Charles Lau
Posted: 6/30/2010 12:09:30 PM
I would like to appreciate SI for giving me such a great chance to share my experiences as an International student in Sweden. During the past six months, I have known so many new friends via Swedenintouch. We had happy and efficient conversation and most of them got the useful information and guidance from me. I feel so glad that they can find the way to be a new student in Sweden and we will have the plan to meet after they reach Stockholm. Some of them are former students or the senior students, we exchanged the information we got in different cities and compared with each other and finally conclude which city is better for the international student or which city is the good place for travelling and living, etc.
Thanks to Ms. Lisa Larsson who selected me as the writer for this official community for the international students in Sweden in the beginning of 2010, I have another chance to publish my writing in Sweden.cn, the first and only official Swedish website special for Chinese. Due to her recommendation, I have known new friends in Shanghai and other staff in SI. They introduced me much further Swedish culture and real life for the local people and we agreed with a further cooperation for the spread and development both for Swedenintouch and Sweden.cn. Everything is active and exciting. We expect the good future with Swedenintouch.
Today, it is the last day for me to be an official writer for Swedenintouch. But I am pretty sure that I will continue to share my experiences in further study and wonderful life here. I believe some friends here still need the information from the former students. And I am also happy to talk with you about the topics that we all interest. And you can keep on sending me the private messages within Swedenintouch for the questions about living and study in Sweden, especially in Stockholm. Let’s keep concerning the development of Swedenintouch! See you next week.
Descriptive tagslisa larssonsisweden.cn
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Posted: 6/29/2010 2:46:47 PM
photo: www.skansen.se
The last week was the midsummer week, 25th of June is the Midsummer Eve and next day is the real Midsummer Day, which is the longest day of sunshine throughout the whole year. And the last week is my first week in holiday, as you know before that I was always busy with the job in final master thesis work.
When you suddenly escape from the tough working environment, you will find you have nothing to do. But don’t worry, this is the midsummer week, a lot of activities are waiting for us.
24th of June, We went to the SF and watched the movie “Alice I Underlandet” (Alice in wonderland) 3D. There are not so many audiences in the cinema, so we can choose the best seat. Due to the status of students, we can get the big discount and we used the bonus tickets from the program testing in the Swedish language study software (see the old entry), finally we paid only 30 kr for the ticket per person. This was really the amazing experience to watch the 3D film, although this is not my first time to watch. Every time when I enjoy the perfect 3D effect in the film, I totally put myself into the plots. Most of my friends who are not the local are beginning to leave from the department and travelling to their own hometown for visiting their parents.
25th of June, it is the Midsummer Eve. Actually there is no eve, because the sun never decline before 23:00 in Stockholm. After the dinner, we went out and tried to buy some food for tomorrow, but nearly all the markets and shops are closed very early due to the midsommarafton. So we decided to walk along the lake under the fridge between Fridhemsplan and Sankt Eriksplan. We thought that most of citizen left the town or stayed at home, but there are still some people who sat on the riverside and stretched the tablecloth for a picnic out to put the food and drink on. Some of them used the gridiron for B.B.Q. We sat on the bench beside the river and enjoyed the sunshine.
26th of June, it’s the Midsummer Day. The ticket inspection system for subway broke down, so the whole day’s travelling within the city was totally free. We took the bus NO.47 to Skansen, which is the zoo park in Stockholm. From the morning 10:00 to the late night 24:00, the whole day activity in Skansen attracted so many travelers and citizen. We reached Skansen around 13:00, and they were playing the traditional music for Midsummer Day in Seglora kyrka, which is a red and old building. I have been in Skansen many times, this is the first time I entry the buidling. In that afternoon, they had special time slot for feeding the animals, and they also danced in a traditional way with the old and nice clothings.
