clothes. A package from Germany to Sweden is not that expensive. But the other way round is insane.

Taking off A long way of preparing for a big event and suddenly it is the day for starting off. I did travel by train with my study buddy Massimo. The hole trip took us about 24 hours but it was kind of a mentally preparation.

Introduction week The instruction week is meant as start for the new students to gather first contacts and basically to have fun. The Students Union was responsible for this event and did also keep care of the international students. We were invited to all their parties and to take part in the games. Here I made the first contacts and was able to find out a lot about the University and the live in Gävle. For the coming semester there is going to be a association called BRO Association providing a share platform for Swedish and international students. BRO will organize events and help out with any questions for the international aspects of the Högskolan I Gävle. Bro was founded by a couple of international and Swedish students to connect the Swedish and the International students. I was enrolled it this association from the beginning on. Since then we organize a regular international café called “International Fika” where one of the international students presents their home country. Afterwards the students can hang out together while drinking a café and having some nice cake!

26th of August, start of the lessons My fist courses already started. Alpine ecology. I choose this course to get in touch with Sweden’s nature during a one week field trip. It opened my eyes even more for the environmental impact of human. Especially in the point of forest as a resource for building materials, energy and social live. During the field trip we students got closer together as we had to cook and stay together for camping and group works.

Description of all courses Swedish For an active integration and to get a real taste of a foreign country my personal opinion is that it is necessary to learn at least a couple of words in the according language. I took two Swedish courses. Even I am still not able to speak Swedish fluently, I’m well able to understand the people talking to me and I’m nearly able to read a daily newspaper in its full extend. The most important point of all is that if you show effort to learn the language the people will recognize and you are than even more welcome and they are more willing to speak English to you. Indoor Environment Indoor environment is part of the Master program for Energy Systems. With the basic knowledge out of Architectural Engineering it was no problem to participate. The topics of this course did focus on indoor climate, ventilation and lighting. For each discipline another professor did hold the lessons. At the end I can tell that this course was refreshment in English of older lessons back home in Biberach. Sustainable Cities As the title does describe it is about our future cities. We have been talking about ventilation of cities, sustainable architecture and the impact of the cities on especially the local climate. Effect like heat island effect have been explained and analyzed with experiments like the launch of a weather balloon. We also took the change and simulated different building structures in a wind tunnel which we have been able to use a whole day. Alpine Ecology As already announced in “start of lessons” Alpine Ecology was about the vegetation within the Scands. Biodiversity and the impact of climate change on the flora and fauna including a one week field trip.

Studies in general The way of studying in Sweden in comparison to Germany is quite different. The extension of a single course is bigger than in Germany. I had at maximum two to three courses at the same time. Per semester there are two examination periods. Per period you have about two or three exams. The amount of students per subject is even smaller than at the HBC. In general your spent way less hours in lessons but you should learn and study more on your one. I’m not sure if this way has a higher outcome. But I’m pretty sure that our German way can be improved with a little step towards the Swedish study mentality.

BRO Association Bro association is a group of students founded by us Internationals. Massimo a study mate from Biberach, Sven also from Germany and some Swedish friends like Agnes, Eric, Malin and Linnea did start to meet up, to improve the communication between international students and Swedish Students. Since then BRO association is established in the students live. We hold regular meetings to organize bigger events and a regular international fika. Fika is the Swedish word for a café break together. It is acutely more like a life style! Over my whole period in Sweden, due to the point that I also did do my internship in Gävle, we hold more than 15 meetings, about ten International fikas and seven bigger events. Nine “International fikas” International Fika Germany International Fika Spain International Fika England International Fika Finland International Fika Swedish Christmas traditions International Fika Maldives International Fika Saudi Arabia International Fika Belgium International Fika Palestine International Fika Turkey Seven trips BROtrip – Christmas dinner on the Baltic sea International gaming night Introduction week for international students Prison Museum Bowling Earth hour with BRO- The world in our hands! BBQ BrOlympic games For more interest check out www.facbook.com/bro.association

This group work was a lot of fun and took a lot of effort. But there are now enough people enrolled so that we can be sure this group will continue also the next period.

Trips To get to known to the Scandinavian culture it is a good way to travel around. The studies leave enough free time to arrange some trips.

Latvia, Riga We have been a group of around 30-40 students who all book the “international students cruise” to Riga in Latvia. We book via Scanbalt and adventure agency which arranges many different kind of trips around Scandinavia. The ferry did start in Stockholm and did need the whole night to travel to Riga. On board have been tow discos which have been highly frequented especially on that trip. The TAX free shop on board manly sells beer and other liquids, one of the main reasons for the Swedish people to join those ferry trips. The high tax on alcohol makes these trips interesting.

Estland Tallinn Twelve friends five night and a lot of fun.. Again we traveled by ferry which took us a whole night. On this ferry it was basically offered the same than on the trip to Riga. There was a Disco, café, restaurant and of cause the tax free shop. Tallinn itself is a really beautiful old town. With its trough the Soviet Union shaped history a really interesting place to visit. The prices are similar to the German prices and there is a quiet active bar night life. The Place we stayed at was the MonksBunk which I really can recommend. (http://www.themonksbunk.com/social-hostel/)

Lapland No Lapland is not an own country. It’s a region which partly belongs to Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is basically the home of the Sami people. We booked a one week trip with Scanbalt. If you compare the prices be organizing it yourself and the offer of Scanbalt that it is an easy decision for Scanbalt. Whit in this week we saw a lot of amazing things. For example the Ice-hotel and the Nordic Lights, also called Aurora Borealis. I can highly recommend this trip to experience temperature like -36°C and get the feeling for long night and really short daylight periods. The activity of the Nordic Light can be checked at: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe/

Thanks At the end I say thanks to all people who made this adventure for me possible. Especially the professors and staff at Hochschule Biberach who did start up the Studienmodell International and do with this program offer a great chance to experience the world and establish international contacts. I say thanks to my family and friends who did support my decision and have been there for me all the time. I recommend everyone who has the possibility to do this step and stay abroad in another country for at least six month!