Hello everybody and welcome to this new post! The final exams are finally over, and my first year at KTH has come to an end. It was such a rollercoaster of emotions! In between up and downs, I changed and grew a lot – and today I would like to tell you what I learnt.
Study is not everything
Back in my Bachelor’s days, I used to spend a lot of time studying. Like, really a lot of time. I had very few hobbies and struggled to balance study and private life, which is also one of the reasons that pushed me to change environment and come to Sweden. When I came here, I started the academic year with a similar mindset, but then, something changed. I realised I was in a foreign country, with new people, new possibilities and new challenges, and this pushed me to try and do as many new things as possible. What I understood is that it is very possible to balance everything out: you can study and have good grades while at the same time being able to enjoy all the new things found here in Sweden. Now, I feel more conscious and I manage to organise much better to have more free time! Being able to relax is essential and is also an important part of Swedish work culture.
Planning is key
As I wrote in my previous post on study tips for KTH, I wasn’t used to study in the Swedish way. Here, there are a lot of projects, assignments and deadlines to respect – hence, being able to organise yourself becomes crucial! I feel like this year taught me a lot regarding this. At first, it was fairly difficult to organise everything while having some free time left for me. Whereas now I find it much easier to organise study time, group work and deliveries, while being able to keep a lot of free time for me and my hobbies. I think this is really important and will definitely boost your study experience!
The importance of family and friends
Finally, living away from home probably taught me the most important lesson of all: the importance of family and friends. Since I’ve been away, I enjoy much more every moment I spend with my Italian friends and family – it really makes me understand how much I miss them and how much I need to know that they support me and care about what I’m doing here. At the same time, being alone in a foreign country also means that the friendships you make here become even more valuable: daily mutual support, study and hanging out together become very precious time which makes you feel like you actually are in your home-away-from-home.
In this regard, one great chance you’ll have to make new friends is to arrive to KTH during the Arrival Days, when many activities will be organised and it will be super easy to meet new people from all over the world!
That is all for today. Thanks a lot for reading, and don’t forget to check out Martyna’s last post on her graduation and Raygo’s post on his final review!
I’ll see you in the next post, have a nice Saturday!
// Lorenzo
So proud of you, big little man.
Thank you!