Person 8 - Uppsala universitet

Transkript

Enskilda enkäter för Utbytesrapport/Exchange Report
Person 8
Basic Information
1. Name Sebastian Cavegård
2. E-mail address: mr [email protected]
3. Exchange university Gustavus Adolphus College
4. City Saint Peter
5. Country USA
6. First semester of your exchange Swedish autumn semester (HT)
7. Academic year 2013/2014
8. What subject area/s did you study during your exchange? Statsvetenskap
9. Level of studies at the exchange university Undergraduate
10. What are you studying at Uppsala University? Polkandprogrammet
11. How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? 5
Studies
12. Tell us about your studies on your exchange. If you are stuck for ideas you can for exemple write about: The differences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were
the teachers like? What courses would you recommend (or not) for future exchange students? The relationship between teachers and students. The academic level and quality of
your courses. Access to computers. Examinations... Skillnaderna mellan studier vid Uppsala
universitet och Gustavus var åtskilliga. Jag hade både positiva och negativa erfarenheter av
dessa men om jag får sammanfatta min utbytestermin så var det väldigt givande. Tempot är
högre i USA och man förväntas genomföra långt fler skriftliga uppgifter som kortfattade uppsatser på ett par sidor samt hålla föredrag och utveckla sina retoriska kunskaper. Lärarna är
väldigt engagerade och energiska vilket bidrar till en stimulerande studieatmosfär där aktivt
deltagande i klassrummet förväntas av en och där man förväntas göra ett personligt bidrag
till diskussionen och undervisningen. För att få en akademisk utmaning rekommenderar jag
att välja kurser på mer avancerad nivå eftersom kvalitén på kurserna trots dessa positiva
element är mycket mer simpelt än det jag erfarit i Uppsala. Jag har lärt mig mycket men de
tentor som jag skrev testade inte mina kunskaper på djupet och var enkla att förbereda sig
för eftersom lärarna förberedde en för vad för ämnen som skulle dyka upp på tentan i detalj.
Det krävdes mer egen kreativitet i de otaliga korta uppsatser som man fick skriva i de mer
avancerade kurserna. Upplever man trots detta att man har lite problem med att hänga med
i studierna så finns det mycket resurser och hjälp att få på Gustavus som man kan boka tid
för. Det finns även god tillgång till datorer överallt på campus så att man kan få sitta och
arbeta med sitt skolarbete.
Vetenskapsområdet för medicin och farmaci, Uppsala universitet
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Orientation and reception
13. Tell us about how it was to arrive and settle in. Mottagandet var riktigt bra och vi blev upplockade av så kallade Gustie Greeters (väldigt energiska Gustavus-studenter) på flygplatsen som
hjälpte oss med alla praktiska spörsmål som vi hade under vår första tid vid Gustavus. Informationen var jättebra från själva skolan och introduktionsveckan var väldigt grundlig och
heltäckande vilket fick en att känna sig mycket välkommen. Det var många sociala evenemang som gav en chansen att lära känna både de andra internationella studenterna samt
alla de nya amerikanska studenterna.
Accommodation
14. Describe your accommodation. What type of accommodation did you have, where you satisfied? Do you have any tips for future students? Jag bodde i Uhler hall som var lugn och
städat eftersom det var studenter som redan hade studerat minst ett år vid Gustavus som
bodde där så man kunde få studiero. Är man intresserad av att träffa mycket nytt folk och
att festa är det Norelius hall eller Pittman som man ska välja som boende. Ett tips är också
Svenska huset för den som vill dela ett hus med andra amerikanska studenter som är väldigt
intresserade av Sverige, språket och den svenska kulturen vilket är en väldigt trevlig grupp av
studenter! Huset är väldigt fint också och de har en bra gemenskap där. Jag var dock nöjd
med mitt boende eftersom det var nära till kafeterian och idrottslokalerna men allt är nära
på campus eftersom det är ett litet område.
