Exactly today two years ago I arrived in Stockholm and started my journey at KTH! I can still remember the mixture of excitement and concern about this new chapter of my life. On the one hand, I was super excited to start my studies at a new university, get to know a new city and meet new people. But on the other hand, I had a lot of concerns still in my head: Would I be able to keep up with the study pace? How do I find new friends? What about the culture of Sweden?
It turned out, these concerns were all not necessary. However, it’s totally normal to have them, and also to have them still when you’re arriving. Just because you decided to do a step (like moving to Stockholm) does not mean that all your concerns will be resolved immediately. I took the first day to just settle in, try to get some things for my room and go grocery shopping for the first time.
But then, it was time for me to go to campus! Even though I arrived just before an official Arrival Day, I decided to wait and visit campus on the actual Arrival Day of KTH. Turns out, this was a good decision, as the campus was very much alive and welcomed me warmly. I was able to set up my KTH account, get my e-mail going and also talk to some volunteers from the THS International Reception. I had also signed up with them for joining some events and I was assigned to a Buddy group where I could get to know the first fellow students as well as students from other study programmes.
At the end of August, the courses already started, so I had about a week to settle in before I went to the first lecture at KTH. I can still remember that we were all excited to meet our fellow students. My programme was quite small, we were only around 20 students in the programme, so it was very easy to get to know all of them. We often went to have a coffee or lunch together in between the classes and sometimes we also decided to grab a coffee after classes in the evening, just to be able to spend some more time together.
Every semester, when new students are arriving, I feel the same excitement again that I felt when I started as well. And I also always hope that all the new students will have such a great experience at KTH as I had in my two years. Even though it can be exhausting at the beginning, I can totally recommend you spend as much time with your fellow peers as possible and check out the campus and the city together. This certainly creates the first friendships and will make you feel more home away from home.
Have a great start in Stockholm!
// Maria