Fleur during her internship in Borås, Sweden

Fleur in Borås: “Here, they really value the connection between colleagues.”

Very quiet city
The first month in Sweden has flown by. The first few weeks were all about starting my internship, settling into my new home, and meeting new people. Borås is a city with around 70,000 inhabitants, but to me it feels like a very quiet city. Luckily, there are several universities and colleges here, so there are enough students around! The first weekends were still a bit dull, but after meeting some new people, my weekends have definitely become more enjoyable.

Private bathroom
When I arrived in Sweden, I immediately went to check out my room. It's an apartment complex with 60 rooms. Everyone has their own private bathroom in their room. My room isn’t very big, but I’m really happy to have my own shower, sink, and toilet.
On the ground floor, there are shared kitchens, a dining area, and a living room. As a newcomer, this was the perfect place to meet new people. It’s also just cozy to hang out downstairs in the evenings since there’s always someone around.

The apartment is centrally located, and everything in the city is within walking distance. That’s actually why I chose this place – and I’m really experiencing the benefits of living in the city center. The surroundings are peaceful, partly because the city is quite spread out. The supermarket and nightlife are just around the corner!

House party
As an intern, it’s a bit harder to meet people. If I had gone to school here, I would’ve already met a whole class full of young people. For me, the best solution was to live somewhere with lots of people around. While cooking and having dinner, I gradually got to know more people. Most people in my building are Swedish, so I haven’t met many exchange students yet. On my second weekend in Sweden, there was already a house party – and that’s when I met even more people. My Swedish housemates are really kind.

Internship
I’ve had a very warm welcome at my internship. It’s a small company with 16 employees. Every day, we all take a coffee break at the same time, and on Fridays, we have breakfast together as a company. They place a lot of value on the bond between colleagues. I noticed this in the small shared activities and gestures. On Monday mornings, every employee takes a moment to share what they’re working on, so everyone is kept up to date with each other’s tasks.

Swedish is spoken at the company. At first, that was quite challenging because it made me feel a bit less included. I find it impossible to follow a conversation in Swedish. Learning Swedish isn’t really an option, unfortunately, since I’m already busy improving my English. It’s hard to follow conversations, but the employees do try to accommodate me by occasionally switching to English. When they speak English, I can easily join in, but when the conversation is in Swedish, I just let it wash over me. Of course, by now I’ve picked up a few Swedish words like: god morgon, tack, and hej då.

Lots of snow
The first month went by so fast. Every day from 8:15 AM to 5:00 PM I’m at my internship, then I head home, sometimes run errands, and cook dinner. So weekdays aren’t that exciting. Every week I look forward to the weekend – to go snowboarding, visit another city, sleep in, or go out on Saturday night. During the week, I play football two evenings with a women’s team. All the girls are Swedish, but luckily everyone speaks English well. Even with half a meter of snow, the field was cleared so training could go on. Hopefully, it gets warmer soon so training will be more pleasant! The other training session is indoors, so the weather doesn’t matter.
In the evenings, I sometimes hang out for a chat after dinner or watch a movie in the shared living room. The best thing I’ve done this month was snowboarding twice! The slope is just 30 minutes away from Borås. But if you ask me – enough snow has fallen for now, I’m ready for some better weather!