Your finances
15. Describe the cost of living. Did you find CSN adequate? How was the rent in comparison to
your rent in Uppsala? Did you undertake part-time work in addition to your studies? CSN
räckte mer än väl eftersom man inte gör av med några pengar när man väl är på campus
förutom det man redan har betalat i förväg för boende och mat. Man får lära sig i början
att hushålla med pengarna när det kommer till att äta mat i kafeterian men det bästa är
att fråga de erfarna äldre studenterna om hur man sparar pengar på fiffiga sätt. Själv åt
jag mest från salladsbaren och lastade på en ordentlig portion på en liten tallrik för att få
betala mindre i kassan. Man har en månadsbudget som kan vara svår att hålla om man är
på den lägsta matbudgeten men vill man spendera mer pengar kan man när som helst byta
till en större matbudget. Vill man arbeta under sin tid på campus är det lätt att få jobb i
kafeterian eller på någon annan del av colleget men lönen är att jämföra med vad man får
för att jobba på nation i Uppsala. Dock är det lättförtjänta pengar i många fall och man kan
studera samtidigt om man jobbar i en reception t.ex.
Free time
16. What did you do in your free time? Did the university arrange any special activities? Where
there any activities specifically for exchange students? Were you happy with what was on
offer? Det var alltid många aktiviteter som anordnades på campus så det finns alltid något att
göra. Dock blir man lätt isolerad eftersom det inte finns mycket nöjestillfällen i Saint Peter
som är en liten stad och det är nästan omöjligt att ta sig till the Twin Cities (Minneapolis
och Saint Paul) om man inte har bil då kollektivtrafiken är obefintlig. Det kan kännas trist
ibland att spendera hela sin tid på campus och det kan vara svårt att hålla kontakt med
vänner då många blir uppslukna av sina studier. Man får ställa in sig på att det är inget
storstadsliv man kommer leva och man lever som i en liten bubbla.
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Your exchange on the whole
17. Please sum up your exchange experience. If you have any other tips for future exchange students, or any other comments feel free to include them here. Jag tycker utbytet var nyttigt men
isolationen på campus kunde vara nog så påfrestande och nivån på studierna (åtminstone
inom statsvetenskap) var alldeles för låg. Jag skulle tänka efter noga om Gustavus verkligen
är ett val som passar en, åtminstone om man är statsvetare. Som många universitet och college så dras Gustavus också med finansiella problem vilket har lett till kraftiga nedskärningar
i olika institutioner på campus (särskilt den statsvetenskapliga institutionen) vilket har lett
till att flera lärare har slutat och att kursutbudet har försämrats. Hade jag stannat kvar
en till termin och studerat så hade det inte funnits mycket intressanta kurser att välja till
vårterminen pga alla nedskärningar.
Approval
18. Your report will be available for future exchange students in printed form at the International
Office and will be sent by email to individual students requesting it. Do you also approve
the publishing of your exchange report on Uppsala University’s website? Yes
19. Do you have any photos you would like to upload and include in your exchange report? 20. Please tell us a little bit about the picture/s. 21. Publishing of pictures I approve of my pictures being published and used in Uppsala University´s marketing of international exchanges
Thank you for submitting your exchange report!
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Enskilda enkäter för Utbytesrapport/Exchange report 2013/14
Person 92
Basic Information
1. Name Anne Åström
2. E-mail address: [email protected]
3. Exchange university Gustavus Adolphus College
4. City St. Peter, MN
5. Country USA
6. First semester of your exchange Swedish autumn semester (HT)
7. Academic year 2013/2014
8. What subject area/s did you study during your exchange? Humanities, Education
9. Level of studies at the exchange university Undergraduate
10. What are you studying at Uppsala University? Lärarprogrammet Svenska 330 hp
11. How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? 4
Studies
12. Tell us about your studies on your exchange. If you are stuck for ideas you can for exemple
write about: The differences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were the
teachers like? What courses would you recommend (or not) for future exchange students? The
relationship between teachers and students. The academic level and quality of your courses.
