The 10 Naked Truths About Studying in Sweden.

After a pretty successful blog debut last month, I decided to continue writing. I'm honestly not sure whether people liked my post because of the first photo I put up (which is of me and Pak Jokowi) or if they actually took time to read and liked what I wrote. I was surprised to see that many people did read and quote the things I wrote in it, but I wasn't surprised either when the comment made was something related to Jokowi. Well anyways, thank you for the overwhelming responses and care!

So a few weeks ago, while lying in bed trying to figure out what to do with my life how to fall asleep, I ended up jotting down some ideas about how different the Swedish education is compared to that in the US. And so if you're here to figure out what it's like to study or just my general comments on my study experience in Sweden so far, well you're in for a treat!

Alright so they say ignorance is bliss. I guess this was kind of true for me, as I did not really pay attention to what I was getting myself into academically when I applied to Lund University. Once accepted, all I had in mind was how I wanted to embrace the complete Swedish study experience! But I mean, I did expect to face some hardships (i.e. difficult math etc.) especially going into an Economics major, but it was more than just about difficulty. The system here is quite strange different, and I have compiled a list of the most important ten things one would probably want to know before deciding to study in Sweden:

Please bear in mind that these facts are based on the life of a suffering Master's student in Economics at Lund University. However, I will include other information I know of other majors/ universities (if any). I can and will only compare my study experience here with my previous one in the US.

1. You study two courses in two months. Three Two is indeed the magic number. Even though we use semesters here, the actual length of each course is not a semester long. In my program, it's only half a semester long. I guess you can refer it to as a semester with two terms. You study two courses in each term. Unlike in the US where I took four courses for the entire semester, here I take four courses but only study two at a time for two months. Oh and this is the exact reason why I seem to always be freaking out about finals - because I take them every two months! 

A few (of the many) different reactions my friends had whenever I talked about finals.

2. The only exam you'll ever encounter in a course is your final exam. Yes, you read it correctly. There are no midterms, just finals. And this makes sense because you only have two months to cover one course. There is basically no time for any midterms. This also means that your grade heavily depends on this final. In all of my courses, the only determinant of whether I pass or fail a course is my grade on the final exam. To some this may be quite terrifying. But on the brighter side, if you're really smart, you can just take the finals and pass the course without having to do any of the assignments or attend the lectures. 

Before finals, I usually rewrite my notes in colors to help me memorize stuff. 

It's my way of making studying somewhat more bearable and fun.

3. And the finals are five hours long. Yes, my finals are five hours long! When I first saw my schedule, I was horrified. My first thought was, "can I eat during the exam?" (and yes, one can!) Ok just kidding, I actually thought, "will we actually need five hours to finish the finals?" And after taking six finals, I can say that whether you need to sit the entire five hours or not really depends on the courses and how much food you bring prepared you are for the finals. Most of the time, I did need the five hours. But at other times, I was too hungry to stay longer, so I decided  (knowing that I had written everything I had in my head) to leave early. But really - prepare your snacks well. Oh and there are bathrooms inside the exam rooms, so if you have bladder problems like me, there is no need to worry!

4. Be prepared to study during your long December break. I'm not sure if I could say that my classmates and I had a peaceful December break, wait was it even a break? My finals were scheduled on January 4 and 11. Yes, January 4 was three days after the new year. If you've read my previous blogpost, then you probably know that I went on a two-week holiday in December. Did I plan knowing that I had to take two finals right after new year? Yes. Was I in my right mind? Now that I think about it, I probably wasn't. Unlike my other classmates who did some studying over the break, I actually did none until January 1. My new year was spent studying for Econometrics at Sparta (that's the name of the building where I live, pretty cool right), and it was truly the most miserable new year in my life, no kidding. I'm not sure why finals are scheduled after the break instead of before like in the US. It mentally haunted and tortured many, if not all, of my classmates during the break. But it was kind of nice to have a week to study for my second final (and by now you should understand why I had to go to Budapest right after finishing my finals).

5. And if you fail, that's when retakes come to the rescue. Because in Sweden, you can retake the finals as many times as you want without having to retake the course. In my program, I can (and probably should) retake an exam if I fail it. But once I pass (regardless of the grade I get, as long as it's above an F), then I can't retake it anymore. So if you are a perfectionist and want an A, just turn in a blank final if you're not sure whether you can ace it or not, then take the retake (while praying that the retake will be easier and not harder). It's completely acceptable (unlike in the US where you'll flunk and have to retake the entire course the next semester). However, in engineering, you can retake the exam to improve your grade. But again, who would want to sit through another five hours just to get an A instead of a B? I guess some people would, but not me. This retake policy is pretty nice though because, as mentioned earlier, whether you pass or not completely depends on your grade on the finals.