27th of June, it’s the first day after the Midsummer Day. According to the letter for IKEA members, the customers with the IKAM family card can get the good price for many living goods. You can apply for the member card for free as a student, but you should have the Swedish personal number firstly. If you are a new admitted student and will come to Sweden soon, you can buy all you need in your daily life and begin your new life abroad. In Stockholm, there are two big IKEAs respectively in Northern and Southern area. And the bus and subway can easily send you to the right place.
The relaxing week was always gone so fast. The golden month is coming soon. In July, we’d like to plan a trip in the Cocotte d'Azur,la and Provence in France. This is the right season to travel in South of France. I think everyone like to roam in the sea of Lavender. No matter where you are and no matter what you are waiting for (maybe a result of the student Visa), just be patient and enjoy your wonderful summer holiday.
Descriptive tags3dalice i underlandetmidsummerskansen
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Posted: 6/23/2010 1:30:28 PM
Hej! I am here to give you some recommendation about learning Swedish. I have studied Swedish for almost nine months. It is not too long. But I do have some good advices.
First, I found a newspaper by chance which named “Sesam”. This newspaper is designed for people who are eager to learn Swedish and have basic knowledge and background on Swedish. After an introduction course, I have been using this newspaper to improve my reading skill. And I found that was very useful.
Second, I always love the Swedish TV programs. I am a big fun of American comedies. Besides a lot of American series with Swedish subtitles are introduced into the local television station. So I can enjoy the show and learn Swedish at the same time.
Third, my friends give me some CD by very famous Swedish artists. I really fall in love with a song named “oppna upp ditt fonster” by Lisa Ekdahl when I first time heard it. Now I take the mp3-player with me every day and sing some Swedish songs.
This entry is making up the last busy week when I cannot submit the enough information to all of you. Hope you have a good weekend. See you next week
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Posted: 6/22/2010 12:55:37 AM
Princess Victoria was finally married to Daniel. The moment when they said their vows really moved me and my girl friend. Victoria is always my girl friend's idol. We are really glad to see her happiness in life.
In these days, I have met so many friends while I am also busy with final report for the former master programme. Let me describe you each exciting moment I have experienced so far....
In the 17th of June, I have been to the SI building and met some nice staff in SI. The purpose of this drop-in was to have a talk with web manager Ms.Roberts about the users' interest and behavior in Swedenintouch.se and sweden.cn. We had a very happy talk and lunch. I am very interested with the spread of swedenintouch and sweden.cn, So I promised Frida to try my best in the spread.I'd like to help because I really think the information from swedenintouch and sweden.cn is very useful and directly helping the students who are thinking of studying in Sweden.Besides, the information from swedenintouch reflects the real experiences from the students in their study and life here. Sometimes, we dont need the general or very formal information about how to live or how to study well in Sweden, what we need is just the real life and study experience by a common student, maybe one day of him or her. That will be very helpful to the new students. So swedenintouch and sweden.cn is the right place I mentioned.Come to Swedenintouch and share your experiences,maybe one day, one of your entry may provide the huge help to many students.
by the way, I finally met Lisa:) very excited!
18th of June, I was still working on my thesis revise. I got the final comment from my supervisor the deadline is weekend.But I had to attend one presentation by another student, As one of the conditions for my graduation in the former programme, I would play the role in opposition. I asked questions after the thesis presentation and gave comments for his thesis report. One hour's presentation seminar, finally I got the siganature by the examiner of his thesis. In this seminar, I met so many old friends, then I knew that they still have stayed in Stockholm.
19th of June, wonderful day. The wedding celebration of Victoria and Daniel. From the afternoon 13:00, we went ot the downtown and tried to find a good place for expecting the Princess coming. And finally she took the boat with his husband and went by, she waved her hands to us as the picture shown.The distance between us and her boat is less than 30 meters. woooo!!!!!
20th of June. I submitted my final version of thesis report and had a good sleep.
21th of June. I went to school and made three hard-copies put in the cover. This was a really interesting job in packing the thesis papers into a book. And several hours ago I got the email from my dear supervisor , She told me that I completed an excellent thesis work and deserved a highest grade. Finally I got A for my master thesis at KTH.