Access to computers. Examinations... Overall, from my experience, academics at Gustavus
hold high quality. Some pros are close interaction with professors, extent of technological
equipment, logistics and course administration, and that professors have high expectations on
their students. Two cons would be that the college academic tradition puts low expectations
on students, and that the study pace sometimes is higher than it needs to be. What do I
mean by that? Well, meanwhile professors expect students to engage fully in their classes by
being ever present, speak out, and ask questions, the faculty, administrators and other staff
members look at you as if you were a child. For example, they dont really expect you to take
any responsibility for your own learning, and they are suprised if you take initiatives. The
former is most evident in the amount of writing assignments that are given to the students. It
was not at all uncommon that I would have a 500 word paper due prior to every class two or
three times a week. Given the fact that a normal course load is four classes per semester, you
do the math. Some courses are marked as Writing Intensive which means that the syllabus is
required to contain a certain amount of writing assignments and peer response evaluations.
In the middle and by the end of the semester you do midterm exams and final exams, on
100-level courses usually a test, on 200- and 300-level courses usually a 5-10 page essay.
It took me almost the entire year to figure out the grading system. The scale goes from F to
A, but there are no standardized grading criterias, which means that even if you get A on
an assignment or as a final course grade, you cant be sure of what you actually have proven
that you have learned. Every professor has his or her own assessment system. I assume that
giving scores between 0 and 100, where somewhere around 95+ equals A, is supposed to make
the system more comparable, but to me such a system is just more confusing and feels even
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less fair. It also seems like there is a great inflation going on, so I wouldnt be too confident
that a 4,0 GPA indicates that you are academically a top student. The conclusion from all
this is that, academics at Gustavus are significantly different from academics at Uppsala. It
seems to me that American college is more about short term learning, presenting, and then
moving on, while in Sweden its more about delving into a topic and examine it thoroughly
for a longer period of time. Undergraduate students in Sweden are much more independent
than undergraduate students in the US.
On the other hand, one reason for me enjoying academics at Gustavus is the closeness to the
professors. They always welcome you to their offices, and put pride in responding quickly to
e-mails. If you approach them professionally already from the start, and keep showing that
you are a responsible individual who knows what you are doing, it is easy to individualize the
coursework to your personal needs. Several times professors told me that I appeared to them
more like a grad student or even a PhD student.
Now, on to a brief presentation of the courses that I took. I started out by taking PHI 105
School and Society with professor Lisa Heldke, a Gustavus graduate who is also involved in
the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Program at Gustavus. Signing up for PHI 105
you are also required to sign up for an hour of weekly community service. I visited second
graders of South Elementary School, which is located just a five minute walk from campus.
Being a student on lärarprogrammet at Uppsala University I was quite exited about getting
a peek into a local school, but unfortunately I was disappointed. I didnt feel that I was doing
anything useful to neither the students nor the original teacher, nor did I get any deeper
understanding of the school I was practising at. I guess I could have pushed my interests
more, but its hard when you are thrown into a classroom and never really get the chance to
speak to the teachers because they are busy and you are there for only one hour. You never
get the bigger picture of what the kids are doing, or what the teachers educative intentions
are. Aside from that, PHI 105 is a course that lärarprogrammet should adopt asap.
Next, I did REL 113 Religion in America with visiting professor Nathaniel Van Yperen. This
course was what I expected from a higher education course. Professor Van Yperen just earned
his PhD at Princeton University, and I think that I could tell that he was coming from a grad
school context, considering the way he arranged the course content and the teaching. (I was
especially intrigued by his political stand on using an inclusive, gender neutral language.)
On the other hand, the discussions initiated by students during class hour oftentimes were
self-centered and emotional based, which is not really appropriate for higher education in
my opinion. Actually, I had the most rewarding discussions when I met with professor Van
Yperen one on one during office hour.
Third, I took GWS 285 Sex, Power and Politics with professor Jill Locke. Professor Locke is
probably the professor I enjoyed the most during my exchange. She is competent, professional
and engaged in her students. She is very skillful in leading seminars so I would recommend
to take a seminar taught class with her if one is interested in Gender, Women, and Sexuality
Studies, and/or Political Science.
