EXCHANGE REPORT LUND UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN (2017-2018 FALL)
SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT Author: Yeung King Yiu Major: Risk Management and Business Intelligence TABLE OF CONTENT
Part I: Monthly Activity Log ______1
Part II: General Exchange Information ______4
Part III: Item to bring ______10
Part IV: Useful Links and Contacts ______11
Part I: Monthly Activity Log
September in 2017
Welcome to Lund University. A classical tertiary educational institution with a few hundred years of history was my first impression about Lund University. These photos were taken a few days after my arrival in Lund University. I was so excited to hear that history of Lund University is actually closely tied with the city. The university’s buildings and facilities are scattering around the city. Travelling around the city to study and shopping in everyday with bike is like adventure in a new world.
October in 2017
With limited budget, managing my exchange living Northern Europe could be challenging. The pictures below show how expensive to live in Lund. I really have to input effort to control my expenditure. Buying groceries hence became time-consuming at the beginning. Although the Sweds in Lund speak excellent English in general, English product labels are seldom found in supermarkets or grocery stores. I usually had to “google translate” a lot. It took me also a few weeks to figure out the ordinary prices of fruits, vegetables and daily necessities and the best locations for purchasing them. I needed to spend almost 1.5 – 2 hours to finish my shopping at the beginning, not to mention the time of cooking and cleaning. Luckily, things got better when I started adapting to the new life style. In fact, it a quite rewarding and funny experience. If you keep doing so, you would discover how you could shop and cook smarter gradually, becoming a new “you”.
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November in 2017
November is the month of exams and projects. To be honest, I enjoyed studying in Lund much more than in Hong Kong. The reason is not about opportunities to travel or the simple passing grades for credit transfer, but the learning atmosphere. Study in Sweden emphasizes more on how much you have learnt than what grade you have gotten. One thing I appreciate most is their absolute grading system. This created a less competitive atmosphere between peers. In one of my course, students would organize a revision section by themselves in which the top students would share their revision tips and explain difficult concepts for others as a “lecturer”. Students would not be ashamed to raise questions to the top students. They would not hide their meaningful questions from the others. I felt it is a much more effective and encouraging learning method. This is certainly an impossible scenario in Hong Kong given that Hong Kong students know their performance is judged relative to other students’.
December in 2017
Christmas in Lund is very joyful, pure and humane. Unlike Hong Kong, where people would be bombarded by business advertisements, Christmas here focus more on celebrating the festival with your families. People greet each other with Merry Christmas and Happy New Year a lot. Most Sweds spend the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with their family at home. While some may have a fine dinner, some may choose to party at home. The great thing was people really respect holiday and work-life balance. At least students don’t need to come up with a report, examination or presentation right after the Christmas Holiday.
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January in 2018
Here comes my last month in Lund. My courses ended a little bit late, giving me opportunities to witness a white “Lund”. One-semester exchange life was truly short, I wish I spent less time on travel, but more time on participating student nations, meeting local or international students. Time flew as I tried adapting to different things. When my exchange study came to the end, I started realizing I actually can’t tell a lot about Sweds, the Swedish community and culture. There are many aspects waiting for my exploration. One could have many chances to travel around as long as he/she has money, but not many opportunities to be an exchange student. Although my exchange experience was still fruitful with plenty of new attempts and observation, I believe it would be better if I realized the key earlier.
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Part II: General Exchange Information
VISA PROCEDURES Visa has to be applied through Swedish immagration department. Please note that the application process could take a month. The application procedure seems to be slower for exchanging in spring semester. Applying it as soon as possible is recommended.
Three reminders: 1. Applicants must be under protection of at least one insurance policy in order to apply for the visa. Insurance certificates are required as proof. It should take about 1-2 weeks for applying insurance certificate from HKUST associated department.
2. Applicants must proceed certain amount of money in their personal bank account to show that they could support their own living in Sweden. Account statement has to be submitted as proof. Please prepare sufficient cashflow before application.
3. According to Sweden Aboard, applicants should receive email notification when the visa is ready for picking up. However, missing email notification seems to be quite often. Please keep tracking the application procedure by yourself through phones.
