When I arrived in Boras I was really scared and when I walked into my accommodation to find a tiny little bed and some pretty grim shared kitchens I really thought I'd made a terrible mistake and wanted to turn around and come home. One of the only things that kept me there was my being too proud to go back to my employers in London and tell them I'd changed my mind and I needed some shifts. I thought it would be a good idea to go to Sweden almost a full 2 weeks before my course started but then I hadn’t really considered that I wouldn’t know anyone and most students hadn’t arrived yet so there were very few people in my halls. There were a few people drifting about, mostly students who stayed for summer because of visa issues or expensive flights back. The fresher’s program at the university was somewhat strange as a lot of the events were during the day when everyone at the textile school has classes. Also, most of the events that were on my fresher’s program were exclusively for exchange students but I personally would have appreciated more events that included exchange and home students in order to meet a few more Swedish people.
The equipment at the university was hugely impressive. They had enormous industrial looms, the best of which could produce 8-10 meters of fabric per minute and simply needed you to provide a floppy disc with the weave pattern. They also had jaquard weaving looms that could translate any photograph or image into a woven fabric, which can be produced readily. They also had fully fashion knit machines that produced a whole garment on their own without having to finish it with sewing etc. afterwards. They had one machine that was one of only 5 in the world. It was a machine that actually knitted metal and it had been put in the university in order for the technicians and tutors there to pioneer new materials for use in conjunction with medical products and also fire safety. They had circular knit machines that produce jersey and also machines that were such a fine gauge they are used for producing hosiery, swimwear and seamless sportswear.
The cultural differences were vast. I felt that in general the whole pace of life was slower and more relaxed. This may have something to do with going from London, London’s metropolitan area is the largest in the EU with an estimated total population of between 12 million and 14 million, to Boras, in which the population is roughly 100,000. Either way, there was not hustle and bustle in the mornings from journeys on a packed tube and my whole time there I didn’t have anybody seem impatient in a shop or queue and people were really helpful and understanding about the language barrier, or lack of. Everybody almost spoke at least some English, and most people I met were fluent. I find it very impressive, and actually embarrassing on my part that I frequently found myself surrounded by a group of people whose second language was English, speaking as eloquently as anyone I know from London. Whilst people were more polite, I noticed that a lot of Swedish people aren’t as friendly as in other European countries. Not that they are unfriendly, just a lot more guarded is some situations and not necessarily the first to make contact with you.
At the university the attitude was quite different too. It was much more up to you and what you want to learn. Say you didn’t want to go to a lecture or a class, you didn’t have to, only you might be unprepared later on. Or if you felt like leaving halfway through a class, that was also ok. Not that anyone actually did, but you had total freedom in most classes. Our tutors really treated us as friends. We went to both of our tutors’ houses, and they prepared us lunch and planned days out for us all. We went to our knit tutors studio after one of our assessments and had coffee and cakes and she showed us all of her latest projects and designs. We also went to our other tutors’ country house where we had traditional yellow pea soup, a Swedish dish usually eaten on Thursdays allegedly so that in the past they could eek out the fish and meat to the end of the week.
As I was warned, it was very expensive; everything from the beer to the yarns to a lettuce cost more than back home. A night out was incredibly costly compared to your average student night but you get used to it. It was very useful for me because I have never had to budget so strictly before. But you have to have a balance, there is no point in going somewhere so exciting with so many new opportunities and not allowing yourself to spend what you need to explore them. Certainly if I went again, which I plan to, I would save a little more so I could travel to the North like I had planned to on this trip.