The last Fall Semester course that I had was SWE 301 Conversation and Composition:
Swedish Short Story with professor Ursula Lindqvist, who is quite new at Gustavus after
teaching at Harvard University. Since I specialize myself on Swedish, and Swedish as a Second
Language here in Sweden, I stressed my interest to learn about the teaching of Scandinavian
Studies in general, and Swedish in particular, at Gustavus, in my application to International
Office in Uppsala. This turned out to be a real lucky shot. Professor Lindqvist was happy to
have me in her class, and we got along well also on a personal level, sharing Scandinavian
values ) Naturally, the course itself was no challenge to me, rather I attended class to see
how the American students were taking on Swedish language and literature. The students in
SWE 301 spoke fluent Swedish and read Astrid Lindgren, Stig Dagerman and Jonas Hassen
Khemiri.
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After winter break, Gustavus has a four week term called January Term, J-Term, or Interim
Experience (IEX). To earn a degree from Gustavus you are required to take at least two
IEX-courses during your four years, and when that requirement is fulfilled you are free to
enjoy a seven week winter holiday. However, this is the time when a lot of students travel the
world together with their choir, orchestra or sport team, and they are credited for doing that.
Other people, because Americans dont like doing nothing sign up for community service, or
work. The on-campus courses offered during J-Term address the eating habits of dinosaurs,
your personal potential to change the world, or this or that perspective on Harry Potter.
I learned Ancient Greek, GRE 101, with professor Matthew Panciera, which was a course
known for being very demanding. Having quite a lot of experience from language studying,
and also from Linguistics at Uppsala University, GRE 101 was not hard, but intense, with
daily quizzes on vocabulary and grammatical conjugation forms. Seriously, GRE 101 with
professor Panciera was like doing aerobics, I was drowning in sweat after each class session.
He teaches like a personal trainer, which is probably very unusual in Sweden, so taking GRE
101 with him is a kind of exotic experience, in a double sense, I must say.
During Spring Semester I planned my schedule a little bit different than during Fall Semester.
I made sure to give myself no 8 am classes, and I scheduled no classes for as much as possible
during at least one day of the week, to be able to study independently. I learned that I just
cant do those 45 minute study sessions during lunch or inbetween classes that American
students do. I need to sit down and make myself comfortable to be able to concentrate and
get things done properly. Students are with no exceptions expected to study during nights and
weekends, and are sometimes given assignments that arent stipulated in the syllabus, on a
short notice. This was definitely a culture shock to me. I felt like I had no integrity left when
professors thought of you as having no private life, or personal duties outside of class.
During Spring Semester I took PHI 248 Gender, Knowledge, and Reality with, again, professor Lisa Heldke ENG 247 Teaching Writing with professor Rebecca Fremo HIS 244 Queer
History with professor Kate Wittenstein, and SCA 391 Teacher Practicum (Independent
Study). Most important to be said about these courses would be that ENG 247 is really suitable for anyone who has teaching on their own in mind: Professor Fremo is known for
being an excellent (in fact, awarded) instructor that HIS 244 covers really interesting subject
matters but that the seminar discussions were not very well organized by the professor, and
that, if one is interested, you can easily design your own so called Independent Study course
and execute it in cooperation with an instructor. I designed a practicum course that made me
become a teacher assistant, following close to professor Lindqvist and her SWE 102-students.
I attended SWE 102 class sessions on a regular basis, corrected tests and writings, and even
composed and executed my own lesson plans. Two or three times a week professor Lindqvist
and I sat down for a longer conversation to give each other feedback and share thoughts.
This was a very rewarding experience, and I encourage anyone, especially teacher students,
who are interested in going behind the scenes to consider to do an Independent Study like I
did. I certainly learned a lot about education in general, and teaching Swedish as a Foreign
language in particular.
I would also like to add that I, before going to the US, didnt think that I, having only completed
Engelska B in gymnasiet, and having taken no more than 7,5 hp in English literature, could
read, comprehend, and present analyses in ancient and modern philosophy. But I made it
without hardly any hassle at all. As a student you are offered free tutoring in the Writing
Center, as well as individual consultation with an English as a Second Language Learner
specialist, if you would like to have that.
