Links and Info about Living and Studying in Sweden, Stockholm and KTH

Couple days ago I was asked by D, from KTH student recruitment to recommend some information and links that might be useful for student that will come to Sweden, or Stockholm and KTH in specific. They are currently making 4 regional web pages at KTH focusing on specialized information for students from Southeast Asia, China, Brazil and India. Thus they look for information from students come from these areas to help them on giving insight about information that new student might need, some sort of ‘local taste’ preference.

I was interviewed for video shooting as well couple days ago, though I have no idea why I was contacted, probably because I have submitted my answer when KTH made survey couple weeks ago. But I do not know for sure, It is fun anyway to get involve, so why not? I will add story and link about this interview later in this blog.

And regarding this list, I actually need some time to think about it and reply D’s email, as it was such long time ago when I was gathering kind of information like this before moving to Sweden. I do really want to provide what are really relevant, as it will be displayed at university webpage, thus I asked my colleagues as well, in case i miss some, but no such new information I got so far. So as time goes by, I have to answer the email, here is my list. I will add some later..

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From: Me

Date: xx februari 2012 xx.x3.48 CET

To: D

Subject: Re: KTH webpage for international students

Hej D!

Thanks for contacting me. Below are some links and information that I have used when I was moving to Sweden couple years ago, and I think can be useful for student from my country / south east Asia as well:

1. Links:

- http://www.sweden.se/ contains information about Sweden in general

- http://www.studyinsweden.se/ contains comprehensive resource about higher education in Sweden

- http://www.ppiswedia.se/ The website of Indonesia students association in Sweden

- http://www.swedenintouch.se/ The community website for International students and professionals who are or have been in sweden to share their experience.

- https://www.universityadmissions.se/intl/start contains procedures and important information that every candidate student need to know before/when applying study in university in sweden

- http://www.thelocal.se/followsweden/ contains information from Swedish institute about Sweden

- MISC useful links that contains useful information about traveling and moving to Sweden

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/swede1/Destination_Sweden_Sweden_Travel_Tips.htm

http://wikitravel.org/en/Sweden or http://wikitravel.org/en/Stockholm

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/sweden/ or http://www.lonelyplanet.com/sweden/stockholm

- KTH website also has plenty useful information about sweden, stockholm and study at KTH itself. Take and look at it in here http://www.kth.se/studies/why/stockholm-sweden?l=en_UK

UPDATE:

- http://www.studentity.se/ contains information about student's events in Sweden

2. Some useful information:

- Weather

It's good to have some idea about the weather characteristic in Sweden, so you will not surprise and prepare in advance, as it is completely different with Indonesia and other countries in south east Asia. Sweden's weather has many faces, but overall it has relatively temperate weather, thanks to the Gulf Stream. For example, in the northern Sweden, the sub-Arctic climate predominates, but Stockholm has quit warm and pleasant temperature compared to other locations at similar latitude even farther south. There is also an interesting phenomenon that you'll not find if you live / study in other countries, which is the seasonal change in the length of day and night. In winter, darkness prevails (Polar night), while in summer, daylight takes over and there is barely any night (midnight sun).

- Language

In term of language, Swedes speak very fluent in English; so good that they will switch to English so fast and you do not need to worry about your Swedish at all. This can be good but also not, as there are chances that you live in Sweden for long time without learning Swedish. So once you are here, make determination on learning the language, as it will help a lot to understand more about this country, its people, culture, etc.  The http://www.transparent.com/swedish/ website might give you some raft but fun information and idea about Swedish, and start to learn about it.

- Cultural Aspects

Moving to different country involves social responsibilities and it is an important aspect to adapt to the local culture. Sweden society in general has liberal, egalitarian, and environmentalist values as same as western standards. However, there are still some unique rules and etiquettes that we should understand when living here. Some of it seems so simple but would make life and things much easier, as well as avoiding from cultural shock. For example, never cut the waiting line, and in most of the cases it looks like there is no line at all. In the bank/public offices there is usually exist "Nummerlapp" and "kölapp" so people do not stand in line, while in waiting for public transport it is important to make mental note to let somebody who has waited in advance to enter the bus/train first, before you make your step. Another example is that Swedes are known for its Lagom value, literally means 'just in the right amount', not too good but not too bad, not too hot but not too cold, not too dominate but not too passive, things like that. There are lots of other information in the net that you can find about these things: how to react on invitation, making friend, conversation style, value of time, etc. Some other example of this, you can find in here: http://welcometosweden.blogspot.com/2010/01/moving-to-sweden-culture-shock-its.html