..............
Description ends
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Posted: 6/16/2010 6:54:30 PM
No time for managing the video & photo due to the tough course in studying after I came back from the traveling acroooooooss France and Italy.I can always find out the materials related to this trip nearly in any corners of harddisk. Sometimes, I'm gonna associate adobe premiere pro together with Adobe After Effects to make some magic effects for the video, but time indeed doesn't allow me to execute anything more.Moreover,I still cannot decide a satisfying share space like youtube inside China to share my funs with my pals.
The most important thing is...I try to wrap up some boring noise by certain people.Actually,I don't hate speaking Wuhanese, but when "you" tour around world as a nice traveler, don't speak ur native or local language like shouting.
After my back to Stockholm,many of my friends plan to visit their parents in their countries, I would like to say goodbye to you, some are exchange students, they will never be back, and some will be back in August, I expect to see you soon, and not only one person ask me the route to arlanda in a cheap way, because they have enough time view the sight along the way to airport. So I summarize the information to you about how to reach Arlanda from different student apartments:
From Kista Centrum to Arlanda Airport with 45mins
kista C - sollentuna station - SL 179 -10mins
sollentuna station - Märsta station - SL commuter train 36 - 21mins
Märsta station - Arlanda Termianl 5 - SL 583 - 14 mins
Totally 45mins
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
alternative routing：
From Kungsharma to Arlanda T5
kungshamra - Solna station - SL 509 - 12mins
(or kungshamra - Ulriksdals station - SL540 - 7mins)
Solna station - Märsta station -SL commuter train 36 -29mins
(or Ulriksdals station - Märsta station -SL commuter train 36 -36mins)
Märsta station - Arlanda Termianl 5 - SL 583 - 14 mins
Totally 55 mins (or 57 mins)
From Pax to Arlanda T5
You can choose to Kista following the previous routing
or you can
From Västra skogen (Solna) to Märsta station (Sigtuna)
Take Metro blue line 10 from Västra skogen towards Kungsträdgården.
Your departure from Västra skogen ,
your arrival in T-centralen with 7 mins
At Stockholms central change to commuter train 36 towards Märsta.
Your departure from Stockholms central .
You arrive in Märsta with 36mins.
Märsta station - Arlanda Termianl 5 - SL 583 - 14 mins
The duration of your journey is 66 minutes.
Good luck!!!guys we see in August!!!
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Posted: 6/12/2010 3:06:40 AM
photo:me and my friends in Kista
Yesterday,I did the my presentation for the last course work in period 4, it means that now I am going to the summer holiday.
Actually, these days are always raining in Stockholm, And the student SL ticket in 11th of june came to the last day, Now I am thinking where I can go and what I can do in the weekend,if it is still raining, I think I have to stay at home,
Sigtuna is good place to visit, If the sunshine is good enough tomorrow, I can plan the trip to there.
Actually now I am always excited with the wedding of the big princess in the 19th of June,I dont know what activities we will have in that day, and where we can go and see the big princess, but I saw the fiance of princess in a gas station downstair last summer, so this time I really hope to see both of them,maybe in the street outside the palace in 19th of June,or someplace. Let's see.
This is a big news, even when I was in China last month, I can hear the Chinese report about her wedding on TV.
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Posted: 6/6/2010 4:57:39 PM
Dear new admitted students
I got a lot of messages here everyday, and I try to be active to answer all you questions, I guess most of you already got useful information and experiences from me,I will feel glad if you really made it,
now I am stull getting the messages with the questions, many questions are repeated again and again, here, I advice before you ask the questions,I kindly and strongly advice you go through the pages in forum,actually, you can get all the solutions for your problem, of course if you are busy and urgent to get answer, still welcome to directly ask via the inbox.