To sum up, a student from Uppsala should be well prepared for the academics at Gustavus.
My suggestion is to be aware of the characteristics of courses on different levels, briefly that
100-level courses give you a broad overview instead of a focus, a larger group of students
in the classroom, and oftentimes a number of students who arent really interested in the
course topic but take the course only to fulfill General Education Requirements that 200Vetenskapsområdet för medicin och farmaci, Uppsala universitet
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level courses are more specialized and train higher analytical skills, taught seminar style, and
have you write papers instead of multiple choice quizzes or fill in the blanks and that 300level courses may be harder to get into if you cant prove that you are ready for whatever the
course will cover contentwise, but that if you do take a 300-level course you will be studying
with students who are majoring in that area, that is, students who are honestly interested
in the topic, and monitored by professors that are excited about everything you do (because
students and professors have gotten to know each other for three years or more).
Finally, I think that an Uppsala student shouldnt worry about Gustavus grades. Make sure
to pass the courses, so that you dont get in trouble with CSN, but dont kill yourself. Students
at Gustavus stress out about grades and GPAs, but having a couple of years of successful
experience from Swedish/Scandinavian/possibly even European higher education, doing fine
shouldnt be a problem.
Orientation and reception
13. Tell us about how it was to arrive and settle in. Arriving at Gustavus was easy. Two Gustie Greeters picked us up at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and took us to
campus. International Coordinator Jeff Anderson there welcomed us. The room I got was
equipped with a pillow, a pillowcase, a fitted sheet, a flat sheet and a blanket. The blanket
wasnt really the most comfortable of blankets, so I highly recommend going on one of the
arranged tours to the shopping mall in Mankato to get your own. I got a couple of sets of
linens, a comforter, a blanket and a top blanket and I found that to be enough for the entire
year. This would also be the time for you to shop for laundry detergent, basic kitchenware,
toiletries, a desk lamp etc., because even though there are some stores in St. Peter you will
probably not want to go there too often because it can be a tough walk down and up the hill
carrying stuff and groceries.
I was assigned a room in North Hall, an upper class dorm located literally two minutes away
from the Campus Center and the cafeteria. The living standard in North Hall is not the
highest but ok. It has neither air condition nor separate sinks, but again, its close to the
center of campus. On the other hand, everything at Gustavus campus is close. I would have
stayed in North Hall, wouldnt it be that my match of roommate didnt work out. After two
months, I got to move to Sohre Hall, a half first-year, half upper class dorm located on the
other side of campus. Nobody stayed in the room at the time, so I got the whole space to
myself, and luckily it stayed that way. I am impressed by how the Residential Life Office
handled my living situation. It took them only two weeks to have my new room arrangement
made. I am not sure, but it might have helped that I had support from the Counseling Center,
a resource that I, by the way, am so glad to have had. I have suffered from a number of mental
health issues for years, but not until I got to the Counseling Center at Gustavus I received
accurate treatment. I ended up seeing a Counseling Center Psychologist for 50 minutes once
a week the entire year, for free, which is just incredible.
Actually, why dont I tell you a little bit more about my experiences of settling in at Gustavus
from a health perspective. Two weeks in on my stay in the US I got to experience the quite
dramatic procedure of being taken by ambulance to the hospital, from having passed out in
the bathroom a late Saturday night. I was concious, barely, the whole time, and for that I
am glad because I got to see what happened, and how I was taken care of. Campus Safety
Officers are on duty 24/7 and they are working closely with the St. Peter local police force, fire
department, and ambulance service. After being examined in the emergency room of Rivers
Edge Hospital, I was taken back to campus by the Dean of Students, who is always contacted
when a Gustavus student goes to the ER. I was surprised that when I was asked if I was open
to see her, she was already sitting in the waiting room, 3 am a Saturday night.
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After the hospitalization I got to go on a follow-up at the Health Service Office on campus.
