A different country, city, people and weather are some of the remarks from the freshly arrived exchange students. But how do they feel about their new hometown?
New international students went to the General Information Market at Kårhuset on Monday. As they wanted to choose a nation and get to know different organizations at Lund University, they also revealed some of their first impressions of Lund.
Andrea, 23, from Italy, studies Economics.
What’s your first impression of Lund and Sweden?
“It’s a very well organized university but a cold place for me. I guess it’s a very international environment and I think I’m going to have a lot of fun.”
Has some strange thing happened to you yet?
“No, not really.”
What’s the biggest difference from your home country?
“In Italy the university is more spread all over the city, I have to walk more. Here everything is very close and there are many bikes.”
Robin, 21, from France, studies Computer Science and Sarah, 22, also from France, studies Design.
What’s your first impression of Lund and Sweden?
Sarah: “Nice! People are calm and it’s easy to meet people.”
Robin: “Swedish people are very kind and they speak very well English.”
Has some strange thing happened to you yet?
Sarah: “I can’t understand at what times Swedish people eat, because I’m living with a Swedish family and they eat at different times than I do back home.”
Robin: “I went to the supermarket to buy a baguette and I also wanted to buy milk, but by mistake I ended up buying a big pack of yoghurt instead.”
What’s the biggest difference from your home country?
Robin: “A lot of bicycles, people speak English and the weather is colder. The currency is difficult to convert to euros.”
Sarah: “People are nicer here, more friendly when talking to strangers like me.”
Juliane, from Germany, 22, studies Religion.
What’s your first impression from Lund?
“It’s a small but charmfull city. It has a similar atmosphere to my city in Germany, Rostock.”
Has some strange thing happened to you yet?
“No, but it was strange that the phone I bought was so cheap!”
What’s the biggest difference from your home country?
“It’s more informal here. People use only “Du” and address everyone by the first name. We would never address a professor by the first name in Germany.”
Oliver, 21, and Nicolas, 22, both from France and study
Architecture
What’s your first impression from Lund and Sweden?
Oliver: “It’s cold, but we had a warm welcome!”
Nicolas: “Yes, very good welcome from the university. They take care of the students.”
Has some strange thing happened to you yet?
“No, not so far.”
What’s the biggest difference from your home country?
Nicolas: “The school is huge, it’s a different country.
In France, we can buy alcohol in a supermarket!”
Oliver: “Yes, and there are no Nations in France.”
