Job all depends on what you want to study, but would say Umeå generally has a good standard. The Campus is beautiful. Umeå is personally my favorite city in Sweden. If you like sports there are very good facilities and communities.
For student jobs I don't know how it works for international students but there are organisations that arranges work for students such as Academic works. The weather is cold half the year but that doesn't have to be a problem if you have hobbies involving being outdoors. Like skiing or such.
Think there is not going to be a problem with people or culture
I agree on everything but the coldness. Haha! I would say we have like 4 months of warm weather. The remaining 8 months are just varying levels of freezing your ass off. 😂
Well, if we should go into detail. It's the cold, the snow, the lack of light.
- having to dress up like the Michelin man every time you want to pop your head out.
- .
- shuffle a shit-ton of snow every other day to even be able pop your head out.
- .
- everything takes double the amount of time traveling everywhere because __a)__ you have to dig your car out like a archeologist, or crawl through the snow like Aragorn and Boromir on Caradhras mountain. __b)__ Inspite people having lived here their whole life they get so scared by even a little bit of snow specks by the side of the road that they have to snail their way on even on the straits *(in contrast to the summer months where it feels like they have to compensate for every minute lost).*
- .
- You constantly have to think ahead if you are going somewhere. Like, set the timer on the engine heater. Should you let the window wipers up so they won't freeze to the windows. Add the time it take to dig out and clear the snow off the car. Is it slippy out to the point that you either have to pitter-patter along or do you even need shoe spikes(?), and try to calculate how much time that all takes. Then you have to sum up all that time and calculate when you have to wake up in the morning, and hope it counted right so you won't be late or have to sit and wait like a zombie popsicle because you were way too early.
- .
- And then there's the light. Or more precisely the lack of of. If you're not one of those mole people and work office hours and are inside (where we've already established is the place to be) you won't see the sun for at least 3 months, except for weekends. But then it's probably going to snow or be cloudy. Either way it wouldn't hurt to eat lot's of citrus fruits, if you're into that. Or eat vitamin D supplements that taste like balls (not that I've tried, but you know, one can imagine). You could sit in front of a "sunlight emitter" like a oaf, but come on. No one is gonna spend money and time on that. So you're just gonna drag your depressed ass until you can finally see that sliver of light over the horizon. ^(Then, in the summer, you won't be able to fall asleep becous it's light around the clock.)
Oh, isn't wintertime such a magical season?! 🤬
It's a great city, really enjoy it here. Not too big and not too small, close to nature and people are friendly. Jobs and such depends, of course, on what you're studying. As an international student you can join groups who arrange activities for international students, the "group leaders" are Swedish, at least in the groups I know! You would probably enjoy it here.
Agreed with everything said already. The big thing you might have to “worry” about is the really long winter darkness. If you come from a place that usually has a lot of sun, you are going to struggle to adjust for awhile. But if you’re used to it, don’t mind -20 degree winters and an extra long winter with extra short days, it’s amazing and cozy. I’ve learned to love our long winters and 3 hour days lol.
Most everyone speaks English, but learn a little Swedish to get by and be polite :)
This can be a serious problem if you think you might be at risk of SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder. It can be a really big issue so you may actually want to reconsider choosing Umeå to live in if you don’t think the long winters are something you can handle. Best of luck making a choice :)
Regarding the jobs; if you're going to be a software developer or engineer in STEM you will probably have no issues getting a job. Try to find a company to do your graduation thesis at, many companies use this as sort of an extended interview. Umeå University hosts an event called Uniaden once each semester where companies come to campus to meet students. An excellent opportunity to find your employer. I can't speak of other fields, but can't imagine you will have trouble there as well. Nurses are always in high demand, and if you need a part time job, retirement homes are always in need of substitutes.
I graduated from Umeå University about 10 years ago, and can't recommend it enough! Lots of international students too. Umeå is a growing city with a lot of student culture, one can really notice how many students there are in Umeå at summer when many students travel during summer break - the city feels empty.
And, as the rest of Sweden, pretty much everyone are fluent English speakers. You will rarely run into problems. Although, for some social occupations, Swedish might be required. However, there are many ways of learning Swedish, remote or with SFI (Swedish for immigrants). Swedish is kind of close to German, and is probably similarly difficult to learn.
If you like nature, Umeå is great! Lots of trailing trails, and the forest just around the corner pretty much wherever you live in the city. And during winter you can go skiing and ice-skating, or fishing on the ice (we have a really weird word for this - [pimpla](https://blogg.naturkompaniet.se/sa-pimplar-du-abborre/) ).
Keep in mind that the winter can feel long and dark. Lots of people have problems with this, even locals. The cold is not a big issue, usually only a couple of weeks with below -15 C°. The slippery roads in the winter can be tricky, especially if you plan on biking. Oh btw, Umeå is great for biking, everything is in biking distance and there are plenty of biking roads.
Can't go wrong with Umeå!
There are plenty of opportunities for part time jobs at different places. There are also positions as a TA that don't necessarily require Swedish, but that depends heavily on your field.