They were all very caring and sensitive to the fact that I was a foreigner.
Other things that affected the process of settling in at Gustavus, was the International Student
Orientation arranged prior to the regular orientation. For a week, International Students
were basically the only students on campus, so we could get to know each other without
any distraction, which was great. I have made very good friends among the International
Students.
As I already have mentioned, the staff members at Gustavus get close to the students. In the
beginning I felt like my every step was being watched, and that I had no control over what
kind of information or conversation about me that were going on without my knowledge. It
made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe, but to most American students this kind of concern
is what they expect, so they dont seem to mind. Coming from a context where you are
anonymous, being recognized and greeted by your first name by people you met only once, is
strange. Gustavus is very proud of its close community, and writing this in June 2014, the
community is one of the reasons that I am going back to Gustavus.
Accommodation
14. Describe your accommodation. What type of accommodation did you have, where you satisfied? Do you have any tips for future students? In Uppsala, I used to stay in a 10 room
corridor, thus I was prepared for what it could be like to live with young adults. My floor at
Gustavus was a first-year floor, which might have been to my advantage since Im no party
animal, and I suspect that the overall calmness in the hallway was due to the new recruits
being busy elsewhere. Actually, Sohre Hall was declared to be the least social first year dorm
on campus in a survey published in the Gustavian Weekly. This, despite the incredible work
done by the Collegiate Fellows (every floor has one or two Collegiate Fellows who are serving
as older peers and a link between the residents and the Residential Life Office. CFs are upper
class students) and the Hall Council who put up events and social activities approximately
once a month plus on holidays.
I am happy with my accommodation in Sohre Hall. Generally, the upper class dorms are
considered to be nicer to live in, but Sohre Hall was just fine too. A plus to Sohre is that it
is located right across the street from Confer Hall, where the Department of Scandinavian
Studies and the Department of English, along with the Writing Center and the Culpeper
Language Center, reside. I was usually the one rushing into the classroom in the very last
minute!!
Next year I will be living in Swedish House, which is a small complement to International
Center, housing eight to ten students who are majoring in Scandinavian Studies. To be accepted into Swedish House you need to fill out a special application (contact person would be
professor Glenn Kranking at the Department of Scandinavian Studies/Department of History), and I think the process is competitive, but on the other hand, they encourage native
speakers of Swedish to establish contact with the Scandinavian Studies students, and what
better way is there than having them live together.
All students, except from a couple of hundreds seniors, are required to live on campus. (Usually, the seniors who arent placed on campus rent houses or apartments by the foot of the hill,
so in practice they live on campus.) Some seniors live in townhouses one or two kilometres
away from the center of campus, so if you plan on living in Arbor View or College View,
you might want to get a bike or a car, or why not a longboard, a mean of transportation that
a lot of students use to get around campus. I know that for a fact, because even if you dont
see them, you hear them. There is also Praire View, which is supposed to be an alternative
for people who prefer a substance-free environment. Party dorms? Based on reputation those
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would be Norelius Hall, Gibbs Hall, Sorensen Hall, North Hall, and houses off-campus. Apparently, Swedish House too has a reputation of being quite a place to hang out, something
that I learned after I applied and was admitted. I guess Ill find out.
Something that I wish I would have been mentally prepared for before going, not that it would
have changed my mind had I known, would be that students are not allowed to remain in
their regular dorm rooms during recesses and breaks. To most students this is not a problem
since they go home during the breaks, but to people less fortunate, i e. International students,
this policy is nothing else than a hassle that will make you sign up for a week long excursion
trip to the North Pole for the next break. What you need to do is pack your things, move
them a few hundreds of meters away to a hostel in the basement of Southwest Hall, and stay
there until the regular door locks are put back into place on your dorm entrances and you
can go back to your room. At the hostel you share a small room with five or seven people.
Four rooms are connected to each other to a suit, and the hostel consists of about five suits.
