Renée Moerkens
Study: BSc Biotechnology
Destination: Lund, Sweden.
Exchange student.
Hi Everyone,
I am Renée, 20 years old and student of the Wageningen University in Biotechnology. For the upcoming months I will follow courses in the University of Lund in Sweden. At this page I will post my adventures. You can also follow me (@reneemoerkens) and other WURldexplorers on Instagram: search for #WURldexplorers!
Going North
Hey everyone! I will introduce myself shortly. I am Renée, 20 years old and student of the Wageningen University in Biotechnology. I am now in the third year of my study program. Although I’ve always had an amazing time in Wageningen, I was up for a new adventure in a new place. So I thought, why not make it an international one? Right now I am in the optional part (minor) of my study program, the perfect opportunity to go abroad!
First impressions
On the 19th of August 2014 at 20 past 6 in the morning, it was finally time. My adventure as WURldexplorer began. Destination: Lund, Sweden. After a flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and a train ride over sea into Sweden, I arrived in a town I had never been before, but which would be my home for the upcoming six months: Lund.
Student life
Lund is a place in which half of the inhabitants are students. You can see that from a lot of things. There is a lot of focus on the vibrant student life in which the international students certainly are not forgotten. From the first day on, there were millions of activities to join. A lot of arrangements had been made, to welcome all new international students (which were 1.800 at arrival day only!). This was very nice, because it didn’t give you the time at all to be bored. But it could be confusing sometimes as well, as there were days that you were supposed to be at three places at the same time.
Jag heter Renée och jag bor I Lund
During the first two weeks of my stay in Sweden, I did an introductory Swedish language course for exchange students. Every morning for three hours, we were taught by Anders Agebjörn, a stereotype Swede with blonde hair, blue eyes, retro seventies glasses and a guitar! We learned a lot of basics via different songs, like the alphabet or the days of the weeks. He even taught us a song only consisting of numbers (which actually sounded good as well). After those two weeks we finished with an exam for 3 ECTS, which I’m sure all people from Holland and Germany must have passed (a lot of words and expressions are almost identical to the ones in German). Now, I am doing a following up course in Swedish next to my other courses. It is an extra course that is given two times per week in the evening.
Kanelbullar and knäckebröd
Fika A Swedish word you can’t learn fast enough when going to Sweden is ‘fika’. Fika is a word with a very broad meaning, but most people use it as an excuse to take a break from whatever they are doing and have a large cup of coffee or tea with some cake, chocolate or other sweet things. Everyone here agrees that you can’t fika often enough (yes, it is also an actual verb in the Swedish language).
Nimis
Already two times now, I have visited a quite unusual artwork at the coast of southern Sweden. The artwork is called ‘Nimis’ and is situated in nature reserve ‘Kullaberg’. It is built out of 75 tons of driftwood and consists of sparsely connected nailed planks forming climbable passageways and towers. Hard to explain, but really impressive to see! Especially if you know that these gigantic construction works are difficult to reach and built by one man alone.
Mixed cultures
My roommate in Lund was Taiwanese, a very different culture from the Dutch one. Of course, this was the perfect opportunity to learn from each other, since we both wanted to get to know each other’s cultures a bit. She got me a pair of eating sticks to practice my skills, some typical Asian tea flavors and she let me taste a special meat powder that they eat a lot in sandwiches and omelets. I introduced her to the Dutch ‘chocolade pepernoten’, ‘stamppot’, ‘stroopwafels’ (a really big hit among all internationals in Lund) and ‘dropjes’ (liquorice, not a hit at all).
Exploring Southern Sweden
The southern part of Sweden may not be the most famous part for its overwhelming nature and mountain hikes, in fact Lund and its surroundings resemble that of Holland a bit. But, on the other hand, between the cities and villages there are spacious open areas packed with forest in which neighbors live kilometers apart from each other. It feels very rustic and peaceful and is definitely worth visiting. A lot of smaller and bigger towns are situated relatively close to one another in Skane. During my stay, I also tried to travel around a bit when my money and time let me.
Icehockey
Wow what a spectacle! I had never been to an ice hockey match before, but definitely wanted to go to one since this is a pretty big thing in Sweden. We went to the Malmo Arena to watch the Malmö Redhawks play against Karlskrona HK. This match was everything we expected it to be and even more. The two clubs brought their mascots and there was also the MacDonald’s clown randomly walking around the tribunes.
Going even more north (Lapland)
Words cannot describe what an amazing and unique trip it has been to the most north tip of Finland, but I will try to give an impression of the journey in this story. After a lot of planning, gathering warm clothes and snowboots (thanks to my parents for bringing them with them), and discussing what to bring and what to leave in order to be best prepared for the cold as possible, the time was finally there. At six o’clock in the morning we were on our way to Copenhagen airport to catch our flight to Helsinki and from there, to go to Lapland by bus. A very early start to an amazing week full of snow.
Sinterklaas in Sweden
Far from home, but still faithful to our own traditions, we hosted a Sinterklaas celebration with a group of Dutch people in Lund.
Leaving Lund
Unfortunately, every amazing journey comes to an end, and so did my adventure in Lund. As the last exams came closer and closer, more friends left Sweden and more goodbye dinners and parties were organized.