Uppsala University offers a free basic Swedish course to all exchange students. Considering I’d be living there for 6 months I felt obligated to enroll. I was interested in learning a bit about the language, but more so felt that someone living in Sweden should at least make an effort – so I did. And by effort I mean go to class two afternoons a week.
Aside from learning the essentials, the class was great for meeting other exchange students in a rather informal and relaxed environment. With ambitious travel plans and additional classes/seminars attendance became more difficult. Even if I could attend, if I hadn't completed the previous weeks' homework, the lesson was useless. For these reasons (and a bit of laziness) I ended up dropping out of Swedish 101. Even if I wanted to keep attending there was an allowance of only 6 missed classes.
I stayed in class long enough to meet a few good people. Before I got to know them well, a group of them rented a car and drove out for a night or two in western Sweden. It was after a class that they brought up the idea of another trip out to Bergen, Norway. We would take the train the entire way, spend a few days hiking and then train home. Coming into the plans a little late, I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I was a bit concerned about the notorious costs in Norway, not to mention train tickets. As with a lot of things, train tickets tended to increase in price as the departure date approachs (with some exceptions for last-minute deals). I slept on it and by morning the idea of hiking in Bergen and seeing the fjords won me over. I would join them.
Aside from learning the essentials, the class was great for meeting other exchange students in a rather informal and relaxed environment. With ambitious travel plans and additional classes/seminars attendance became more difficult. Even if I could attend, if I hadn't completed the previous weeks' homework, the lesson was useless. For these reasons (and a bit of laziness) I ended up dropping out of Swedish 101. Even if I wanted to keep attending there was an allowance of only 6 missed classes.
I stayed in class long enough to meet a few good people. Before I got to know them well, a group of them rented a car and drove out for a night or two in western Sweden. It was after a class that they brought up the idea of another trip out to Bergen, Norway. We would take the train the entire way, spend a few days hiking and then train home. Coming into the plans a little late, I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I was a bit concerned about the notorious costs in Norway, not to mention train tickets. As with a lot of things, train tickets tended to increase in price as the departure date approachs (with some exceptions for last-minute deals). I slept on it and by morning the idea of hiking in Bergen and seeing the fjords won me over. I would join them.
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