There is no place to go to work or study, because the library and academic halls close, and
the kitchen is not designed to provide for fifty students, so you will end up ordering pizza or
chinese every day, because the cafeteria is closed as well. It is a shame that a time that should
be pleasant and rest you out becomes a distress just because of Residential Life Office not
trusting you, or Campus Safety, enough to let you live unmonitored for not even a limited
time. My tips to avoid the hostel (but sure, try it once to see what its like) is to go to your
International Friendship Familys house, or to leave campus just like everybody else. Sign up
for a community service trip, or go travel on your own. Or use your voice at Gustavus to
make Residential Life Office do something about the whole hostel situation. If you have a
good connection to any of your professors you can ask her or him if you can stay at their
house. It probably wont work, but is worth a try.
Overall, living on campus is like living on a summer camp. Its not until its time to leave that
you have made yourself at home. Yes, its convenient to never have to clean the bathroom, to
have Physical Plant repair your heater, and to have a computer lab and a soda machine just
a couple of floors down, but a college dorm is worn and torn from all the crowds that have
passed through, and it is a little bit embarrassing to perform your businesses to everybodys
attention in the not so private bathroom stalls. However, all those things I believe are likely
to get solved along the way. The most crucial thing is to find a good match for a roommate,
and if the match is not good, see to it that you get another space. Dorm room disasters are
part of college life, but your whole exchange shouldnt be ruined because of them.
Your finances
15. Describe the cost of living. Did you find CSN adequate? How was the rent in comparison to
your rent in Uppsala? Did you undertake part-time work in addition to your studies? The
money I had from CSN was more than enough. The cost for each semester was approximately
4300 dollars (approximately 30 000 kr), not including course literature and some smaller
additional fees. This would be about the same living cost as in Uppsala. You dont need to
carry around a lot of pocket money practically all activities and events that are arranged on
campus are for free. Sometimes you need to pay five to ten dollars if you would like to have
a ticket to a theater performance, a bus tour to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, or if
you would like to donate money to the student organizations that are tabling outside of the
cafeteria. One dollar bills are also convenient when you need to get stamps at the post office,
or when you crave a coke from the vending machine. To not have to bring your wallet with
you when you go out felt strange to me all along.
I did work during my time at Gustavus. I worked between four and eight hours a week as a
tutor at the Department of Scandinavian Studies and made around 100 dollars (˜ 700 kr) a
month. Since I didnt open an American bank account I received a paycheck in my PO-box and
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all I had to do was to cash them at the Financial Aid Office. All of my International friends
worked on campus. Campus hire student workforce EVERYWHERE, its almost comical when
you think of how much work on campus is done by students. Or should I say little work since
students are oftentimes out of worktasks which means that they do their homework instead.
Some places to work would be the cafeteria a loud and stressful environment where you
easily can get more hours than you originally signed up for the library quite the opposite
Campus Safety if you like to stay up late, if you enjoy driving a car the Post Office for
those who like to sort postcards and letters in a conversation friendly environment the
Bookmark ordinary store keeping job the Culpeper Language Center, and the Gustavus
Technology Service if you know how to operate computers all the academic departments
and administrative offices you may be the right hand of the professors of the department,
scanning, photocopying, correcting assignments etc., or you might be the face outwards sitting
at the reception desk guiding people and answering the phone
So, there is plenty of opportunities if you would like to work. Remember that as a holder of
J1 visa you are not allowed to work outside of campus, and you still need to do taxes. Jeff
Anderson will help you with all the technicalities.
Free time
16. What did you do in your free time? Did the university arrange any special activities? Where
there any activities specifically for exchange students? Were you happy with what was on
offer? There is an infinite number of student organizations and activities on campus, from
bible study groups that meet in the Dive, to the Philosophers Guild that meets in the basement of Old Main. Some groups are more formally organized through the college, such as
choirs, sport teams, and sororities and fraternities, others are looser in character. International students enjoy the activities of the Center for International and Cultural Education,
however, I did not engage there. Also, there is the Campus Activity Board that arranges trips
and dances for which you need tickets. If you are interested in politics, candidating for the
Student Senate or any of the House Boards could be something to keep an eye open for. Some organizations are more serious than others, and one should keep in mind that the living
pace is higher than an Uppsala student probably is used to. Gustavus students are involved in
an unhealthy amount of activities, which causes stress and gives the impression of students
doing everything and nothing at the same time.
