Fleur and her internship in Borås, part 2

Fleur in Borås: “They value the relationships between colleagues very much.”

Very calm city

The first month in Sweden went very fast. My internship, living in my new home and meeting new people were the main activities during the first weeks. Borås is a city with among 70.000 citizens, but in my opinion it’s a very calm city. Luckily there are a few universities and that means there are enough students! The first weekends were a bit boring, but afterwards I met new people and they made my weekends way better.

Own little bathroom

When I arrived in Sweden I went straight to my new home. It’s an apartment complex with sixty rooms. Everyone has their own small bathroom. My room is not that big, but I’m very happy that I have a shower, sink and a toilet for myself. On the floor downstairs there are shared kitchens, a dining space and a living room. As a new tenant this was the perfect place to meet new people. And of course it’s also nice to sit downstairs during the evening as there are always people around.

The apartment is very central and everything is on walking distance from my home. This was also a must for me when I was looking for accommodation and I now experience the benefits from living in the centre. The surroundings are quiet but that’s also because the city is very spacious. The supermarket and nightlife are around the corner luckily!

House party

As an intern it can be hard to meet people. If I was joining university, I would’ve met a whole class of students. For me it was the best solution to live in a place where I would be surrounded by people. During cooking and eating dinner I got to know more and more people. Mostly Swedish people are living in my house, so I haven’t met many exchange students yet. During the second weekend in Sweden I went to a house party and met new people again. My Swedish housemates are very nice.

Internship

I was very welcomed by my host company. It’s a small firm with 16 people. Every day, we all have a coffee break at the same time and on Fridays we all have breakfast. They value the relationships between colleagues very much. I noticed that from all the small activities we’re doing together. On Monday morning, everyone gets to talk about what and how they are doing, so that everyone is on track with each other’s business.

Inside the company they speak Swedish. In the beginning this was difficult as I felt less involved. It’s impossible for me to have a Swedish conversation. Learning Swedish is unfortunately not an option as I’m already busy enough improving my English. It’s hard to follow conversations, but the employees try to take into account that I’m not speaking their language. Sometimes conversations are in English which makes it easy to discuss with them as well but I just let the Swedish talks go by. Of course I already do know a few Swedish words: god morgon, tack en Hej då.

A lot of snow

The first month went fast. I am at the company every day from 8:15 until 17:00. After that I’m going home, sometimes going grocery shopping and then preparing my dinner. The days during the week are not that spectacular. Every week I look forward to the weekend to go snowboarding, to visit another city, to not have to set your alarm or just to have a night out.

During the week I also play soccer for two evenings in a female team. All girls are Swedish but luckily everyone speaks English very good. Even with half a meter of snow the soccer field is being cleaned to continue with practice. Hopefully it will get warmer soon so the practices are more pleasant! Sometimes we also soccer inside and then it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing. Afterwards in the evening we mostly watch a movie in the common living room. The nicest thing I did this month was snowboarding, twice! The piste is only a thirty minute drive from Borås. But there’s been enough snow now - hopefully the weather gets better soon!