Now I will list my answers to the questions listed in one topic in forum, it is about the frequently asked questions for the new admitted students, you can check it out as follows:
1.VISA or as they say residence permit how much days do they take to issue us visa, is visa really valid only for a year?? thats bad!! we will need to re apply after one year?!!, what do they ask in the visa interview, where are you giving the visa interview, how should the documents be arranged for visa? what should be our preparation for visa? etc etc)
The international students must renew the Visa every year, the reason for one year Visa is that the immigration office need you indeed study in Sweden but not for other reasons, so you need earn at least 30 ECTs(some programme need 45 ECTs) From Autumn to next Summer before you submit the Visa renew form. Visa interview in not important, always remember not to have immigrant intent!!!!!! No specific preoaration for Visa application, just follow the rules of embassy,actully your accetance letter from University is significant. The fee for Visa application(students from more than one yr programme will get personal id ) is not same in the different application countries, in Sweden, it is 1000kr.
The students admitted in one year (master or language) programme will not get the personal number in Sweden.
2. Financial documents, bank statements, solvency certificates ( which of them is required, how much money are YOU showing, should the money be shown in cash in the bank statement, if yes for how uch time should we keep this money in bank if we are also taking bank loan? etc )
The first year application need you to present the enough financial support for your whole study periods, for example, you are admitted in a two yrs programme, so you need to have a certificate showing you have 20months x 7300kr under your bank account(your name),NOT from your relatives. You dont need to exchange all your own local money(20 months x 7300kr) to Swedish kronor as the bank statement, a certificate from a big central bank in your own country or equivalent showing that you have a permit to remove money from the country(if such a certificate is required).
Actually the money kept in your account can be moved after you got the Visa(resident permit),you'd better frozen your money before you got the result from embassy, the officers have the right to investigate the truth of certificate.....
3. Education loan (time of disbursement of various banks? what is the rate of interest? how much loan should we take according to Indian standards? do we really require 7300 SEK per month to stay in sweden? Is there any other expenditure? which official document from KTH should we show to the bank for providing he edu. loan, does edu. loan cover our lodging and boarding fees, etc, as we would not have any tution fees?)
The information from KTH, I mean 7300kr per month actually is too much for the daily life if you really study hard and always be in school. 7300 kr is the standard for the application, Since the Swedish people think 7300kr can handle everything in your one month life, they (immigration office) hope you have really enough money to live and study in Sweden.
Sometimes, rent for student room is normally 3000kr per month,if you dont find a proper place to live the rent will be higher
traffic fee: student ticket, around 400kr to 500kr per month,
food (without alcohol): normally 2000kr to 3000kr,I believe you can eat well.
it really depends.
how about smokers and drinkers? how about your entertainment and trip during the holiday?how about other fee for study materials?
so now how much remain? So 7900kr is reasonable, but for me, I think I live a good life here, less than 7000kr is enough for me, sometimes even 6000kr is enough.
p.s the education now I mean 2010 to 2011 is still frree, so dont expect more money like scholarship and extra money from the government......
4. Health Insurance (of net value, at what rate, for 1 year? or for 2 years? from which bank? at what amount of payment? how much is the coverage? what will it cover in medical terms? is there any lowe limit or upper limit of the insurance? etc etc)
If you are admitted in a more than one yr programme, you dont need health insurance, since you will be granted the personal number in Sweden, you got everything later. The one year or less than one year students will not have the peronal number, you need to guarantee yourself everything in your own country before you come to Sweden....
5. Travel insurance (for the flight duration, from which bank did u get it, is it necessary, how much did u pay, how much the coverage is?? related issues)
I have no idea about the travel insurance, at least I didnt make it before,but I guess the insurance thing should be done before you leave for Stockholm
6. Accommodation at KTH or nearby hostels (which are the different queues in which we have to book ourselves into, can WE be roomies??, can we share the room, what are the room rents in per monts calculation, how did u pay the deposit, how much do we need to pay in INR, can we cook our own food in our room? will my room mate be Indian? etc etc)
KTH has a good new student protection system, they provide the accommodation for the first year student, but in these yrs, the rooms are really limited, so once the KTH asks you to pay the deposit for keeping your room or related issues, please to be active to treat with it, because when you are hestating if you need this room or not, the room will disappear and move to the other students, Now you got it, not all the new students can have the opportunities to live beside the campus. If you reply late, you got nothing.
about the queuing system for the student accommodation agencies, please check my blog, there is one blog to introduce the student housing situation and some experiences shared.
the room assigned by school can be shared, rent for one room (two people) is normally more than 3600 kr including electricity, water, heating and internet, so one for 1800kr ~2000kr, it is a good beginning for the new students. try to catch the chances.
