“The real experience comes just by being here and getting to know people”

Because of her late arrival in autumn, Martha didn’t have a friend family until January. The studies also take a lot of time and unfortunately Martha and her friend family had just a few occasions to spend time together. But when Martha starts telling about these few meetings she just radiates.

- I had dinner at my friend family house and met these adorable children. We have shared a lot of stories and had a wonderful time together. I’ve met Karin for a lunch at the university too. At the moment we are planning to do something in the weekend. Maybe to play some brännboll (Swedish version of baseball) and we have already some plans to go to visit some places in Sweden. So it seems that the “schedule” is very intensive.

From Mexico to Linköping

Martha comes from one of the biggest cities in the world and when she first arrived to Linköping she was wondering where all the people were. When she at last met some she was very impressed by their way of being helpful in all situations.

- It is so calm here and people seem to be very relaxed. When you ask something the Swedish people are always very kind and friendly.

Friend family as a source of a real experience

Having a friend family is very important to Martha and she is already truly glad.

- I wanted to know somebody here because it is far from home. Of course you are meeting loads of people, classmates, friends but I think it’s very nice and important to know someone from here so you could have a possibility to feel like you are at home. Karin told me that I’m her family and I have already the feeling like being at home. It’s important to have someone to be able to ask about the culture or cultural differences. You don’t know a lot of things even if you can read some information on the website; the real experience comes from just being here and knowing people.

Martha and the bicycle

For Martha Sweden is different in many ways from her home country Mexico. Even the cycling caused some problems.

-We are not used to bike in Mexico because of the traffic; there is no possibility to bike there. Of course I had a bike when I was little but when I had to cycle from Tannefors to university the first weeks it was difficult. I fell of the bike the first day while going to university and all week I was improving my cycling skills. I hope there wasn’t a hidden camera somewhere otherwise I could be the star of the show.

“Missing feeling” a year before leaving

Studying abroad is an opportunity, a challenge and an experience. In the beginning you are always facing some difficulties and asking yourself if this is the right thing; maybe it is better to just go home …

- To establish your life in a different country takes time but afterwards you realize that there are a lot of good things that you experience, learn and encounter. I still have one year of studies left but I’m already having this missing feeling when I will have to go home.