Embassy of Sweden in Ottawa
377 Dalhousie Street K1N 9N8 Ottawa, ON, Canada

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Sweden ranks first in this year's Good Country Index 2020!

Naomi Abrahams: My name is Naomi Abrahams. When I was in my third year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph, I went on an international exchange at Linköping University, in Linköping, Sweden. Like most exchange students, I decided to take advantage of the cheap flights to other European countries and took a trip to visit a friend in France. On my flight back, we were supposed to fly to Skavsta airport and from Skavsta I was going to take bus back to Linköpin...g. Halfway through the flight, the attendant starts speaking over the intercom in Swedish. Unfortunately, my Swedish class didn’t prepare me for this, so the older couple sitting beside me on the flight began to translate. They said that there was a lot of fog and bad weather conditions and we weren’t going to be able to land at Skavsta airport because it was too dangerous. Instead were going to have to fly to Arlanda. I started getting worried because I didn’t have any transportation and last-minute train tickets were expensive. The couple then started asking around if there was anyone on the flight from Linköping. They found an older woman, who didn’t speak very much English, but lived in Motala, so she had to drive through Linköping to get back anyways. She offered to drive without a second thought. Once we safely landed, we were taken on shuttle busses back to Skavsta airport. I spent the whole ride talking with the couple and women and when we arrived, I was given a ride back home! Though this story is not necessarily about my experience as student, it was a true representation of the people I met in Sweden. The hospitality and willingness to help was unparalleled. I came back from Sweden raving about my experience, so much so that two of my friends chose LiU as their exchange schools in the coming years. To this day, I still hope to go back and hopefully live there one day.

Jasper Rickmers: The 14th of March 2020 is a day I will always remember. It was a brisk, sunny, blue-skied, Saturday. I was showing my parents around Whistler, BC. As a ski instructor at the time, I was beyond excited to introduce my parents to BC POW (what the locals refer to when the mountains get covered in fresh snow). That afternoon however, the mountain seized its operations. The corona pandemic had officially arrived, and along with everyone else my life was turned ups...ide down. Yet, I felt at ease with the situation, and weirdly excited. I had been looking into graduate programs for over a year and knew exactly how I wanted to spend the ensuing weeks. The very first program I applied to was named Sustainable Urban Mobility Transitions. It was a new program launched by the European Institute of Technology (EIT) which has the vision of creating more livable urban spaces by reimagining the way we transport people, freight and waste around our cities. When I accepted my offer, I was given the option of studying my first year in Stockholm, Helsinki, Barcelona or Eindhoven. Without hesitation, I chose to study in Stockholm at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology where I begin later this month. I have always had pleasant encounters with Swedes, and recently heard about Fika tradition (daily coffee and cinnamon bun breaks). Similarly, Stockholm is a leader in sustainable urban transportation. It was ranked second globally behind Singapore in Arthur D. Little’s Urban Mobility Index city ranking carried out in 2018. The city is the safest in the world in terms of transport related accidents with only 4.7 fatalities among a million citizens and is at the forefront of innovation. Jag ser fram emot det. I feel grateful to have the opportunity to study in Stockholm and look back with joy at my time in Canada.

Exciting news- The European Union Film Festival embraces Canada-wide audiences as it moves online! Make a comment below about your favorite Swedish movie in order to win a FREE ticket to the Festival. Do you know a friend who might be interested? Please tag them and share this post!... Join this virtual cinematic adventure from 13 to 29 November 2020. Each film will be ‘live’ online for a 48-hour period, which gives you plenty of time to watch the films. All films are presented in their original languages with English, and, in some cases, French subtitles. Go to www.euffonline.ca

Samantha Julien J’ai commencé mon baccalauréat à l’Université de Montréal en sachant que je voulais faire un échange étudiant. Je me souviens que près de la date limite afin de rendre nos applications, j’étais encore complètement perdue par rapport à ma destination. L’une de mes très bonnes amies, Louise, avait décidé d’aller à Uppsala et m’a dit que je pourrais y aller avec elle. Un échange, c’est en soi une expérience formidable, mais c’est encore plus mémorable avec l’une ...Continue reading

Taegen Everts My year-long exchange in Sweden gave me more than I ever expected. If I’m being quite honest, I thought that the best experiences I would have while on exchange would be travelling around Sweden and the rest of Europe. I was quite skeptical of many things; skeptical of how I would change, the people I would meet, connections I would make, and the insights I would gain. ... Looking back, I realized that my exchange kick-started my evolution, and growth into the person I am and that I wish to be, making me realize that I will forever be constantly evolving. Just slightly off the centre from my dorm room window was a beautiful leafy tree, about five meters from my room. Oddly I got quite attached to this tree during my exchange- it weathered all the seasons with me. Throughout my stay in Örebro, through all the highs and lows, trials and uncertainties, that tree was always the last thing I looked at in the evening and the first thing I looked at in the morning, it was evolving with me. While it seems strange to form such a deep attachment to a tree, it truly reminded me to pause, breathe, and think ‘wow, here I am, oceans and time zones away from home, I made it here alone, but I am also thriving here’. My exchange exceeded my expectations in all areas of my life. From the beautiful sights I saw, stunning places I wandered, and beautiful people I met, going abroad opened my mind, soul, and body to the beauty of the world and of the people who fill it. My tree made me realize that beauty is always surrounding you. It is just a matter of allowing yourself to see that beauty- to truly breathe it in and appreciate it for what it is at that moment, for its mere existence. To open yourself up to appreciate the many beauties of the world, and to open yourself up to the many beauties you have to offer the world. To smile, to laugh, to cry, and share a meal- there is still such a deep value in our human connection, both with yourself and others. In the end, I came to learn that one of the dear friends I met also found a tree for herself, the one growing right alongside mine.

Hannah Bass (Hannah received a SWEA Toronto scholarship for her Exchange in Sweden. Are you also interested? Find more information about the scholarship here: https://toronto.swea.org/information/) Prior to my Swedish exchange, I lived a fast-paced lifestyle, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Attending the University of Waterloo, it’s common for students to transition from school to co-op from term to term. Living in Waterloo, my days consisted of school and nights out on the town.... During my co-op terms, I lived in Toronto; when I wasn’t working, taking time for myself wasn’t a priority. In January of 2019, I arrived in Malmö, Sweden, a place that I would call my home for the next 6 months. I had heard that the Swedes live a simplistic lifestyle, but didn’t anticipate that this would be the main contributor to my culture shock. At the time, my mental health was subpar, and being on the go was my distraction, if you will. About one month into my exchange, I began to understand the benefit of this simple way of life, which was a turning point for me. At this moment, I started to appreciate the little things. Whether it be biking to class, grabbing fika with a friend, taking a day trip to a town outside of Malmö, heading to the pub for casual drinks, or going obscure museums, this was the life that I had come to love, and admire. Once I learned to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, I noticed an increase in my well-being. I was no longer trying to distract myself by keeping busy; instead, I found (and continue to find) joy the little things that come my way.