6. Say hello to academic quarter and a 15 minute fika (coffee) break every hour. Academic quarter, as defined by Wikipedia, is the quarter-hour (15 minute) discrepancy between the defined start time for a lecture and the actual starting time. Fika break moreover is a much needed 15 minute break when students have the time to buy coffee or pee, as defined by me. So if my schedule says I have a two-hour lecture that starts at 10, then it means that lecture will start at 10.15 not 10 o'clock exactly (thanks to academic quarter). And even though on paper it's two hours long, in reality, it only runs from 10.15-11.00 then 11.15-12.00 (thanks to fika break), therefore it's only 1.5 hour long. Both of these concepts were new to me, as I never had breaks during lectures in the US. Back then, my lectures were either 50 mins long (3x a week) or 100 mins long (2x a week). When I got into class, I should be well prepared to sit for that long and be focused on the lecture. But that was in undergraduate level, so things might be different in the graduate level in the US (note: my friend, who's currently doing his master's in the US, said there are indeed breaks during lectures).

When solving one problem required one to write on all of the four whiteboards.

7. Ever-changing schedule and classrooms. The fact that I don't have a fixed schedule is perhaps the most frustrating part of studying here! When studying in the US, my schedule and classrooms were fixed for the entire semester. It was so convenient, because my class would always be at the same time on certain days and be held in the same room. Here though, that is not true. Class A might be at 10 AM this Monday in EC1-135 and at 8 AM the next Monday in EC1-136. If there is a schedule clash, then the lectures might move around anytime, any day. To prevent myself from entering the wrong classroom, I bookmark the link to my schedule so I can check it anytime.

8. Say goodbye to having breaks after finals. Because breaks are for the weak, I guess. Just when I thought having finals after the break was bad enough, I figured that there are really no breaks. Last October, I had my finals on a Thursday, and my new courses started the following Monday. The same thing happened in January; after taking my Macroeconomics final on January 11, my new courses started on January 15. So unless you count a three-day weekend as a break, then there are really no breaks. I figured that after finals, misery life just kind of goes on.

9. Group work is life. This point does not actually apply much to my major because we economists do lots of fancy algebra and derivations. So there really is no point of working on some derivations with four other people and presenting them in class. But for people in other majors, they do this a lot. And things get pretty dramatic with group dramas and such. Those do not exist in Economics majors though. We economists lead pretty peaceful and simple lives.

10. No fancy commencement/ graduation ceremony. Thou shall not expect any magnificent photos of me wearing a cap and gown with my diploma later on okay, just know that if I'm out of school, chances are I have graduated. It's because graduation ceremonies are kept simple here. Sure, one will get to walk on stage (or stairs at the School of Economics and Management) and receive a diploma looking like piece of paper. But the truth is, the diploma will come around five weeks (or longer if you're not too fortunate) after requested. Again, unlike in the US where graduation ceremony is such a big thing, here it's just one of those days you know. I'm not sure how I feel about this - but I guess I have learned that it does not really matter. And that's also because I suddenly remember how sleepy I was having to sit through my entire graduation ceremony back then, which involved over 5,000 students. And maybe now I'm just too old for those stuff. 

Extra information about campus hours:

1. Libraries here close at 7 PM on weekdays,  even earlier on Saturdays, and close on Sundays. I found this to be super strange, especially when I was so used to finding students sleep and kind of live at the libraries back in the US. But here, it's not the case.

Look at how beautiful the main library is during winter.

2. Most cafés/ restaurants on campus close at 4 PM. So if you have class until 6 PM and you’re dying of hunger, then go to a nearby supermarket like ICA or Coop to get something to eat. Or the vending machine, which is quite rare to find. Or just bring your own food, which is what most people do. 

Fun fact:

Taking finals in a stadium? Why not! Been there, done that. We take exams in the most random places like at the Victoria Stadium. It was obviously not the most common location to take an exam, but much better than the basement where I took my (super traumatizing) Microeconomics final.

I think I have summarized pretty much all of the things I found to be quite strange different about the Swedish education system. It's quite long, but I hope it's informative and useful. 

P.S: Sorry if I seem to be abusing the strikethrough feature in this post, I had too much fun using it. 

Until next time!