P.s. Dear former students or second year students,if any data wrong,please help to correct,thanks!
7. Flight Tickets (from which airline should we travel? what are the current rates? which is the cheapest and luxurious one? will the flight go from LONDON? etc etc)
flight tickets
The student can enjoy the discount, BUT you must have the international student card. After you become and student in Sweden you dont need to use International student card, we have our own student cards verified by different univerisities. This card is very useful, you can own it after you pay the studetn union fee, norally 175 kr ~ 300kr per semester depending on your programme. The benefits of the card, will be known by you soon....a hint, no card, no entry to the exam......serious?haha!
some useful flight sites we always concern within Sweden:
www.jetweb.se
www.sas.se
www.lufthansa.com
www.travellink.se
http://en.momondo.com/Cheap_Flights.aspx
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Posted: 6/4/2010 1:08:26 PM
Yesterday afternoon, I was in Arland and there was a group of Swedish passengers who came back from China, parents and kids, the smiles one their faces tells they had a good journey in China, The interesting thing was that nearly all the kids were with a panda bag. Very lovely!
When talking about the Panda, I guess most of you already know that is a kind of giant panda in China. We chinese people call it national treasure and a protected species.
The Panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
The obvious black-white coat color makes people easily recognize it from other animals, in these years, Panda as the representation of the friendship among the countries is always sent to the neighbour countries or the friendly states.
The panda's favorite diet is 99% bamboo, someties the fish, honey and eggs are also the food they like. The panda image is now used in the different fields, now the people make the panda products, like the panda bag, panda pillows, panda clothes and panda related products.
In Stockholm, I found many citizens love this animal, for example, in my corridor, one girl pasted the image of panda on the door to call the people to protect and concern it.
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Posted: 5/26/2010 4:46:02 PM
photo:Charles Lau in Milles garden
More pics,please see in "Pictures"
---Milles garden is one of the famous attractions in Stockholm; most of travelers in Stockholm will go to Stockholm City hall (Nobel banquet hall), Old town, Royal Palace, and Queen’s island (Drottningholm) and so on. These above attractions are located together in one area and convenient to visit. But people will always not remember to have a visit on Milles garden, which is located in another area named Lidingö. ----
I always go to Food Market PrisXtra in T-bana Fridhamsplan, there is shop named Target-Design beside PrisXtra, a nice book named “100kr-scenic spots” in this shop attracts me, after reading this pocket book, I learn that there are so many famous attractions that I don’t know, one of them is Milles garden, I got some information on this garden long long ago, but I just forgot. Now this book reminds me, and pushes me to go there and have a look.
Last week, I went there with my girl friend by bus and metro, it just took us less than 30 mins, the admission fee for students is just 65 kr, the entrance of miles garden was beside the narrow street, the first building we saw was a big hall with the reception and a lovely shop, we took lots of pics there. This hall allowed people make the big and formal activity, like the ceremony or the gala. There were another gate in the big hall, we opened the gate and went to the open garden with lots of sculptures, which were very famous and always seen in the instruction book of the city. “The hand of God” was the name of one sculpture; it was the most famous one in the garden. The rose terrace was my girlfriend’s favorite place in the garden, she felt romantic and liked to drink coffee and eat the snack under the sunshine. We moved to the lower terrace and got close to the sea, the wonderful sight was just front of you. The upper terrace was the oldest part of the garden and also the first land that Carl Milles bought for him and his wife Olga Milles, she was a portrait artist, and on this land the houses and studios are built for their creations. What my favorite area was lower terrace; there were a group of sculptures each of which was built on a big stone column. “Angel Musician”, “God on the rainbow”, and “The hand of God” were always popular in visitors.
