Fall Semester Exchange report: University Chan Ka Chun, Michael (Finance and Economics) Monthly Activity Log AUGUST: On arrival day, the school provided shuttle buses for students to travel from the main building to their respective accommodation halls. There were several welcoming events available for exchange students as well (e.g. pub night, sightseeing tour etc). You could sign-up through email for a 2-week Swedish language course which is graded with a quiz and attendance. It is nice to learn some basic Swedish language. Given that it’s just the introductory language course, instructors are not training student to be native Swedish speaker. In the first week, I sometimes get lost in the city, and the locals were very friendly, they are happy to answer my questions. In late August, we went to the Malmo, , which takes only 20 mins to travel by train. It was so rewarding when we finally reached Ikea in the countryside of Malmo at the end of the day.

SEPTEMBER: I took 2 course: EKHE42 Emerging Asia: Economic Transformation in East and South East Asia and NEKH71 Economic Integration. The former course required students to write 4 essays across the topics of the economic development on the Southeast Asian countries and attain seminars regarding the topics. While the latter course taught about trade barriers and how they are removed by Free Trade Agreement (which is assessed by a final exam and several group assignments). As they are both bachelor courses, the schedule is less packed than back in ust. Therefore, I managed to visit the capital of Sweden, and couple cities in Southern part of Norway. For the trip to Norway, couple of exchange student in CBS and I visited Oslo, Stavanger and Bergen. Although the price level in these towns is relatively high, the scenery of the Fjord and mountain make it up for the expensive transportation and living expense. Thing to note: there are 3 famous hiking trails in Norway, which is amazing in both views and the trailing experience. But the transportation services to these mountains would be suspended after September due to the safety reason. (As it isn’t recommended to hike these medium to hard level hiking trail after September.)

OCTOBER: Back to the studies, there are several seminars (graded oral presentation of peer’s essay) for the Emerging Asia course, and couple group assignment for the Economic Integration course. It’s also about the end of the 1st period and therefore exam is coming. After the exam, I started my central Europe (Hungary, Austria, Czechia, Berlin) 10 trip with another friend. As most of the places are famous tourist cities (i.e. locals seldom live in Prague but other smaller town). Personally, I think Budapest has its charm among the central Europe cities. Although they got similar architecture and urban planning system, I would recommend staying long in Budapest than Prague (less touristy). In Budapest, my friend there in Budapest accompanied our visit and we tried some of the local dish (goulash and local craft beers) and the famous Danube River. With a 3 hours bus ride, we arrived at the well-known musical city, Vienna. We also had the chance to watch the operas and performance. In Berlin, German people speak moderate English and they were also very nice. Apart from the rich historical background of the place, it’s also a transportation hub for you to get around different country in Europe.

NOVEMBER: Period 2 of school starts, I took another two master courses with a much more packed lecture schedule. Thus, I didn’t really plan for travelling trip. Still, some of my friends and I managed to take a weekend break in , Sweden and Helsingor, Denmark. It was a place to relax and visit some of the castle and museum in Denmark. .

DECEMBER: The real deals of the master course are coming. We have a couple of group assignments and case discussions. With the case study method and diversity among the group, we went through a lot throughout the course. Accommodation halls are only offered until 31st December, so you might have to bring along your entire luggage with you, or leave them in the room of friends you meet in Lund. After all those presentation, spread sheet adjustment and case write-up, I visited the Western Europe (Amsterdam, Paris and London) for 10 days. Couple of my friends and I meet up in Amsterdam. We had a great time in there with the cheese, vibrate night environment and windmill village. After that, I did a solo 4 day trip in Paris. Although everyone keeps saying that it’s dangerous in Paris, I had a great time in there and satisfied for the treat for student/ EU resident (EU resident under 25 enjoy a free admission for most of the museums and sightseeing spot). Then I went to London in UK for 3 days and spent my New Year eve on the firework countdown event in London (ticket must be purchased in advance online).

