Julie Boué (right) and a Swedish friend, on campus at Chalmers

Göteborg Daily meets Julie Boué and Federica Bergamino, two of many internationals that have migrated north for their education. Both are studying at Chalmers in Sweden’s second city Gothenburg.

”It’s very good, it’s a bit rainy. But we were quite lucky actually in the autumn. Otherwise there is a lot of cultural stuff to do. You can go to the bars and pubs and it’s very great. And I really like the mentality of the people in Sweden in general,” says Julie who is from France and has been in Gothenburg for one year.

Julie is from the winter resort town Chamonix in south-eastern France. She has two tips for surviving the fast approaching Nordic winter:

”French wine and friends!”

Federica Bergamino at Chalmers

As for Federica, she is from Milan in northern Italy and is here on exchange, just for the autumn. She arrived in late-August.

”I like it. I’m not used to the weather, it’s cold, but I like it very much,” she says.

Apart from the weather she has noticed one other main difference with life in Gothenburg.

”People here are much much quieter than home. They talk less. We [Italians] are very talkative. We move our hands while talking and that’s very different. Even if you go to pubs and clubs, in Italy it’s much louder.”

Federica’s only problem in Gothenburg so far has been finding accommodation. It took her some time, but eventually she got a room in a private home, which she found through the Boplats website.

Her best tip for accommodation seekers is:

”Start early with the search. I started when I finished my exams at home, like in mid-July and I was too late. I have found a house with a landlord and that’s nice, I like it, but it was very difficult to find.”

This article was created in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg.

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