For many international students, the days approaching Christmas mean cleaning dorms and flying back home. Lundågard caught up with three international students who are staying in Lund for Christmas and asked them about their decision to stay.
Text by: Alvin Chen
For some exchange students, winter break means a vacation right here in Lund between the fall and spring semesters. One of the biggest reasons not to fly home was the financial cost. Coming from different continents, all three students lamented the high price of flying home and coming back to Europe.
Kevin Richardson, from Michigan, USA, plans on going to the Christmas market in Copenhagen for a day trip sometime during the winter break. As for Christmas Day, he’ll be spending it with a close friend’s family in Lund, where he says he will try his hand at baking lussekatter.
Winter living in Lund has been different than back home in Michigan:
“Being outside in winter was limited to the race from the door of my apartment to the door of my car, starting the ignition, and praying for the heat to kick in quickly”.
In Lund, getting around is mostly done by bus or foot, so Kevin has been outside in the winter cold a lot more often.
For Diane Lim, from California, USA, Christmas plans are not set in stone. She hopes to travel to nearby countries with friends or may opt to take a break and relax in Lund. Being in Sweden, Christmas already feels a lot different from her home because of the fact that California does not have a high probability of snow.
She also indicates that there is a different holiday feel in a college town like Lund as compared to being at home.
Gamaliel Kan, from Malaysia, also has not set a definite plan for Christmas. He aims to either find last-minute cheap tickets to countries around Europe, or stay in Lund to relax as well.
Christmas in Lund will be a quite different experience than back in Malaysia according to Gamaliel: ”You still get highs of 31°C on Christmas day”.
Thus, a snowy Christmas morning is usually out of the question. Furthermore, Christmas isn’t huge in Malaysia so the festive air of Lund will add to the new experience.
Apart from the high flight costs, staying in Sweden over the holiday break ended up not being a tough choice to make because all three students have had good experiences living in Lund this semester. Food is one of the top reasons, as Kevin points out his love for Swedish baked goods and Gamaliel agrees: “If kanelbulle is served during fika, that is heaven to me.”
Christmas this year for Kevin, Diane and Gamaliel may not be as familiar as being back home, but with friends and Swedish hospitality, it will still be a very memorable one.