January: As there is still a group case project and the final exam for the BUSN95 master course, I took a good break in Manchester, UK before going back and tackle the case. It’s a nice student city and offers you the chance to pay a visit to the major soccer stadium like the old Trafford stadium, Liverpool stadium…etc. Certainly a wonderland for football fans. Back in Lund, I started to revise and finish up the case project. After taking the exam, I finished off my exchange adventure with a 9 days solo trip to central and southern Europe (Slovenia, Croatia and Italy). I arrived at Ljubliana, the capital of Slovenia, and stayed there for 3 days. I was impressed by the amazing and well-preserved scenery in Bled Lake. No wonder the Slovenian rowing team wins so many medals in the Olympics. It got a nice lake view and a cool church island in the middle of the lake. Besides, Slovenia also has countless of cave that might surprise you. I also visited the skocjan caves in the southern part of Slovenia. They offer you the chance to visit the earliest and largest cave opened for visitor and lesson to the formation of these amazing cave. In this country, the aggregated size of all caves under this land is roughly the same as the country. Thus, they always say that there’s another Slovenia growing under the land. Both of these locations took me a 2-3 hours bus travel distance. Next, I visited the Piltivice national park in Croatia and stayed at Zagreb for accommodation. Although half of the park is closed due to snowing weather, it was amazing to see those partially frozen waterfall. It was an amazing park with well-preserved natural Greenland and river in the autumn, so I suggest visiting there right before the snow come during November. For Italy, I stayed at Venice for 2 days and Florence for 2 days. I would say both of them are touristy places but here are the reasons of going. In Venice, you get the chance to see the water city in Europe. The complex urban city planning, water transport (gondola) and countless amount of bridges reflect the wealthy Roman empire in the old days. It’s also a great place for photography. I took a day trip to Burano Island which is famous for the colorful house there. For Florence, it’s the origination of Italian culture. Although Rome is the capital of Italy, and the dialect of Florence is the basis for the official language of Italy. Besides, you could revisit the trace of Resonance Era with the remaining buildings there.

1) Visa Procedures: You could simply apply for the 6 month resident permit from the website of Consulate General of Sweden. Then bring the required document to their office in Room 25, 25/F, BEA Harbour View Centre, 56 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, HK (Tel: 2521-1212) (Email: [email protected]).

2) Orientation Activities - Orientation lasts for 2 weeks starting from arrival day - Registration day, pub night, BBQ, excursion, Swedish language course, trip to IKEA, etc. During the orientation period, students will also have an option to take the SUSA course (Swedish introductory course). It would be a good opportunity for you to make new friends there. Still, quite a few of the students will skip the course and travel around the Europe before the semester start.

3) International Services & Activities - There are 3 coordinators at the international desk, their offices are in the business building, each of them only goes to work 2 days a week, a few hours a day, so mark their office hours before going by their offices. Sending email to them is also an effective way of getting help

4) Accommodations - Some accommodation halls are studio flats (private kitchen, bathroom and bedroom), some are corridor rooms, like those in HKUST - Palsjoang and Sparta are only 1-minute-walk away from the business school. I would recommend corridor rooms, as they have more dorm life and less costly than studio flat. All the furniture would be included except pillows, blanket and other personal items. (these items could be bought from the school on arrival day at 300 SEK, but you could also visit the ikea in Malmo ( about 30 mins train travel distance away from Lund central station). There will be internet lan cable socket but you would have to bring a router and lan cable for wifi. Keep it in mind that the router should be able to support the 1000mb speed of the internet in the accommodations.

5) Courses Registration - Online registration before you leave Hong Kong - Attend registration day during orientation week and fill in the form. Most of the courses require you to attend their first class to make sure you are studying it. In case you really have to be absent, send email to professor to let them know you will take the course and explain the reason for absenting. Still, all my courses didn’t really take attendance on the first class to check if you are there or not.

6) Teaching & Assessment Methods: For bachelor course, it’s relatively simple in terms of the structure of the course. Most of the economics courses consist of assignment in group or individual, seminars/ oral assessment and final examination. They generally have a less packed class schedule and encourage students to read the literatures on their own and put their time into good use. Besides, student here do have a flexible time schedule instead of a standardized one.

For master course, they employed a case-study learning method to nurture students with real life case. Generally for my finance master course, we are required to read the case before class and perhaps discuss it during class and learn about different topics. You will also have more group interaction in the course and collaborate with students from all level. For instance in the BUSN96 Corporate Governance, you will have the chance to discuss the financing structure of the M&A deal and what to consider on the restructure of a company during the graded case discussion. With the diverse background among students, you can also contribute more to the class by introducing concepts/ norms that happen in Asian markets compare to EU. For the course BUSN95 corporate finance and strategy, you would have the chance to do balance sheet liabilities adjustment as a credit analyst will do and evaluate the credit worthiness of the company and tackle some real life business problems by solving some Harvard Business Case and present to the class. Of course, there’s always a catch. These master courses will cost you more studying hours, packed class schedule, frequent group discussion/ meeting for the project. In general, they are good courses for finance student to meet some of the bright students in these master courses.

