Almedalen Week (in Swedish: Almedalsveckan) is an annual event taking place the first week in July. This week has been called a rock festival for politics and is one of the biggest platforms for expressing political opinions in Sweden. The Almedalen Week is held in the beautiful medieval town of Visby, Gotland (an island in the Baltic Sea). Gotland is located approximately one hour by airplane or three hours by ferry from Stockholm, and is, among other things, a popular holiday destination for Swedes.
The events are covered by Swedish media, and since 2010 is election year in Sweden it is likely that the week will attract even more attention than usual. Not least because public opinion surveys reveals a very even standing between the two political blocs in Sweden. Every parliamentary party is given a day of the Week for their free disposal, and the day is concluded by a public speech from the scene in Almedalen. In addition to the parliamentary parties’ events in Almedalen and all over Visby, there are also about a thousand different events by numerous organizations and companies which seeks to influence the visitors in different questions. Co-organisers arrange events including early breakfast meetings, speeches, seminars, hearings, lunch meetings, afternoon seminars, debates, short programmes and networking events before and after the evening speeches.
I will go to Almedalen Week as an observer and to represent a Nordic youth association called Föreningen Nordens ungdomsförbund, FNUF. It is my aim to visit as many events possible with connection to Nordic cooperation, International Relations and Law. There are a great deal of seminars which concentrates on domestic policy and EU-related questions, but also seminars about current international issues such as the attack on the Gaza-bound aid convoy, human rights and development assistance policy.
I look forward to a week filled with opportunities to broaden my perspective on current topics in policy and to meet interesting people from different parts of the society. See you there? :)
Yesterday was an important day in Swedish history: Crown Princess Victoria finally married her fiancé Daniel Westling, now Prince Daniel. I spent hours in front of the television watching the wedding and the following arrangements, and I was truly moved. Even though I was about 200 km from Stockholm, where the wedding took place, I could definitely feel the love in the air. The wedding ceremony, all the beautiful dresses (especially the wedding dress designed by Pär Engsheden), the horse-drawn carriage, Prince Daniel’s speech to Victoria… It was all breathtaking!
During the wedding ceremony, this beautiful song was performed by the Swedish artists Björn Skifs and Agnes Carlsson.
I think it was a genious move of the Royal Court to give Swedish television an extensive permission to broadcast from inside the castle. The viewers were, among many other things, given the opportunity to listen to the warm and hearty speeches during the dinner. This way, the sympathy for the Royal Family will probably increase and thereby strenghen the support for the monarchist constitution. I’m not sure I like the idea of inheriting titles, but I think the Royal Family does a great job representing Sweden and I have no doubts that this lovely couple will continue to do so.
It’s great being a student. I mean, it’s probably the only time in life when it’s OK to have breakfast 4 pm on a Wednesday. And as a student, you often get huge discounts on take away coffee. That alone would probably be reason enough to enrol a course. What more? Oh yes, you get invited to all these insane parties in student ghettos (read: Flogsta, Uppsala), and when you wake up the following afternoon you wonder if there really was a German blasmusik orchestra playing in the kitchen or if you just dreamt it. (This actually happened to me.) I think you get my point: student life is FUN!
… most of the time. Unfortunately, there is also this less attractive aspect of being a student.
It’s called exam period.
As a law student in Uppsala you’ll spend 5 hours in the end of each semester writing down everything you’ve learnt about law the last six months. This takes place in a supervised hall where 300 nervous law students finally meet again after two weeks of complete isolation. When you’re facing that kind of challenge, it doesn’t really matter how fun student life usually is, you just want to survive. And in order to survive, you’ll have to spend at least 16 hours a day reading case law etc. Hence the late hour I’m writing this post. So if there is low activity on this blog the two coming weeks, you know the reason. But when all this is over, I hope to have more news about Sabanci - so stay tuned! :)
The great news struck me as I was reading the newspaper this morning: an advertisement announced that the private airline Pegasus Airlines now has launched flights to and from Stockholm (Arlanda). The tickets are very affordable and flights to Istanbul will take off four times a week. But the best part is that Pegasus is flying to Sabiha Göcen airport in Istanbul, which is located on the Asian side of the city and only 20 minutes by car from Sabanci University. Flying to Ataturk airport on the European side of Istanbul means that you’ll have to spend hours on different busses in order to get to the university.
However, the timetable reveals that flights mainly will take off in very early mornings or very late nights, which of course is unfortunate. But being able to travel more spontaneous weighs up for a lot, and I’m definitely going to give Pegasus Airlines a try. Lets just hope this is a customer friendly and service minded company!
The information center. Photo courtesy: Sabanci University
Founded in 1996, Sabanci University quickly became one of Turkey’s highest ranked universities. This private university has about 2800 undergraduates and 650 graduates in four different faculties. One of the bearing principles of the university is academic freedom, which means that all students shall be assured full protection of inquiry, thought and expression. As I’m going to take courses on the subjects international relations and political science, it’ll be very interesting to see how the university chooses to approach current issues in the region, such as a future EU membership, the protection of human rights and different topics in diplomacy.
The university is also known for its many student associations and successful sport teams. Since I love sports and have been an active member of different organizations for as long as I can remember, this sounds just perfect to me! Being a third year student in Uppsala, with its rich student life, I simply can’t imagine myself at another university without taking active part in student related activities.
I’m very excited over this opportunity to learn more about the Turkish culture and language and I have no doubts that this year will open doors I didn’t even know existed. Feel welcome to follow my journey!
When I opened my mailbox yesterday, my heart skipped a beat. Finally a sign of life from Sabanci University in Istanbul, my home for the coming academic year! Although nothing could take away the smile from my lips, I was quickly brought back to earth by the instructions on how to proceed with my application. Call me naive, but I thought that I was waiting for an acceptance letter, not a new application procedure! Not only do I have to fill in various application forms, I also have to send over an Official Transcript of Records authenticated by Uppsala University. The next thing I have to do is filling in a Learning Agreement which will be sent to me after the formal application is received by Sabanci. In other words, there is a lot of correspondence ahead of me…
Once this is sorted out, the next bureaucratic obstacle is waiting; the visa application. In order to get a student visa, I need to visit the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm and show my acceptance letter (among many other documents). This will hopefully take place in July. But does it stop there? No. Once in Turkey, I need to get my student visa approved by the authority responsible for issuing residence permits. After that, the residence permit must be handed in to and approved by the university in order for me to get my grades. Do I think this will run smoothly? No. So yeah, I guess you could say that I’m back on earth without even having booked my flight.
I’m sure that the Swedish system seems just as complicated and bureaucratic for a foreigner coming to Sweden for exchange studies. But obstacles for free movement shouldn’t be justified by saying “Hey, it’s difficult wherever you go, get used to it!”. Turkey has applied for becoming a member of the European Union and now has the status as a candidate country. It is my firm belief that the EU as a whole and all its union citizens would benefit from a future Turkish membership, not least for people like me who would like to travel and study with less restrictions in this amazing country.