ORIENTATION ACTIVITIES Remember to bring more cash and arrive at the university earlier on the arrival day. Tickets of some orientation activities organised by the student union and exchange student office would be sold out very soon.
There are also orientation activities offered by student nations in orientation weeks, which are like collages in Chinese University of Hong Kong. If you want to mingle with other international students, it is very important to join these activities before students start forming their own circle. It also helps you understand the feature of different student nations. (Every student has to choose one to join at the end of the orientation week.)
Lund univerisity would also assign exchange-in students to mentor groups which are coordinated by local students. You are strongly recommended to join the activities. The reason is that basically students within the mentor group would already socialize by themselves rather than binding to the mentor group soon after first few meetings.
There some pillow/sheets… etc sales during the orientation week, but the price is actually not so economical. You are recommended to join and check the price level in buy-and-sell facebook group before arriving at Lund.
INTERNATIONAL SERVICES & ACTIVITIES If you really want to meet students around the world, language café is a suitable choice. Several meetings would be held throughout the semester. Students around the world would split into different groups and teach each other about their own language.
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As for services provided to internationational students, Lund univeristiy would have an information section on this topic during orientation week. More details would be provided.
ACCOMMONDATIONS Supply of student housing is limited in Lund. I know some students are able to obtain student housing at the last moment, but still many did not. Be prepared that you have to arrange you accommodations by yourselves, like renting an apartment with others, rent through Airbnb.
As for student housings, supply of corridor rooms seem to be more limited than studio flats. Personally, both single studio flats and corridor rooms are quite large that could accomondate more than 1 person. You may consider share a student housing if out of luck. However, please note that applicants for these housings would only be offered with 1 set of keys. Unlike Hong Kong, only landlords with legal documents are allowed to make key copies in Sweden. That means the handover of keys could be troublesome when sharing a student housing with others.
COURSES REGISTRATION Although English courses for exchange students would be listed on Lund University’s website, the course period (semester) is not stated. If you have a very regid course plan in order to graduate on time, make sure you have confirmed with the course coordinators about the course period.
One important issue is that course schedules in Lund University are not as regular as those in HKUST. Exchange students only know whether there are time clash between courses just before the semester starts. Please prepare some alternative courses for substitution.
TEACHING & ASSESSMENT METHODS Most courses in Lund University adopt absolute grading system. Examination of some courses require students to pass EVERY QUESTIONS rather than having an overall passing scores. Do consider the consequences before skipping lessons.
Sweden processes strong culture of “Student decide how much their own take-away is”. Learning in Lund University is much more self-directed. It is less academic (usually with 2 chances of re-exam) with simpler examination, but more practical. Most courses have challenging group projects, especially for technicial courses. Students may have to learn a lot or reach the instructor by themselves to complete the projects. Unlike studying in HKUST, building the whole project based on textbook may not be sufficient.
Besides, courses usually have much more reading materials than in those in Hong Kong. Seminars, a common type of assessment in Lund University, often require students read through reading materials and comment on some discussion topic on a forum.
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SPORTS & RECREATION FACILITIES There are not many outdoor sportgrounds in Lund. The most common types of sports are jogging and cycling. Going to gym rooms is another popular option, but I’m not sure about the price. Play ballgames like badminton, squash in stadium is expensive. The hourly rents is about a double of those in Hong Kong. Playing bowling is cheap when compared with Hong Kong.
As for recreation, the local like going to bars and clubs operated by student nations. They also like playing shuffleboard or pool while having beers.
The Sweds also have strong party culture. “Sittning”in which participants dress up according a topic and sing during the dinner, is a typical Swedish custom. Crayfish party is another Swedish custom.
FINANCE & BANKING (INCLUDING CURRENCY AND EXPENSES) Sweden uses its own currency: swedish krona. Sweden and other northern European countries are almost cashless countries. MasterCard and Visa debit or credit card are very common. Please always bring you passport or residence permit with you when using Hong Kong credit/debit card. Your ID would be checked when using cards without any 4-digit pin (Cards issued by European countries are verified with 4-digit pin instead of signature). You have to tell the shop assistance that your card doesn’t have any pin if you are asked to input pin during payment.