You can find more information about the sculptures in this terrace below:
http://www.millesgarden.se/sculptures-lower-terrace.aspx
Try to find more interesting places and activities in Sweden, you can unconsciously be influenced by the Swedish style culture and learn the differences from your own culture.
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Posted: 5/24/2010 4:52:16 PM
I know many of friends have big passion on the Chinese Universities and its education system. China nowadays can provide the international and excellent higher education in the world, especially for the international students all over the world.When I just reached Sweden, the most frequently asked questions are about our Chinese education system and development. I found a lot of people are concerning the development of Chinese education system, some students are intending to continue their study in China.
Now here is a big chance for you guys who like to know more about it. There will be an exhibition on Chinese Universities on Thursday May 27, from 10am to 5pm at Aula Magna Galleriet at Stockholm University. No entrance fee.
The list of Chinese Universities (will be present in this exhibition):
1
北京大学
Peking University
www.pku.edu.cn
2
北京电影学院
Beijing Film Academy
www.bfa.edu.cn
3
北京体育大学
Beijing Sports University
www.bsu.edu.cn
4
北京语言大学
Beijing Language & Culture University
www.blcu.edu.cn
5
清华大学
Tsinghua University
www.tsinghua.edu.cn
6
大连海事大学
Dalian Maritime University
www.dlmu.edu.cn
7
大连理工大学
Dalian University of Technology
www.dlut.edu.cn
8
沈阳师范大学
Shenyang Normal University
www.synu.edu.cn
9
哈尔滨工业大学
Harbin Institute of Technology
www.hit.edu.cn
10
东华大学
Donghua University
www.dhu.edu.cn
11
复旦大学
Fudan University
www.fudan.edu.cn
12
华东理工大学
East China University of Science & Technology
www.ecust.edu.cn
13
华东师范大学
East China Normal University
www.ecnu.edu.cn
14
上海大学
Shanghai University
www.shu.edu.cn
15
上海交通大学
Shanghai Jiaotong University
www.sjtu.edu.cn
16
上海师范大学
Shanghai Normal University
www.shnu.edu.cn
17
上海体育学院
Shanghai University of Sport
www.sus.edu.cn
18
同济大学
Tongji University
www.tongji.edu.cn
19
南京航空航天大学
Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
www.nuaa.edu.cn
20
南京理工大学
Nanjing University of Science & Technology
www.ecust.edu.cn
21
南京中医药大学
Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine
www.njutcm.edu.cn
22
浙江大学
Zhejiang University
www.zju.edu.cn
23
浙江师范大学
Zhejiang Normal University
www.zjnu.edu.cn
24
中国海洋大学
Ocean University of China
www.ouc.edu.cn
25
电子科技大学
University of Electronic Science & Technology of China
www.uestc.edu.cn
26
西南交通大学
Southwest Jiaotong University
www.swjtu.edu.cn
27
云南财经大学
Yunnan University of Finance & economics
www.ynufe.edu.cn
28
西南大学
Southwest University
www.swu.edu.cn
29
西北工业大学
Northwestern Polytechnical University
www.nwpu.edu.cn
30
兰州大学
Lanzhou University
www.lzu.edu.cn
31
兰州交通大学
Lanzhou Jiaotong University
www.lzjtu.cn
32
兰州城市学院
Lanzhou City University
www.lzcu.edu.cn
33
石河子大学
Shihezi University
www.shzu.edu.cn
34
新疆大学
Xinjiang University
www.xju.edu.cn
Retell the time and place:
Time: Thursday 27 May, from 10:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m.
Place: Stockholm University, Aula Magna, Galleriet.
Please help to spread this message to your fellow colleagues and friends who might be interested to study at Chinese universities for long or short periods.
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