It was really an exciting moment for us when the list of selected candidates to Uppsala University came out.
On the 19th of August 2019 we landed at Stockholm Arlanda airport. Everything turned out to be going smoothly. Thanks to our contact persons Ulrika Ouline and Professor Anders Berglund for arranging everything! We experienced a bit of summer warmth. Before the chilly winter hit us, we traveled around a bit to enjoy the beautiful scenery. On the 22nd we joined at Uppsala University and normal classes began henceforth. The learning experience was little different from what we were exposed to but we managed to cope up with it.
I could meet new friends from the very first day of school. Every student and people I came across seemed to be very nice and they were very fluent in speaking English which made it easier for us to communicate with them.
There were many student activities where they welcomed us with open hearts and not to forget we got free sandwiches. We were introduced to the term Fika which is popular amongst Swedes. Also, we were invited for Swedish fika by the chairman of Swedish Bhutan society, and I would say it gave us an opportunity to socialise with them.
After few weeks we noticed the day got shorter and sadly the sun sets at around 3 pm. Despite the cold weather we made full use of our 6 months there to travel around and also prepare for the exams. Even though it was freezing cold, nothing could stop us from going around. We visited some student pubs and parties too.
We being Bhutanese don’t celebrate Christmas, but being there in Sweden I got a chance to see what a Swedish Christmas looks like. Student nations were kind enough to provide us with Christmas meal and made us feel at home. We were invited by two Swedish families for Christmas, and I really had a wonderful time with them, the food was exceptionally good. Apart from food we tasted Christmas wine called glögg.
Each and every day was new experience for us. Also, we could go to the arctic region and we were lucky enough to see polar clouds and much thicker snow than Uppsala.
Lastly, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Uppsala University and Royal University of Bhutan for giving me and my friends this precious opportunity to be an exchange student. Never in my life have I imagined that I would travel all the way to Europe (Sweden) from Asia.
Kinga Seldon