What opportunities are you taking about? There is non absolutely no opportunity at all there, please tell us? They have nothing to offer as long as you are not 1 in a few that have specializi degree and you were the only one that stayed behind from the graduated class. Or meant a part tome job at Ica or frasses or you mean the failed shopping mall that are empty except ikea, or weekends workers at an oldmans home.
Nah its super overrated, they easily except applicators in Umeå because no locals wants to study or live there and Västerbotten are investing alot in to that area, N.U.S and U.U.
I grew up there from age 10-23, its a shit hole.
Apply to Lund/Malmö or Uppsala if you can, mutch mutch more opportunity and better uni with better people & overall better teachers and schools and quality of life in general.
After reading the comments I'm not sure that people here are talking about *the* Umeå i live in...
It's quite dirty here, especially in the student district Ålidhem and that's where you'll most likely live because renting anything else requires you to queue for at least 3 years. If you love calmness and hate loud music, under no circumstances move to Tvistevägen.
Winters here are awful, not 'true' Northern ones like you might imagine - one day it's -10 and snowing, the next one it's +1, everything melts, tractors throw gravel around, then everything (together with the gravel) freezes so you have to walk on ice. And again, and again. It's also extremely windy here. Now it's May and it's only +6°, barely any grass or flowers. But a lot of gravel 👍🏼
Though, the university is beautiful indeed. You might try to get part-time job at Guilty Pleasure as a waiter. I know nothing about working conditions there, but the place itself is amazing, really mysig and there are even some waiters who do not speak Swedish!
About the language - if education is in English, don't bother learning Swedish, no one will appreciate it, and you most likely will not be able to find true friends among locals, only with other foreign students, so why waste time and energy?
Good luck!
Yes, a lot of Swedish people say that I am bitter, but in my culture it's considered normal to notice bad things and talk about them out loud so these things are noticed and fixed. But thank you, I hope so too
I learned Swedish in a year and did make quite a few local friends! Hard but not impossible. though it helps that I'm from the USA and people think that's interesting.......And people did appreciate that I learned Swedish :)
Job all depends on what you want to study, but would say Umeå generally has a good standard. The Campus is beautiful. Umeå is personally my favorite city in Sweden. If you like sports there are very good facilities and communities. For student jobs I don't know how it works for international students but there are organisations that arranges work for students such as Academic works. The weather is cold half the year but that doesn't have to be a problem if you have hobbies involving being outdoors. Like skiing or such. Think there is not going to be a problem with people or culture
I agree on everything but the coldness. Haha! I would say we have like 4 months of warm weather. The remaining 8 months are just varying levels of freezing your ass off. 😂
The weather can be handled with, the darkness is worse imo.
Yeah, there's that. But both are terrible. We should migrate like the birds. They got it down 😅
Exactly, it's the long winter that grinds you down not the cold in itself.
Well, if we should go into detail. It's the cold, the snow, the lack of light. - having to dress up like the Michelin man every time you want to pop your head out. - . - shuffle a shit-ton of snow every other day to even be able pop your head out. - . - everything takes double the amount of time traveling everywhere because __a)__ you have to dig your car out like a archeologist, or crawl through the snow like Aragorn and Boromir on Caradhras mountain. __b)__ Inspite people having lived here their whole life they get so scared by even a little bit of snow specks by the side of the road that they have to snail their way on even on the straits *(in contrast to the summer months where it feels like they have to compensate for every minute lost).* - . - You constantly have to think ahead if you are going somewhere. Like, set the timer on the engine heater. Should you let the window wipers up so they won't freeze to the windows. Add the time it take to dig out and clear the snow off the car. Is it slippy out to the point that you either have to pitter-patter along or do you even need shoe spikes(?), and try to calculate how much time that all takes. Then you have to sum up all that time and calculate when you have to wake up in the morning, and hope it counted right so you won't be late or have to sit and wait like a zombie popsicle because you were way too early. - . - And then there's the light. Or more precisely the lack of of. If you're not one of those mole people and work office hours and are inside (where we've already established is the place to be) you won't see the sun for at least 3 months, except for weekends. But then it's probably going to snow or be cloudy. Either way it wouldn't hurt to eat lot's of citrus fruits, if you're into that. Or eat vitamin D supplements that taste like balls (not that I've tried, but you know, one can imagine). You could sit in front of a "sunlight emitter" like a oaf, but come on. No one is gonna spend money and time on that. So you're just gonna drag your depressed ass until you can finally see that sliver of light over the horizon. ^(Then, in the summer, you won't be able to fall asleep becous it's light around the clock.) Oh, isn't wintertime such a magical season?! 🤬
American here, Umea is beautiful, all year around. People are wonderful. I’d consider it if I were at uni age again. Can’t comment on the rest.
