Erasmus activities

I will try to summarize the ISS activities during the first month in Stockholm. First of all, the ISS is the international student organization of KTH and they are organizing plenty of partys sightseeing trips and dinners. If you want to see more pictures, you can find them on facebook or you can write me a mail.

City Rally
All exchange students met at Nymble, the student union house. There we had to team up with other students and follow instructions written on a sheet of paper. These instruction led us to the most popular sightseeing places of Stockholm, where we had to answer some questions. This trip was funny: I met new people, played soccer in the middle of a street and got a good overview of Stockholm.

BBQ @ Nymble
First I thought that this event would be really bad since it was a rainy day. But we had to go, because it was the only possibility to get tickets for the Osqvik-Party. In Nymble there was a indoor BBQ and you could buy cheap beers at the bar (10 SEK = 1,7CHF). Then they opened the ticket desk: There was an insane rush for those tickets, since they only sold 200 of them... After 4 or 5 beers I finally got to the desk and bought my ticket for the Osqvik party. Unfortunately I was the first one that didn't get a ticket for the boat trip (Thanks to Magda =) ).

Movie Evening
ISS was showing a swedish movie about integration called "Ett oga rott" (One eye red). It was a great movie but in the middle of the movie they had some technical issues and had to cancel this event.

Osqvik
The highlight of the ISS activities! The party was in a cottage 1h from the city. We had to take 2 busses to get there. The first alkohol victims had to leave the bus on our way there. The first thing we did when we arrived there was to swim in the lake/sea. The water was 16 degrees and was really clean. We swam across the lake and had a short rest on the other shore. Then we swam back and went into the sauna, where everybody was drinking and singing. I was able to motivate all the Erasmus people to sing the "Vogellisi" even if I was the only one who knew the words :). After some refreshments in the lake, I decided to check out the party in the cottage and eat a sandwich. The musik was rather bad (Boten Ana, ABBA and even Britney...) but the ambiance made up for everything. Unfortunately the busses arrived at 11 and we had to leave this great party.


Swedish Dinner
We were introduced to some swedish food and swedish (or KTH) traditions. A nice jazz band was playing the whole evening. There were 3 courses: A nice salty pie with onions, Meatballs with potatoes (IKEA style), and a delicious pie for dessert. They served some swedish Schnapps, swedish beer and red wine. The ambiance was extraordinary. During the whole event, we were singing swedish songs and and having fun. (Beercan contest, Teeeeempoooo etc.)

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First days in Stockholm

After 3 crazy weeks in Stockholm I finally found some time to start my blog. I will try to finish the story about my first 3 weeks until friday, when I will go on my first "expedition" to Riga :)
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I arrived in Stockholm the 29. Juli with Mänu who is going to stay in Linköpping for his exchange year. We took the flight from Zürich to Stockholm via Wien and we decided to stay the first couple of days in a youth hostel in Stockholm, since the official arrival day for exchange students was the 1. August. This was also the date when we would get the keys for our rooms.

KTH Valhallavägen

The first problem we encountered was, that I was not allowed to take my bicycle with me in the subway... So I had a first involuntary walk through Stockholm. When I arrived at the youth hostel Mänu was already checking in. The youth hostel is situated at Valhallavägen, which is a 10 minutes walk away from "central" Stockholm. The youth hostel is actually a school, but during school holidays it's converted into a hostel.
During our stay in the youth hostel we met many people, including Alain and Rolf, two Walliser who are also in Stockholm for exchange studies. Since it was sunny and hot we took advantage of it and spent the days at the beach and went sightseeing in the evening.

Finally the 1. August arrived: Swiss national holiday and Keyday at KTH. Mänu took the train to Linköpping and I had to drive my bicycle to Kista, since I was not allowed to transport it with the subway. This was a nice 15km ride throug h the city, passing by a huge graveyard, a golf court, a big forest and lake. Then I had to go all the way back with the subway to the KTH where I had to wait about 3 hours to get my key and a SIM card. During these 3 hours I met a lot of other exchange students and saw my future university for the first time. After that I could finally move in to my new room. Then I had to buy a blanket, a pillow and other stuff to endure the first night. Luckily I'm living near one of the biggest malls of Stockholm which made this task easy.


Some first important facts about Sweden:

1: Sweden is expensive
In Sweden almost everything is more expensive than in Switzerland.

2: Systembolaget
The state-run alcohol store. It's the only place you can buy "real" alcohol. A good example for fact 1....

3: You have to be at least 21 years old
To enter bars, clubs or pubs you have to be at least 21. There are even some places with an age limit of 25....

4: Swedes are friendly and helpful!
I wanted to buy a lock for my bike and went to a sports shop. The shop was not selling locks but the shop assistant printed a map and explained how I could get to a shop with locks! Nice!

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Address and Phone Number

Hej hej!

This is my first post, so it should be more informative, but since I'm really busy, I will try to write the story about my first days next week. You can see the most recent pictures on facebook.

Hej då

New Address:

Alexander Petric
Jyllandsgatan 307:13
16 447 Kista

Mobilephone, E-Mail etc. :

+46 76 583 05 00

petric@kth.se

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