UQ Program: Master of Commerce
If I am asked by someone about my thought of being an exchange student in Stockholm University, I will say straight away “It is awesome!!!”
First days coming here, although I was advised carefully in UQ’s pre-departure session for exchange student, I still found it hard to cope with the extremely cold weather in Sweden. It was very different from Brisbane and my home country – Vietnam. I got a cold and suffered from it for the first whole month. I missed the deep blue sky of the sunshine state Brisbane so much. As most of Swedish people in winter, I also got depressed.
Everything then soon became bright. In this so cold country, you meet warm-hearted people, not only the Swedish, but all of the foreigners living here. We, the exchange students, were warmly welcomed by the student union, with Swedish-style parties, tours to show us around the university and the city. We are arranged to live in a campus, where you share the kitchen and living room with other 14 international students. We got to know each other, and became good friends. Studying here was also enjoyable, and we learnt a lot of practical knowledge about our profession.
Stockholm is such a beautiful city built on thousands of islands. Reflected from the water, the buildings look like they come from the fairytales, the bridges with simple design are unique points to decorate for the city. Here, people can see modern and busy life in harmony with the beauty of nature everywhere.
Despite the cold weather during a quite long winter, the life is not that quiet when we can enjoy the winter sports as skiing, ice-skating, ice-hockey... I really love to see snow, and the white scene everywhere. When Spring and Summer come, everything brightens beautifully. People enjoy BBQ, picnics on the grass full of colourful flowers. Last but not least, I could travel around Europe easily, see by my own eyes such as Eiffel Tower, Colosseo in Rome, visiting Vatican city, flower fields in Holland, Winter Palace in Russia.
In short, going on exchange study requires a lot of careful preparation and planning; however, above all, it is really a good idea to choose this program as it is the door leading you to a wider world, where you meet many nice people and learn several useful things.