STOCKHOLM

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF

BUSINESS Exchange experience spring 2015, 288631

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Contents

1. Preparing for the exchange ........................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Travel documents ....................................................................................................................... 2

1.2 Accommodation ......................................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Correspondence with university................................................................................................. 4

2. The Studies ................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Overall ................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Introduction to financial derivatives IFID (7.5 ECTS) ......................................................... 6

2.3 International Finance IFIN (7.5 ECTS) ................................................................................. 7

2.4 Real estate management REMA (7.5 ECTS) ........................................................................ 7

2.5 Swedish course, level 5 (9 ECTS) ........................................................................................ 8

3. Free time, Stockholm and other .................................................................................................... 9

3.1 Cost of living ......................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Places to visit ........................................................................................................................ 9

4. Final comments ........................................................................................................................... 10

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1. Preparing for the exchange

1.1 Travel documents

Traveling and moving for the exchange to Sweden is extremely easy for a Finnish student. You just

need to inform the Finnish magistrate in order to get the address right and to be able to get Finnish

study grants. Before my trip, there was divergent information about the need to get a Swedish person

number. This number is needed everywhere in Sweden, since insurances, phone connections and

many online market places require it. For me, who had a home insurance from Finland and a Sonera

phone with unlimited calls and data in the Scandinavia also, I eventually decided not to apply for the

number, and was happy to decide so. Getting the number requires queuing in the tax office. By the

way, queuing is something other exchange students thought the Swedish do all the time, everywhere;

lining for the bus, in the supermarket, library printers…

The first trip with all the heavy suitcases I traveled to Stockholm alone, and with a ferry, Viking Line,

which ships became very acquaintance to me during the spring. I recommend becoming a member of

Viking Line and Silja Line, for in that way you get great discounts for the cruises. Another a bit shady

hint is to buy a cruise ticket and use only the first trip. The companies do not in theory allow that, but

the trips cost just a fraction that way for you. Last, when flying, Norwegian airline company provides

youth discount with code “alle26”. Good to know.

1.2 Accommodation

Most of the people get their room or studio via Stockholm University. In the late autumn they send

you info about the choices, of which you can select three, in preferred order. After the deadline they

execute a “housing lottery”. Yes, you read right. My fortune was not good, and I was left without any

housing, even though I hasn’t been very picky about my choices. After that I a bit panicked, became

a member of all the Stockholm accommodation / Finnish people in Stockholm Facebook groups and

eventually got an offer for a 700e per month studio 35min from the centre... While thinking about

that I also luckily got an email saying that another university in Stockholm, Södertörn Högskola,

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which is located 40min south of Stockholm, had a few rooms available in the Stockholm University

campus, just 5min from my campus! And I got that room, for ~350e per month, including furniture,

water, electricity and internet (remember to bring your own cable/router!).

Most of the students like me lived in Lappskärsberget, more commonly known as Lappis, just a

walking distance from the Uni. More about that later. Other housing areas include Idun in Vasastaden,

a great location and with also one person studios. I recommend trying this if you want to live alone

and don’t be scared to pay a bit extra for that. Other area is called Kungshamra, just a metro station

away from the Uni with old concrete apartment / corridor room buildings. A good option also. Always

keep in mind that the housing situation in Stockholm is catastrophic, and you are extremely lucky to

get a student housing, even if in bad condition or a bit further away from the Uni or the center.

Lappis is located just above the campus, with hundreds, maybe thousands of student living in a “small

town” built on a small hill, with own supermarket, hairdresser’s, restaurants and even a kindergarten.

Basically you could live all your exchange here and in the Uni! My corridor had 14 rooms, meaning

I shared the kitchen with all those people. Luckily I had my own toilet and shower. Most of the people

were great and wanted to hang out together, but the kitchen was usually in horrible condition. I usually

cooked quickly and went to my room to eat. Some of the kitchens were being renovated then, and

were actually quite clean and cozy, but not ours. Under a picture about the Lappis “fortress” the first

day I arrived.

