Many APSU students study abroad each year, but it’s easy to forget that many students travel from other countries to study here. Swedish sophomores Evalina Nedlund, journalism major, and Emma Magnin, business administration major, are spending a semester at APSU to learn more about the U.S. and practice speaking English with native speakers.
Though in many ways daily life can be similar between the two countries, they talked about how as foreigners they mainly notice the differences.
Having been in class for several weeks now, the fluctuating weather has been one of the strangest things they’ve said they’ve had to deal with.
“People were running around campus like oh, snow-maggedon is coming,“ Nedlund said on the recent snow days. “I asked someone in my class why school is canceled when snow is coming … A week ago there was snow everywhere and now it’s like a Swedish summer.”
Another big difference between college in the U.S. and Sweden is the way classes are scheduled.
“Here you take all of your courses at the same time, so you have to adjust to that and make plans,” Magnin said.
Magnin said courses in Sweden are held by themselves for six to eight weeks and taken one after the other throughout the semester, not simultaneously.
Nedlund and Magnin said they have both traveled to many other countries individually, such as Turkey, Egypt, Spain, France, Denmark, Ethiopia, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Belgium and Germany.
Despite having seen so many places already, they said they wanted to come to the U.S. to study abroad this semester.
“I wanted to improve my English; that was the main goal of studying abroad since I really want to become fluent in it,” Nedlund said. “Also I really love America.”
Nedlund plans to go traveling for a couple of weeks in May after classes are over.
“Me and my best friend decided when we were 17 that we were going to study in America, so it just sort of happened,” Magnin said.
Magnin cannot stay and travel after the semester is over like Nedlund, but she said she will definitely come back one day.
