The International Mob

There’s a lot of talk about how the great international university of Lund will be ruined with the introduction of tuition fees. And Lund is fabulous place, but it’s not as international as you may think. Mo Kudeki explains why you have no Swedish friends.

Signs you may be a member of the International Mob:

• You study Swedish, but have never actually had a conversation in Swedish (“Tack!” doesn’t count) other than with your Swedish teacher
• You hang out at VGs on Wednesday nights and go to every ESN party
• You have spent only 51 percent of your exchange actually in Lund
• You have zero Swedish friends whom you hang out with on a regular basis
• You feel overwhelming ennui after spending more than ten consecutive days in Lund
• You are not reading this article because it is Easter Break, which means you are now off on a 3-week trip around Europe

With the introduction of fees for international students starting next semester, there’s a lot of talk about how such a great, international school is about to be ruined.

Certainly, Lund is a fabulous place to do an exchange – but it’s not as international as people think.

There’s a huge disconnect between the international students and Swedish students.  At the beginning of my exchange, I hoped that the International Mob was a temporary phenomenon – that we had banded together for safety because we were new, and that we would quickly split off and find our own niche in the Lund social scene.

But three months later, most of the international students still hang out exclusively with other internationals.  You run into the same 150 or so at every party (the core members of the International Mob), despite the alleged thousands of internationals in Lund.

So why do we internationals stick to each other like glue?  As a recovering International Mobster, here’s my theory:

International students are thrilled to be on exchange.  This is especially exciting for the non-Europeans – we’re suddenly in freaking Europe (the traveler’s equivalent of a kid in a candy store).  Let’s see Paris!  And Barcelona!  Rome!  London!  Berlin!  Lapland!

You book tickets with your friends, who are other international students.  Or, if you do have Swedish friends, they probably can’t afford to miss a week and a half of class to accompany you to Spain.

You have a blast in Spain.  Come back, sleep for two days, and instantly feel bored and restless in Lund.  “All the nations are the same,” you complain, and the rest of your friends aren’t around anyway, because they’re in Prague.  Hmm, maybe you should go to Prague next…

See step 1.

From the Swedish perspective, I sort of understand why they don’t try and befriend us.  We’re only here for 5 months, and any time you have time to hang out, we’re probably off on our Prague trip.  It’s impossible to build relationships with people you never see.

However, I encourage Swedes to try and make an international friend or two.  I promise we will add a new flavor to your friend group.  Plus, we never do homework, so anytime YOU want to party we will be right on board.

Being in the International Mob is easy; breaking out is hard.  But worth it.  It was a great feeling in early March, I stopped making new travel plans, because all my friends live in Lund…and so do I.