You are strongly recommended to apply for a debit card issued by European countries with your residence permit and EU mobile number after arrival. The reason is that many ticket selling machines in Europe only accept coins or cards with 4-digit pin code. Cards issued in Hong Kong would not be accepted and the ticket prices are usually very large relatively to coin values.
The one I used is Revolut, a master debit card issued by an English company. It can be applied conveniently through mobile apps with your residence permit and European mobile no. The card could be sent to your Swedish address. A key benefit of this card is that it includes many currencies, such as EUR, SEK, DKK, NOK, HKD… After topping up the card through credit card with 1% fee, users could perform foreign exchange without any extra service charge at any time. (the website of Revolut is provided in later part of this report)
Cash is still usable but you may encounter trouble for changes quite often. Also decimal places in bill would be round up to integer automatically if you pay in cash.
Provided that I cooked my lunch and dinner most of the time, the monthly expenses are about 3500 SEK. The monthly rent is about 4000 SEK.
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SOCIAL CLUBS & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES Student nation is the central part of social life in Lund University. Both local and international students are obsessed with clubs and pubs organized by student nations. The price there are actually cheap compared with those in Hong Kong. It is better for you to recall some English names about movies, TV episodes, global news, music before exchange. They are common topics for chit chat.
If you don’t get used to the quick pace of networking in bars or pubs, you may consider being helper in student nations. Student nations always welcome volunteers for their bars, pubs, “sittning”. According my friend’s experience, it is a really good chance to establish long listing relationship. Just don’t be shy to take the initiative.
HEALTH & SAFETY Seeing a doctor is very expensive for non-local residence in Sweden. It is heard that it costs about a thousand for a single medical check-up (excluding the medicine). Unlike Hong Kong, pharmacy and clinical services are separated business in Sweden. Very often, patients would only receive prescription from doctors and they have to go to pharmacy to buy medicines.
If you are unsecured about your health, make sure you consult your insurance agent for medical coverage. Please prepare more medicines from Hong Kong by yourselves as well.
Lund is very safe city. Still there are bicycle-thieves or bicycle-gear-thieves. Remember to lock your bike and remove the front light and rear light from it after parking. You better not to leave your bike at popular parking stations such as train stations for days .
FOOD Eating out is expensive in Sweden (even the local say so). A standard meal from fast food restaurants already cost you 70 – 80 HKD. Kebab and pizza are typical cheaper options. Tips are included already in most Northern European countries. If you only have limited budget, make sure you learn how to cook before leaving Hong Kong.
There are several supermarkets in Lund. In general, Willys and Lidl are more economical while ICA and COOP are more expensive. Here come some tips saving money:
1. Apply for membership of supermarkets. Instead of using ordinary application channels, we have send email to apply because of the lack of a Swedish personal number. Membership discounts could be up to 50%.
2. Cook and shop flexibly. The prices of vegetables, fruits and meat could VARY SINGIFICANTLY during discount-period and non-discount-period. You could save a lot if you only decide what to buy and cook based on updated market price.
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3. It is suggested to always bring a lunch box with when you are travelling. This is because the size of European meals is usually larger than that of Hong Kong meal.
TRANSPORTATION Bikes are main transportation within Lund. A second-hand bike usually costs less than 800 SEK. Be careful about that Swedish bikes mostly rely on pedal-break rather than hand-break. Unlike double hand-break, it takes a few seconds to completely stop a bike. Make sure you get used to this before riding on busy street.
Here comes some traffic regulation of Sweden. The running direction of roads in Sweden is opposite to that in Hong Kong and Britain. Please always stay on the RIGHT side of the road during riding or driving. You MUST turn on BOTH front light and rear light of your bike after sunset. (Lights could be brought in supermarket)
There are two kinds of buses in Lund. The yellow are travelling around counties within Skåne while the green are travelling around Lund. Please be reminded that tickets could only be paid with Jojo cards (something like Octopus cards) on board or purchased through apps BEFORE on board. NO cash payment is accepted on board. Make sure you get at least get a Jojo card from staff of skånetrafiken on the arrival day before leaving the campus. Lund University would talk about it more on the arrival day.