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1.3 Correspondence with university

The first message from the Uni came not until the late autumn, but after that the messages were

frequent, always friendly and with more than enough information. We were divided to “buddy

groups” with which we were to spend the first weeks, and make friends for the whole exchange. The

exchange coordinator was also very nice and responded quickly for any questions. Also, the

University web page has lots of information for exchange students, but usually it is hard to find, since

the pages are very messy. Also, the buddy tutor made a Facebook group for us before the exchange,

where we could stalk other students and share our thoughts. Under a picture of the main building

(light blue), with several wings, and the new “Studenthuset”, with student union operations and places

for self-study. Note that most of the business courses are not held here, but in Kräftriket campus,

5min with a bus towards the centre.

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2. The Studies

2.1 Overall

The spring semester started on January 19th with a orientation presentation, and with whole week full

of all kind of activities to get to know Stockholm, the university, new friends, the buddy tutors and

of course the best pubs to visit both in the campus and the city. I would say the first couple weeks full

of activity were extremely well planned, although some events organized by our business school

tutors were at the exact same time than the university-wide exchange student events. The business

students’ exchange tutor program was the best of all sub-groups, and some faculties did not even have

their own activities, just the university-wide events. We could choose where to go and what to do.

When I got the course list from where to select the courses I was very disappointed since the

assortment of courses and especially courses in the field of finance was very limited, at least on the

undergraduate side. We could not choose any graduate courses. And to my surprise we could not

choose any courses in Swedish either, only in English. I selected the most interesting courses and

hoped to be selected in all of them, and eventually luckily I got all of them. Some people did not get

everything they wanted and had to settle for their second or third options.

Overall my courses, and also nearly all courses my friends had were extremely easy. And this is not

because of they were just exchange student courses because they were just normal courses for

everyone. Nearly all courses had group works and/or assignments, and the evaluation was given with

a three-stage meter, fail, 50% or 100%. No need to say that basically everyone got 100% of the points

with just a little amount of work. The exams were about the same level compared to Aalto, but I

would say that the evaluation was looser there also.

The spring term ended quite late, I had the last exam on June 4th. So keep that in mind when thinking

about summer jobs etc. Before that we had fine farewell parties and one by one friends started to

move out to the end of the period. It could have been possible to leave the last period of the four

periods of the semester free, and move home earlier. But in my case the most interesting course was

held in the two last periods so that was not an option. Under a picture from the Kräftriket campus.

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2.2 Introduction to financial derivatives IFID (7.5 ECTS)

The financial derivatives course by assistant professor Mia Hinnerich was exactly what the name

says: a grass roots level introduction with just the basics of the most common derivatives, options,

swaps, hedging etc. The teaching was very pleasant as this was the very first time this course was

held on the undergraduate level, so she listened our opinions and tried to make the course better for

us. Not so many formulas were needed by heart as there was a formula sheet in the exam, so just

understanding and drawing fancy option lines was enough.

I absolutely would recommend this course for nearly everyone who is even a bit interested about

financial derivatives and the thinking logics behind them, no need to be a finance student. Since it

was the first time for this course, quite a many slides had errors, and in fact one question in the exam

was skipped because of an error. (That of course was said in the exam situation just after I had spent

30 minutes doing it based on an assumption I made…).

30% of the grade come from three home assignment made in pairs. These include brief calculations

and kindergarten level presentations from all groups about the exact same questions. The remaining

70% comes from a four hour exam.

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2.3 International Finance IFIN (7.5 ECTS)

Even now I am not sure what this course was: it tried to bring basic economics and international

financial theory together, but ended up doing none of it, providing us just some loose pieces from

here and there. I would recommend avoiding the lectures from associate professor Michael Graham

and concentrating reading the course book on your own. This is mainly because of the tiring and

repetitious style of the lecturer. Said this, I have to mention that some of the exam questions come

straight from the lecture discussion so we might have a small dilemma here…

10% of the grade comes from a “quiz” including the first chapters of the book. I found the quiz fun

and quite useful. 30% come from a group work made in groups of 4 to 5, and the deadline for this

was just after a couple weeks after the start of the course, when no one didn’t even have the course

books, or if they had, we didn’t have read the chapters from the book. The 2000 word essay we

returned was the worst ever in my university career but still yielded 86 points out of 100… The

remaining 60% exam was quite easy also, with small calculations and multiple answer questions.

