Now that I have been back in the US for a couple of weeks, it is time to reflect on how I changed and grew over the course of a semester at Lund University, as well as what some of my favorite memories are. Unfortunately this will be my last blog post, but I have quite enjoyed writing about my experiences abroad and I hope that this post will be a good ending note to my series.
It has been quite the adjustment to move back to Boston and get started right away with my 2nd co-op. While it is exciting to see many of my old friends on campus, I also have a great time keeping in touch with a few of my international friends from Lund. It has made me cherish even more the opportunity I had at Lund to meet and befriend some incredible people across many areas of study and from all sorts of backgrounds. A meaningful study abroad experience, that both shows you something new and challenges your beliefs or assumptions, is founded on your interactions with new people and especially those that become your friends.
Returning to the US has meant adjusting back to a much different campus environment from Lund, as well as trying to ride my bike on the car-packed streets of Boston. Comparing the hustle and bustle of everyday life on Northeastern’s campus to the more laid back attitude towards earning a degree in Sweden (and many countries in Europe) shows just one example of how they approach education differently. Many of the observable differences between life in Boston and life in Lund can be attributed a culture that very much believes in providing amenities like education, health care, and social welfare as a guaranteed service to all members of their society. When a country and its government has a foremost priority of watching out for every citizen no matter their circumstances, it comes to bear a calmer and more sensible way of life.
By living in Europe for a few months, I was often challenged to look at world news and understand it from the perspective of those who live in Sweden (or Germany, Brazil, Japan and many other countries where my friends were coming from). Places with far-off sounding names that may be hard for someone in the US to envision such as the Middle East or Africa are much closer in proximity to Europe and are more solidly in the minds of people there. I found that there is greater interest in world news than specifically national news as we often have in the US, and while the events of US politics to some international people can be mind baffling or comical to depending on one’s outlook, they are by no means the only thing that people in Sweden pay attention to. My time abroad has taught me to be open to ideas and information from all places around the world.
Looking back on the months that seemed to fly by, there is no shortage of highlight moments that will stay with me for some time. My first few weeks at Lund were made 10x more fun because of the Nöllning events and competitions with my newly acquainted engineering guild. There were certainly too many delishious dinners and corridor hangouts over the semester with my international friends in Pålsjöäng and elsewhere around the town. Playing in a couple tournaments with the ultimate frisbee team I found was an incredibly rewarding time that mirrored the exhilaration of playing with frisbee in Boston and elsewhere. Lastly, I think some of my top memories come from a road trip to Swedish Lappland that I took with a couple friends in the last weeks of our semester.
Thanks for reading my blog over the last few months, I hope you have enjoyed hearing about what life is like in Sweden!