In fact, trains should be the main inter-city transportation. SJ is the national railway operator in Sweden. Apart from trains to cities in Sweden, they also offer trains to Copenhagen Airport. They are just not as frequent as those offered by Denmark Railway. Remember to send email to register as SJ member. You could accumulate points when travelling with SJ’s trains. Points could be used to exchange for free tickets.
As for travelling aboard, there is an airport in Copenhagen and another airport in Malmo.
CLIMATE From Aug to Oct, the temperature in Lund is comfortable as autumn temperature in Hong Kong. Pay attention that weather in Lund is much dryer than Hong Kong even in Summer time. Do prepare some lotion.
Starting from Nov, the weather in Lund becomes colder and colder. Luckily, on average the temperature in winter is about 1-2 C. It snows sometimes in Lund. Since heating system is very common in Europe, it is better to bring warm jackets than clothes.
A wind-proof and water-proof jacket is also important for cycling in Lund. No matter in Summer or Winter, Lund is very windy and it rains quite often.
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COMMUNICATION Although every student would be given with a SIM card from Comviq, it is not recommended to use it. Their service plans are limited and not so economical. Therefore, you better purchase a data SIM offered by 3 in HK first. This could be found in Apliu Street.
Without a Swedish personal number, exchange student usually could only use prepaid SIM through which the user top up and buy monthly plan. The one I use was offered by Halebop. Subscription plans are not an option at most of the time. I also heard that staff of Telenor may offer subscription plan by chance.
Because of new regulation, you can basically enjoy communication charges and surf charges the same as your Swedish plan as long as you are in EU/EAA AS LONG AS you have registered your SIM. Your service provider would be updated automatically when you are outside Sweden.
Two important reminders: 1. Some providers only allow online top with Swedish debit/credit card. You may need to top up in convenience stores in this case. Better consult your service provider first before purchasing SIM cards
2. Remember to register you SIM before leaving Sweden. Without Swedish personal number, you may have to ask for specific help from service provider to register your SIM. Please also consult your service provider with this issue first before purchasing SIM.
CAUTIONARY MEASURES Lund is very safe generally. Here are some common accidents in Lund: 1. Fire in kitchen because of unattended stoves or oven. (usually happen after insufficient sleep or parties) 2. Traffic accidents with bikes because of snow/rain or lack of bike-lights in Winter
If you arrange your own housing, make sure a working fire alarm is installed.
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Part III: Item to bring
Suggested Checklist Check- Box Knowledge to cook a few Hong Kong dishes (for cultural exchange events) Souvenirs from Hong Kong (for cultural exchange events) Softcopy and hardcopy of passports and IDs Letter of acceptance issued by Lund University A few thousands of cash (No need to carry too much cash. Sweden is almost a cashless country) Maintenance certificate of laptops, tablets… etc Insurance certificate Medicines A set of formal dressing A Swimsuit (The swedish enjoy sauna a lot) Hiking boots A pair of spare eyeglasses WATERPROOF Down Jacket Socket adaptors from DIFFERENT Producers A spare mobile phone or tablet A few padlocks with LONG and THIN arm (for locking backpacks and lockers in hostel) International student ID card (Student IDs issued by HKUST or Lund University may not be accepted in some countries) ATM cards supported by PLUS or CIRRUS network (Better to apply for cards with 4-digit pin code issued by European Countries) Personal security device for ebanking
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Part IV: Useful Links and Contacts
1. Revolut – A British-based debit card with 4 digit pin that is easy to apply https://www.revolut.com/hk/
2. ISIC – organization issuing international student id card https://www.isic.org/
3. GoEuro – online platform for booking transports in western and central Europe https://www.goeuro.com/
4. TimeEdit – website for checking course schedule https://se.timeedit.net/web/lu/db1/ehl1/
5. Facebook page – Sell Buy Stuff in Lund
6. Willys – website of a local supermarket for checking price level https://www.willys.se/
7. Website showing where free bike-gas station is located http://kartor.lund.se/lkarta/?zoom=13¢er=13.22908,55.70845&ol=cykelpump&bl=mapb oxlund&config=configs/config.js
8. SJ - Swedish National Railway Operator https://www.sj.se/en/home.html
(You could apply for membership by email and accumulate points in exchange for free tickets)
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