I’ve heard the same questions so many times from so many people that I got tired of repeating the same answers. So, I’ve created this small guide to share my experiences as a student in Stockholm from August 2005. Of course, I will not give specific information (such as “The cost for the application for visa is 1000 sek”) but I will give you some links to find out these yourself (such as “visit migrationsvärket at www.blabla.se”). I hope it will help you to figure out some issues, and I will try to keep it updated with your new questions. Voila, so let’s begin.

The information I am giving you is based on my personal experience, so the conditions won’t be the same for you. Here is some info about myself:

I am Turkish (non-EU).

I had studied Computer Engineering at Galatasaray University in Istanbul, Turkey before I came to Stockholm. I had finished the program with an average grade of 3.5/4 and was second in the department.

In Stockholm, I studied in KTH (Royal Institute of Technology) in a Master program about Information and Communication Systems Security.

As part of the Erasmus exchange program, I studied in Lille, France for 6 months, although I don’t think this is very relevant to the subject.

My English was quite good when I applied for Stockholm, and I had to take to TOEFL test. The university here required the students to pass the limit of TOEFL, which is something around 213.

One friend told me that he was thinking of applying to study in Sweden, and gave me three letters and one web link. That is all you need to begin. The three letters were KTH, short for Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, or Royal Institute of Technology, which is the school I actually applied to. KTH’s website is www.kth.se. The other info he gave me, the web address, was www.studyinsweden.se. I wont tell you more about these two sources, because I believe that you should have already got exited and clicked on them if you are really interested. So stop reading this now, and go spend some time on these web sites. Then come back

When I applied, studying in Sweden was free. And it still is now (June 2007), but it might change soon. What I mean by free is that you don’t pay the school to register. However, living in Sweden, and particularly in Stockholm, is not free. You will most probably need a place to sleep, food to eat, tickets to take the subway, alcohol to get drunk, etc… So you definitely need money.

No, not really… Not from Sweden at least. They are giving scholarships to a very limited number of students, so don’t rely on the fact that you will get one. When I applied, I had a high hope to get it because they had accepted my application for a scholarship and forwarded the request to the organization. But I didn’t get it. It also depends on were you are from. Sweden has special agreements with several countries, and special scholarships programs exist, especially for Russia, USA and some “developing countries”. All of this information is on the website I provided earlier, www.studyinsweden.se.

You can also get a scholarship from your own country, which is something else…

Well you might… I didn’t have to, because I was lucky that my parents could afford to support me. With the student VISA, you are allowed to work in Sweden. But it’s maybe not that easy to find a job, especially a qualified job, in the beginning. But you might try to find smaller, part-time jobs, delivering newspapers, selling something, working at a kebap place, etc…

I can’t tell you that exactly. It depends on how you live your life, and how much you or your parents can afford. My first year, my parents were sending me around 6500SEK per month, and I could adapt my expenses according to that. 6500 SEK was enough for me to do everything I needed, including going out in the weekend nights. The second year, I started working so I earned more than that and I stopped getting money from my parents. Note that I was living, and I am still, in a student accommodation, which is quite cheap compared to renting apartments in Stockholm. I will tell you more about accommodation in the next section.

Accommodation in Stockholm might be a complicated issue if you don’t know where to begin. As a student, the first and most important thing to do – and you should do it right NOW, whether you are sure about coming here or not, is to register on SSSB. SSSB is the organization responsible of dealing out accommodation to Swedish-or-foreign students. So now, go to www.sssb.se, switch to the English version (flag on the top right), click on “Looking for an apartment”, and register. It’s free and you need to register as soon as possible to accumulate “credit days” (the number of days that you have been registered) that will increase your chance to get a place when they announce a vacant apartment. In other words, if you have 50 credit days and apply to a room, and someone else with 51 credit days applies too, then he gets the room. You got the point.

I live in Lappis (lappkärsberget), which is probably one of the best student areas in the world. At least, I can confirm that with comparison to student accommodations in Turkey and France. It’s cheaper than most of the other places, and it’s definitely a lot of cool people from all around the world with the sole purpose of having fun and partying  But if you prefer to concentrate on your studies and live a calm life, maybe it’s not the best alternative.

