Exams can be fun...

Abba, Ikea and Pippi Longstocking – this was my vague picture of Sweden before coming here in August. It has changed remarkably since the day of my arrival in Sweden, writes Natalia Pawlowska, exchange student from Poland.

Lund turned out to be a charming university town, where one may have the impression that everything is made for students. Not only is it one of the biggest universities of Scandinavia, but also it welcomes the biggest number of international students in Sweden – all together 130 nationalities. Needless to say - my life of an exchange student proved to be fascinating and exciting.

The first big surprise was my room. I was used to the Polish accommodation standards, which mean small, unappealing three-person rooms. My room in Lund is not only single and en suite, but also big and nice. Another pleasing aspect of Swedish accommodation is the so-called “international corridor”. My twelve neighbors, with whom I share the kitchen, come from, literally, all over the world – twelve countries, five continents. Corridor life is therefore particularly multicultural and very vivid. Regularly one of us cooks his or her national specialties for everybody, and then, with a guitar, set of poker or just a good conversation, we stay up till the middle of the night.

Academic life is also far from what I had expected. I study at the Faculty of Law, which in Poland has the reputation of being time-consuming due to the requirement of knowing almost everything by heart. Therefore, the modest timetable at Lund’s Law Faculty came to me, as well as to most of the other exchange students, as quite a surprise. We can take only one course per term – which leaves us with a total of four courses per year. It was also surprising to see how strongly work in groups and essay writing is emphasized. Neither of the above mentioned was required at my home faculty and accordingly it has been somewhat difficult to adjust. With time though, the Swedish education system proved to be very satisfactory. This is particularly due to the amazingly positive attitude of the lecturers towards the students, which I rarely experienced in Poland.

Even though I already knew how strongly the education systems differ between Sweden and my home country, it was shocking to attend my first exam in Sweden. I could bring all the books, notes and materials I wanted and had all the time I needed. I was required to think, deduce and analyze. It was a nice change from the system I knew - for my Polish written exams I could only bring a pen, the time was short and the questions purely factual. I would not have thought that even exams can be fun…

Natalia Pawlowska