2.4 Real estate management REMA (7.5 ECTS)

The most interesting course of my exchange, even though very introductory and narrow in all aspects.

The course book on the other hand was interesting also and gave broader picture of real estate. Li

Malmström gave bulk of the lectures and Lars Vigerland lectured us about architecture in Sweden

and some other aspects he found interesting. The course comprised loan mathematics, annuities etc,

appraisal of real estate, and some legislation. I would recommend the course if you are interested in

buildings and the appraisal process, and architecture in Scandinavia.

20% came from three cases made in pairs, including an excel-based calculations with couple pages

long report in written, and a brief presentation. Compared to the work amount required the 20% does

not come easily, and some even decided not to do these and attend just the exam. I did not hear how

this plan eventually worked in reality.

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2.5 Swedish course, level 5 (9 ECTS)

In the first week the students who had previous knowledge in Swedish had to attend a language test

with grammar/vocabulary questions and a brief essay to find out the suitable group for you. There

were 5 skill levels and I was recommended to the strongest group by the test so I took it. You could

express your wish to take a group one above or below the group suggested by the test. Most of the

Finnish people attended groups from 3 to 5.

The style of lecturer Sten Petri is very pleasant and the 4 hour lectures each Monday go quite fast.

During the course we had to read three books, have few brief presentations about them, write two

brief essays and attend the exam. It was not mandatory to be present at the lectures, although the

discussions and exercises made in class were very fun and useful. The evaluation of the course was a

bit shady, and we did not get any grades from anything before the overall grade. Under a picture from

quite a large local IKEA.

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3. Free time, Stockholm and other

3.1 Cost of living

Compared to Finland Sweden is a bit cheaper, but still extremely expensive to live in. Finding a

suitable priced accommodation is the biggest problem and many solve this by living as a subtenant.

This has many problems as some of my friends experienced. Food is a bit cheaper if you know the

right places and have the effort to travel a bit further to save few SEK. When grocery shopping, I

would recommend Willy’s, Ö&B and Netto instead of ICA, Coop and Hemköp. The travel card for

a student costs ~SEK500 per month, which is about the same when compared to the greater Helsinki

area (as the Stockholm area available with the card is very large.) You can buy the card directly from

Lappis ICA when you arrive, even with no student card (the risk is on you if you are asked the student

card then on the subway by the inspectors..)

3.2 Places to visit

In addition to places such as Kungsträdgården, Gamla Stan etc. in the center I visited Birka, an old

Viking island. We went there with a ferry and the day was quite nice. Also go to Skansen and have

fika at Vetekatten, one of the most famous cafés in Stockholm. You can also go to movie quite cheap

on weekdays with the student card.

When buying books go to Campusbutiken in the main campus. It sells and buys used books. There is

no such as a subsidized school lunch in Sweden and a normal lunch at the campus costs ~90SEK or

~10e, which is a lot compared to what we are used to in Finland. Many of the students bring their

own food and warm it in a microwave which can be found everywhere at the campus. I usually ate at

home or at restaurant Lantis located in the main campus. When drinking, for instance Soft Kök & Bar

is popular among students.

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4. Final comments

When thinking back the spring went very fast and offered me many experiences, even though the

location of the exchange gave me no to little culture shock or challenge. My English improved and

Swedish also a bit, but not that much that I planned before the exchange. This is because most of my

friends were exchange students and the group assignments/courses were only in English.

If I could do something differently I would not take the school that seriously, but travel and explore

Stockholm more. After all I would recommend Stockholm University if you would like to learn

Swedish and be not so far away from Finland. Under a cherry tree blossom in Kungsträdgården. A

must to visit in the spring!