Another option is to rent a normal apartment with some friends, but that is much more difficult, especially if you’re trying to arrange that while you’re not in Stockholm. So I suggest that you first stay at a student accommodation from SSSB, and then if you don’t like it, rent another place with some friends…

This section is only interesting for Turkish guys like me who have to do their military service. Hence, it’s in Turkish

Bu konu hakkindaki en iyi kaynak T.C. Stockholm Buyukelciligi Egitim Musavirligi’nin web sitesidir. www.stockholm-egitim.se adresinden ziyaret edebileceginiz siteden bazi onemli noktalar:

Master icin gelenler en fazla 3 sene erteleme (“sevk tehir”) yaptirabiliyorlar.

“Bilindiği gibi Türkiye’de herhangi bir fakülteyi bitirenler askerlik kararı aldırmakla yükümlüdürler. Ancak yüksek lisansa devam edenler, askerlik tehir işlemleri yaptırabilirler. Bu durumda olanların, yurt dışına çıkmadan önce, askerlik şubelerine başvurarak, yedek subay aday adayı kararı aldırmaları ve askerlik durum ve müsaade belgelerini yanlarında getirmeleri öğrencilik işlemleri açısından çok önemlidir. Bu belge olmadan öğrenci dosyası açılmamakta, pasaport uzatma işlemleri de buna bağlı olduğu için, bazı öğrencilerimiz mağdur duruma düşmektedirler.”

Yani, kalin kalin yazdigim gibi, Isvec’e gelmeden once Turkiye’deki askerlik subenize ugrayip yukaridaki islemi yapmaniz gerekiyor.

Geldikten sonra da egitim musavirligine giderek (web sitesinde adres bilgileri var) “Özel ögrenci” dosyasi actirmaniz gerekiyor. Butun Iskandinavyanin askerlik islemlerini halleden egitim musavirliginin Stockholm’de bulunmasi buyuk sans bu acidan. Gerekli belgelerle gittikten sonra bu dosyanin acilmasi gayet kolay ve zahmetsiz oluyor.

Amma ve lakin, is bununla bitmiyor.. Bir sure sonra evinize gelen kagit sagolsun; tekrar musavirlige gidip okulda basarili oldugunuzu – ve daha devam edeceginizi – gosteren bir takim belgelerl sunmaniz gerekiyor ki ozel ogrencilik statunuz devam etsin.

Egitiminiz bitince de donmeden once dosyayi kapatmak gerekiyormus.. ben daha bitirmedim bilmiyorum.

Boyle bir ozet geceyim dedim. Daha once soyledigim gibi, oncelikle Turkiye’de yoklamaya gitmeyi unutmayin, daha sonra burada islemler zor degil aslinda, biraz ugrastirsa da…

A topic which I recently discovered to be important for swedes. I had previously written here that I believed swedish food culture wasn't "great", that they didn't have much "special" stuff, etc... And honestly, I still haven't changed my mind. However, a mail from an offended reader made me realize that I could have expressed my thoughts in a more appropriate way.

So putting aside my opinion, here is a list of foods they have here, pasted directly from the mail I received:
"We have lots of traditional food. Pyttipanna, falukorv, LOTS of sill dishes, skagenröra, lots of other “röror”, lots of elk dishes, lots of reindeer dishes, lots of seafood dishes, lots of soups and stews, Swedish pancakes, Swedish waffles, LOTS of Swedish pastries, cakes, cookies and desserts and LOTS of other traditional Swedish dishes".
Besides these, you can of course find food from different countries; the most popular ones being Chinese, Thai, Italian pizza places, and Turkish kebab places. So don’t worry about food, you wont stay hungry, but you might miss your mother’s delicious home made food, and there is nothing we can do about that. Here are some price examples:

Mac Donald's Big-Mac menu: 55 SEK.

Lunch at a restaurant: 60-80 SEK

Dinner at a restaurant: depends on what type of restaurant, ranging from 80 to thousands of SEK (I guess)

Sandwich at school: 20-40 SEK

Sandwich outside: 30-50 SEK

A can of Coca-Cola: 10 SEK

No one can be told how the swedish girls are, you have to see it for yourself ;)

Here is a funny swenglish video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3zv1NMMhu0

If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to contact me using the button below, I’ll try to answer it as soon as possible..