Arrival in Jönköping & Kick off week

Well I arrived into Jönköping and made my way to Student house to get my accommodation. Upon arrival I was told that they had no accommodation for me, even though I had an email saying they had some for me. (Hint make sure you apply in time) At around 8.30pm I was taken to a hostel in Huskvarna where I would spend from Saturday to Wednesday. It was a cramped room with two bunk beds. Three of us in there with our luggage you can imagine the lack of space. This was a very anxious moment for me. I have never been in this situation before. When I went up to the room I was with a guy from Indonesia, who had limited English skills. Later on I would meet an Aussie who was staying in my room also. He introduced me to a chap from Spain and a lass from Canada. I started to settle in better from this point. Sunday we went to a friend of the Aussie in the city centre.

Monday morning and we had to be in Uni first thing and I mean 8am. We had a meeting with some lecturers to go through some formalities. Then we had the Kick off teams come in. Now these people scared me. They were so enthusiastic, like a group of motivational therapists. We were split into our groups and went to meet the rest of our fadders. It was really good that the academic side communicated with the SU side and organised events during the day and not just at bight between academic introductions. We then got to know the other people in our group sober as well as drunk! One thing to note the Swedes have a stereotype of being quite shy and reserved. This maybe so generally but like us Brits get a few drinks down and you’ll make friends for life. Also the Swedish students are incredibly outgoing. They are up for anything it seems, whether its swimming in the canal naked or stripping down to your undies to go run in a fountain. However if you see a person smiling in the street at people they are probably tourists! Monday night was a pre party at one of the fadders house then onto the JIBS (business school) Bar. On this note of alcohol. Sweden is an expensive night out. I certainly miss the cheap prices of Newcastle. Outside of student clubs and bars the average cost of an alcoholic drink is around £5. Student bars are around half this. There is only one store in Sweden which has the right to sell alcohol. The times are restricted. Not normally open past 6 or 7pm only open for a few hours on Sat. Honestly this system would not work in the UK. Supermarkets only sell what has been termed ‘emergency beer’ (less than 3.5% even as low as 0.5%) After the Business bar where I continued to meet new people, mainly Aussies and other commonwealth nations. We went onto a club in town. It was rammed. Probably spent over an hour there before I went home with my Aussie room mate and the Canadian. The busses don’t run so late here.

Tuesday during the day was filled with course confirmation and then a talk from the President of the University and the Business school Deane. It appears they like their tradition here so as we went into the theatre for the talk, flag bearers were standing in a semi-circle leading into the theatre. When it was time to start we were told to rise for the flag. The Swedish flag came in first being marched down the steps towards the stage followed by the flags of the university and business school then the local council I imagine. It was not marched however to the soundtrack of the Swedish National anthem. The speeches were made, (may I point out a lot of stuff is repeated throughout the week, so you do get fed up, but what’s new) Once all speeches were over we were then asked to rise again for the flags exit. The ceremony began again marching up the steps and out of the theatre. Quite different to how we were addressed in our freshers week by the Deane. Tuesday night was another pre party at a fadders house moving onto Akademia the SU club. This club is the place to be on a Wednesday normally and I can see why it’s incredible. Two rooms with different music in each. I prefer the one with ‘cheesy’ Swedish music. First time I’ve heard Carola in a club before! Loved it.

Wednesday was the day of the ‘Academic introduction’ For this we were all taken by coach to the Local Ice Hockey Stadium, home to HV71 (Sounds like a virus but never mind) We started off with a brief chat about studying in Sweden followed by a quick phrase lesson. Then after Fyka (Coffee break) We went into the main Arena where we were welcomed by all our fadders and then had a quick lesson on differences in Swedish culture. To be honest I can see alot of British in the Swedish culture, or maybe it’s the other way round. The evening was another pre party followed by a beach party at Centrum.

Thursday was a student tour around the city. At different locations we had different challenges to do within our group to earn our team points. Club Caj we had to create a 1 minute dance to a Michael Jackson song to perform for Mr Caj. City square we had a fasion show to perform for 2 members of Sexkreation (SexKreation where the judges of events and the organisers. The name stems from the old Swedish use of the word sex, meaning fun, translated it means fun creator) Swimming in the canal was another challenge.
Thursday was the day I finally moved into my permanent residence. A house in the neighbouring town of Huskvarna, 4 students sharing, 2 guys and 2 girls. There are a few of these student houses. It’s a mezzanine house with us students owning the ground and the 1st floor. I’m sharing my room with a guy from Austria. My other housemates come from China and Italy.
Thursday night was the traditional toga party. Each year JSA (JIBS Student Association) have this toga party which ends the night with a swim in the canal. I decided to go with tradition and take the plunge (pardon the pun). It was 2am, remember this is Sweden so I was expecting it to be freezing; however to my surprise it wasn’t too bad. Just made sure I reached the surface.

Friday. Nearly the end of the week by now we are all sleep deprived, hungry and our livers now take their revenge on us however we still plod along, no stranger to this being a student in Newcastle! Today’s event was rained off at the last minute, we were supposed to go to the beach on the lake and play some games but instead we did what all students do and that is to play drinking games before the Swe event. The Event of the week; this is a huge Pool party with around 1600 people attending. It starts of with a relay race between the 4 schools, this year the communication school won. The event was started with the Swedish National anthem. (Yet another song to learn) The pool party commenced with everyone jumping into the Olympic sized pool and swimming the width of it then going onto the other pool outside! Yes outside, in Sweden. They like to do that. It was this night that the Fadders had chosen me to be Zero captain of space jam because I was the Zero that showed the most enthusiasm etc towards/for the team in the previous 24 hours. The rest of the team had to swear an oath of allegiance towards me and I swore an allegiance to the team and the Fadders. I felt proud to receive this but also guilty. Proud because I had assumed the captaincy from an Aussie and with 5 Aussies in the team this was a heck of a lot of fun after 24 hours of being goaded. Guilty because It was a close call between me and another lad who I thought had more passion. For me I am quite reserved in introductions and team events however this change appears to have come upon me, where I am not afraid to get involved and support the team and take part whilst making new friends along the way. I would say the key to this week was to keep an open mind and go with the flow. Was it hard? Yes. But totally worth it. You enjoy yourself more if you go with the flow and don’t resist. The pool party went on till 11, could’ve gone on longer I think was the general feeling. We managed to break a record by getting 43 people into the Jacuzzi.

Saturday during the day was all about finally sleeping. Sleeping in until I was woken up by a certain someone calling me. Saturday night was all about using that new found energy to go out again. The lad who I beat to the captaincy the night before had succeeded me in this vote. The guilt had now gone away as I knew that he deserved it. Sunday of course is the day of rest so we all enjoyed a quiet brunch in the city (free of charge) This was just a nice time to unwind and chat to people without music or drunken antics. The rest of the day I used to just chill, sleep and write this entry.

To sum up this week.
AMAZING