Meet Kate Connell

Former exchange student at Linköping University

Katy, why did you go to Linköping University? Basically I did not get any CoOp-placement (University of Limirick (UL) thing) and therefore had to make a quick decision on whether to go abroad as an ERASMUS student or not. I had read a report by a fellow UL student who had gone to Linköping and it was really positive.

Are you happy with your decision? Absolutely, I love Linköping and Sweden! If I ever get the chance to live there I’d like that very much, I am definitely going back sometime anyhow.

What surprised you the most coming to Linköping? The number of French people around! No but jokes aside, it was a really diverse crowd in a positive way. I also found everything in Linköping and Sweden very well organised, everything from the academic stuff at LIU to how the public transport works. It is not always the case in Ireland so that was a really positive experience! Also when I arrived the amount of snow and the cold temperatures took me by surprise. I had never seen so much snow in my entire life. I went to Linköping Cathedral on a day when it was minus 29 degrees outside and it was more than a 40 degrees difference going in to the Cathedral!

Did you encounter any difficulties when coming to Linköping? Well, I arrived after the open days had been (days where someone would meet you at the station and help you get settled) late in the night. So we had to stay in a hostel in the city centre the first night. However I did not miss out on the orientation days so it all worked out fine in the end.

At University of Limerick the International Society does a great job of connecting people and organizing fun stuff for the international students to do, is there anything similar at Linköping University? Yeah there is, and it was fantastic. They organised loads of great stuff for us to do, I really regret on missing out on the trip to Kiruna which supposedly was amazing. Might have to go back to Sweden and go there myself...

Do you still keep in contact with the people you met while in Linköping? Yes! Actually I became good friends with an Australian girl who I convinced to do a semester in Dublin in Ireland just after we’d been in Linköping. I still keep in contact with some of the others as well. Facebook truly is a gift when it comes to connecting people, it is extremely easy to catch up quickly on what has happened to your friends abroad.

All international friends or Swedish ones well? I got an email from LiU before coming to Sweden asking me if I wanted to participate in a programme where they would find you a peer student. The peer student I got, Emelie, and I still keep in contact. It was really nice to get to know Swedes as well as the international students. It would be weird coming to a country and not getting to know any of its inhabitants!

Did you try learning Swedish? I did and it was fun and I still know some easy phrases and words. It was very difficult but I think you have to try it out, as the language is a very important part of a country’s identity and culture.

Where did you stay during your time in Linköping? I lived in a dorm in Ryd which is an area close to university where a lot of students live. I stayed in a dorm with seven other students and it was just great. The standard was much better than it is in Ireland and it was cheaper as well, almost half the price of some Irish dorms! I did not expect it to be that good so it was a nice surprise. The short distance to the university was also a big plus.

What about the campus? I really liked Kårallen where you can hang out and go to parties. However my favourite place in Linköping was Tehuset (The Teahouse) down in the city centre, a lovely little old house on top of a hill on a quiet side street with cute old chairs. Whenever I had a visitor I always brought them there for a cup of coffee or tea!

What did your visitors think of Linköping and Sweden? They loved it as well! Most of them came over towards the end of the semester or when I had finished all my exams in June. The weather was just fantastic and we went around a bit. I did go to Motala to go swimming quite a few times during this period, it was great!

What was your favourite moment during your time in Linköping? The big party when the semester had finished called Sommar-X which was amazing! The weather was great all day and as the party is mostly outside that is a good thing to start off with. It was cool that it never got really dark, at three o’ clock in the morning it was at its darkest and then it would turn around and become bright soon again!

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Last updated: Tue Aug 14 16:36:30 CEST 2012