For my exchange I studied Software Engineering at Umeå University in Sweden. Umeå is a small but lively little city found in the north of the country. I can say that choosing to study there will forever go down as one of the best decisions of my life. It may be a very small city but Umeå was never short of activities, whether you are interested in rock music or rock climbing!

I studied in Sweden for almost a year. I started my adventures in the middle of Sweden in a small town called Falun. I opted to sign up for the Erasmus intensive language course, so had to go to Sweden one month earlier. These courses are very useful because they get you adapted and more involved in the country that will be your home for a term or two, while at the same time enabling you to meet some extraordinary people from all across Europe. The bonus of this optional course is in the way these courses are run, you are studying a new language at an intensive level but at the same time there are numerous trips and events being held by the institution which means that you are constantly active for a whole month. For the duration of this course, my course mates and I found ourselves studying during the morning, playing sports and swimming in the Swedish lakes under the afternoon sun and star gazing at the clear sky during the nights.

For my Software Engineering course I was situated in Umeå. The campus is cut off into distinct subject areas, such as social sciences, physics and computing. During my stay I realised I had a second home - the Umeå Computer and mathematics building. I noticed that there was a massive difference between the Swedish and the British academic system. In England we start half of our modules at the beginning of September and then have exams in January and June. The way I studied in Sweden resulted in me being able to say that I had completed two modules by the time November came.

In Sweden you take modules separately running over the course of the year, once a module is completed you take the exam two weeks after the module and if you pass the exam then you have completed the module. Another difference is the constant flow of assignments or ‘coursework’. You are constantly assessed and completion of these assignments is obligatory to achieve your pass grade.I learnt some very important computer science techniques from my Swedish colleagues for which I am forever grateful. One of these techniques was the software testing method I picked up from another student, which has proven very helpful for my current industrial placement at the Risk & Compliance firm, Secoda.

In Umeå there is a massive international student community and numerous trips were organised around the year to places such as Finland, Estonia and St Petersburg. ‘It’s the people that make the place’ has never made more sense to me. Every international student is in the same situation, they are all here to study but want to meet new people and enjoy their time. Due to that fact, everyone is extremely friendly towards each other and you find that in no time you know half the campus.

Overall I would recommend to anyone to take that leap of faith and do an exchange. There is nothing to lose but so much to gain. I picked up numerous skills that I would not normally have had the time for if I was in the U.K., such as learning the Swedish language, in which I am now half fluent. I also ran a radio show with another exchange student, and I started DJing through this. I have come out a better and bigger person who can stand on his own two feet wherever situated and proudly say that he is not afraid to follow his dreams and seize the opportunity.

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