Welcome to my blog! I am attending the International Business School @ Jonkoping University in Sweden. The university is split into four schools: School of Health and Welfare, School of Education and Communication, School of Engineering, and last but not least Jonkoping International Business School. All 4 schools consist of around 10,000 students, of which around 2,000 are international students. I thought before I start posting about informative cultural or societal aspects of Sweden I would start with my journey to where I live to add some geographic context.

My university is in the city centre of Jonkoping. Among the students living in the city, many locals reside there because of the developing business scene. As a result some students, including myself, are made to live further away. I wanted this to happen to me because 1. I wanted to live in “the countryside” and 2. I wanted to travel so I could learn the area more quickly.

Alright, the logistics. From the university it takes 3 hours and 20 minutes walking. It takes 1 hour riding a bike. It takes 30-45 minutes depending on the time for the bus. It takes 13-25 minutes by train, which comes every hour. Lastly, it takes 2o minutes by car, however no one has a car.

Alright, now I took the train to Tenhult Big House where there’s approximately 20 international students. So far in my house I have met students from Singapore, Mexico, France, China, India, Czech republic, and Netherlands (informally Holland). Yeah, they were not kidding about being an international hub. In my exchange group of 150 students, there are about 70 countries represented. Having all these perspectives in one place is surreal to me. In 4 days, I have already broken down so many stereotypes I have heard and made additions to my global perspective. I am so grateful for an opportunity like this.

Thank you for reading! Anybody reading who is studying abroad in Europe, I created a Facebook group for students to connect, meet up, and share information while traveling in Europe. Here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1213634465404113/

Let me know if you are interested. My Fb name is Angelo Michael DeMarco.