7) Sports & Recreation Facilities – Although there is no sport facility included in the school facilities, you could always purchase the membership at the local fitness center or pay hourly for the court in Victoria stadium. (Offer badminton, tennis court and fitness facilities). I suggest students could go jogging and enjoy the environment in Lund inexpensively.

8) Cost/Expenses: Most of your expense would come from your travelling and social activities. You could save a lot if you prepare your meal at dorm. The following budget is my roughly expenditure of my fall semester exchange. Of course, there are several major fixed cost for the exchange listed as below

Return ticket from HK to CPH 5800 HKD Accommodation 4000 HKD per month Daily expense 20000 HKD Travelling expense 30000 HKD HKUST tuition fee 21000HKD Total 80800HKD

9) Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities: There are around 12 nations and most of their functions are clubbing. You would have to join the organization, StudentLund and pay a membership fee of about 250 SEK before joining any of the nations. After joining one of them, you would get discount for their activities and you are still welcomed to visit other nation and pay the regular price for the activities in other nations.

10) Health & Safety: Lund is a clean city - It is generally safe to walk or cycle alone late at night around the city - Call 112 in case of emergency. If you feel sick, you can visit the pharmacy store ( Apotek). You could fine all the basic drugs for minor sickness symptoms. In case of emergency or serious health issue, do visit the hospital (health insurance would cover the expensive charge so don’t worry). But for minor fever or flu, locals would just visit the store and buy drugs instead of visiting the clinic. 11) Food: Dining out would be costly due to the short of restaurant and the higher price index in Swede. Thus, it is recommended to prepare your meals at your dorm. Normally, pasta would be your main course as pasta is cheaper than rice. The price for fresh meat would be around 49 – 69 SEK per kg. Willy’s is the supermarket with the cheapest food, it is located near to the accommodation halls of Delphi and Ostra Torn; ICA, Coop and Lidl are other supermarkets around the city. But I think it depends on whether there’s any promotion or discount in the supermarket. There’s also an Asian market in Lund central but offer less choice of goods than that in Malmo. In case you want to have a nice meal, you could experience Swedish meal in a canteen near to LTH (lunch cost about 60 SEK). Don’t worry if you have a tight class schedule, sandwiches will also be available in the cafeteria inside the business school building (price around 40 SEK).

12) Transportation – The bus fare from business school to city center costs you around 20 SEK. Normally, there will be a bus station which is near to your accommodation in case you would like to take the bus to school or city centre. In my case, I go to school by bike instead of bus. As the bus costs you 20 SEK per ride, you could saved more by cycling (bike costs around 500 SEK and could even resale it in the Facebook page). Of course, you could also choose an accommodation (like Palsjoang and Sparta) next to the business school. But it’s a studio flat with less vibrate dorm life and slightly more expensive rent. For travelling, you would usually travel from Lund to CPH airport with train (cost around 120 SEK with Jojo card or 140 SEK normal price) or go to the airport in Malmo for Flight to Poland or other route served by Wizzair. Thus, make sure to factor in these transportation cost when planning for your trip. 13) Climate - Light rains are common - Windy - Seldom snows but still cold. During my stay from August till Christmas, we are lucky to experience the snow in Lund. In general, the temperature fall from around 20 degrees celcius in August to sub 0 degree celcius in late November, never below -10degrees celcius.

14) Communication - Local people speak Swedish but they also speak very well English, only some of the elderly do not speak English

15) Cautionary measures - Crime is uncommon in the city of Lund, the most common one is stealing of bikes, so lock your bike always.

16) other note: Items to Bring - Letter of Acceptance - Passport and ID card - Visa if you have got it before leaving Hong Kong - Credit card and/or debit card with Plus sign/ VIsa, it is almost impossible to open a bank account if you are to stay for less than a year - Local currency (SEK, around 15000SEK) - Changes for travelling ( it would be more convenient to withdrawn local currency in your destination) - Money belt (a must for travel) - Stationary - Windbreaker (very windy) - Camera and charger - Notebook and USB drive - Phone and charger (a phone card will be given on arrival day by the school, you can purchase monthly data usage according your need) - Travel router and LAN cable -2-round-legged travel power adaptor and power socket extension - Outdoor/ hiking boot ( like timberland and salomon) - Water bottle (tap water is drinkable) - Umbrella - NO need to bring business suits since the presentations are informal - NO need to bring sports equipment apart from running shoes because there is no sports centre

Useful link: school work 1) Student portal: http://www.student.lu.se/uPortal/f/welcome/normal/render.uP 2) Course Portal: https://liveatlund.lu.se/sv-se/Sidor/default.aspx?r=30