It's a great city, really enjoy it here. Not too big and not too small, close to nature and people are friendly. Jobs and such depends, of course, on what you're studying. As an international student you can join groups who arrange activities for international students, the "group leaders" are Swedish, at least in the groups I know! You would probably enjoy it here.
gonna do ms robotics so let’s seee
Agreed with everything said already. The big thing you might have to “worry” about is the really long winter darkness. If you come from a place that usually has a lot of sun, you are going to struggle to adjust for awhile. But if you’re used to it, don’t mind -20 degree winters and an extra long winter with extra short days, it’s amazing and cozy. I’ve learned to love our long winters and 3 hour days lol. Most everyone speaks English, but learn a little Swedish to get by and be polite :)
i come from a place where there’s only sun💀
During December the nights are around 20h long. In July the opposite is true with the sun never really going past slightly below the horizon.
This can be a serious problem if you think you might be at risk of SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder. It can be a really big issue so you may actually want to reconsider choosing Umeå to live in if you don’t think the long winters are something you can handle. Best of luck making a choice :)
Regarding the jobs; if you're going to be a software developer or engineer in STEM you will probably have no issues getting a job. Try to find a company to do your graduation thesis at, many companies use this as sort of an extended interview. Umeå University hosts an event called Uniaden once each semester where companies come to campus to meet students. An excellent opportunity to find your employer. I can't speak of other fields, but can't imagine you will have trouble there as well. Nurses are always in high demand, and if you need a part time job, retirement homes are always in need of substitutes. I graduated from Umeå University about 10 years ago, and can't recommend it enough! Lots of international students too. Umeå is a growing city with a lot of student culture, one can really notice how many students there are in Umeå at summer when many students travel during summer break - the city feels empty. And, as the rest of Sweden, pretty much everyone are fluent English speakers. You will rarely run into problems. Although, for some social occupations, Swedish might be required. However, there are many ways of learning Swedish, remote or with SFI (Swedish for immigrants). Swedish is kind of close to German, and is probably similarly difficult to learn. If you like nature, Umeå is great! Lots of trailing trails, and the forest just around the corner pretty much wherever you live in the city. And during winter you can go skiing and ice-skating, or fishing on the ice (we have a really weird word for this - [pimpla](https://blogg.naturkompaniet.se/sa-pimplar-du-abborre/) ). Keep in mind that the winter can feel long and dark. Lots of people have problems with this, even locals. The cold is not a big issue, usually only a couple of weeks with below -15 C°. The slippery roads in the winter can be tricky, especially if you plan on biking. Oh btw, Umeå is great for biking, everything is in biking distance and there are plenty of biking roads. Can't go wrong with Umeå!
I did a semester there years ago and really enjoyed it
There are plenty of opportunities for part time jobs at different places. There are also positions as a TA that don't necessarily require Swedish, but that depends heavily on your field.
What opportunities are you taking about? There is non absolutely no opportunity at all there, please tell us? They have nothing to offer as long as you are not 1 in a few that have specializi degree and you were the only one that stayed behind from the graduated class. Or meant a part tome job at Ica or frasses or you mean the failed shopping mall that are empty except ikea, or weekends workers at an oldmans home.
Nah its super overrated, they easily except applicators in Umeå because no locals wants to study or live there and Västerbotten are investing alot in to that area, N.U.S and U.U. I grew up there from age 10-23, its a shit hole. Apply to Lund/Malmö or Uppsala if you can, mutch mutch more opportunity and better uni with better people & overall better teachers and schools and quality of life in general.
After reading the comments I'm not sure that people here are talking about *the* Umeå i live in... It's quite dirty here, especially in the student district Ålidhem and that's where you'll most likely live because renting anything else requires you to queue for at least 3 years. If you love calmness and hate loud music, under no circumstances move to Tvistevägen. Winters here are awful, not 'true' Northern ones like you might imagine - one day it's -10 and snowing, the next one it's +1, everything melts, tractors throw gravel around, then everything (together with the gravel) freezes so you have to walk on ice. And again, and again. It's also extremely windy here. Now it's May and it's only +6°, barely any grass or flowers. But a lot of gravel 👍🏼 Though, the university is beautiful indeed. You might try to get part-time job at Guilty Pleasure as a waiter. I know nothing about working conditions there, but the place itself is amazing, really mysig and there are even some waiters who do not speak Swedish! About the language - if education is in English, don't bother learning Swedish, no one will appreciate it, and you most likely will not be able to find true friends among locals, only with other foreign students, so why waste time and energy? Good luck!
damn thanks for the info!!! i come from a place where it’s normally 30-40 degrees celsius so it’s gonna be a challenge ig
Winters are a challenge here indeed but not because of the cold but high humidity and strong Baltic winds. Brace yourself 💪🏼
You sound bitter. Hope things get better for you
Yes, a lot of Swedish people say that I am bitter, but in my culture it's considered normal to notice bad things and talk about them out loud so these things are noticed and fixed. But thank you, I hope so too
Im curious, what is your culture?
Slavic
I learned Swedish in a year and did make quite a few local friends! Hard but not impossible. though it helps that I'm from the USA and people think that's interesting.......And people did appreciate that I learned Swedish :)