Beside classes and my job and the Department of Scandinavian Studies, I participated in a
student organization called Queers and Allies, and I attended an LGBTQ support group an
hour a week. During Fall Semester I tried the I Am We Are Social Justice Theater Troup,
and during Spring Semester I was one of the poetry editors of the Firethorne, a publication
consisting of student produced literary and art pieces.
In some organizations, getting in is no piece of cake. For more formal positions you need to
apply, which can be hard to take for someone not used to a competitive climate. At a certain
point I was unsecure of whether or not I needed to fill out an application form to be able to
look out of the window. American students are used to be sorted in and sorted out. To make
sure you wont leave your position you sometimes have to sign up for all semester, or even
for the whole year, for example if you choose to become a Big Partner or a Study Buddy.
The student life is vivid and there is always something going on. You can tell from the
enormous amount of marketing flyers, posters and bulletin announcements that are printed
out and copied just to stay up for a couple of weeks before going into the trash (or hopefully,
the recycling bin). The sense of community is strong, but at the same time fragmented. You
get the sense of living in a bubble separated from the rest of the society charming and
irritating depending on what you had for breakfast.
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As an International student you are given a so called International Friendship Family, and
I advice you to spend some time and effort to get to know them. They may take you to town,
invite you for holiday festivities, and give you a peek into normal family life. My Friendship
Family lived a few miles outside of St. Peter. Both of their children went to Gustavus, so
they were all very familiar with the college. I have had many great times together with my
IFF, and I am sure that we will keep in touch in the future (especially since they have a
special connection to Sweden through their great grandfather). I should also give my IFF
credit for taking me in to stay at their house during breaks when the hostel situation became
too intense. However, I know for sure that other International students didnt get quite as
a good match with their IFFs, so I suppose you need a little luck added to your personal
efforts.
Your exchange on the whole
17. Please sum up your exchange experience. If you have any other tips for future exchange
students, or any other comments feel free to include them here. I was in such a good place
at Gustavus Adolphus, that I will be returning next fall for another two semesters. Not as an
exchange student, but as a free mover. As of right now I am reapplying for the visa as well as
researching flight tickets. I will be staying in the Swedish House, and continue taking classes
so that I can graduate by the end of Spring 2015, with a major in Scandinavian Studies and
a minor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. I made good friends, and I am happy to
be sharing the commencement ceremony with them.
Naturally, I learned a lot from the classes that I had, as well as about academics in the US,
but most important, I have learned a huge deal about myself. To my surprise, Gustavus,
despite what you might think when you hear about its Christian profile, is a very open space
regarding LGBTQ issues. I immediality felt comfortable among students, faculty, and staff
members, and was happy to see that every semester the students and members of the faculty
are invited to an educative event called Safe Zone Training, that brings to the table LGBTQ
terminology and matters to discuss.
If you are looking for a small campus where connections are easily made, where the academic standard probably stands well compared to much bigger schools, and where nature and
landscape sceneries are right around the corner, Gustavus Adolphus College should be one of
your priorities.
Feel free to shoot me an e-mail to any of the e-mailaddresses provided below. I would be
happy to answer questions, or follow up on the exchange report. I also invite you to read my
blog posts from the year of exchange. You find them at http://ladusvala.blogg.se, category of
”Flyttfågel”.
[email protected] (up until May 2015) [email protected] (up until December 2016, possibly longer)
Approval
18. Your report will be available for future exchange students in printed form at the International
Office and will be sent by email to individual students requesting it. Do you also approve
the publishing of your exchange report on Uppsala University’s website? Yes
19. Do you have any photos you would like to upload and include in your exchange report?
http://doit.medfarm.uu.se/kurtattachment/1405523916525839055.JPG
20. Please tell us a little bit about the picture/s. Old Main and the Rainbow Rock, October 2013
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Person 8 - Uppsala universitet

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