• Student

And how are things in Umeå?

Before telling what is happening in Umeå, it is probably more interesting to know how I ended up in a place you probably never heard of. Umeå is the biggest city of the Northern part of Sweden. It is located approximately on the same latitude as Reykjavik, Iceland.

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At first, I did not have any intention to do an internship abroad. Places like Australia, China and America sounded amazing to me, but not for an internship. I would rather travel fulltime in those countries, than having the beach on my mind while working inside. I wanted to get the most out of my internship. However, I realized that this was one of the few chances I would get to spend a longer period abroad. That is why I started looking for vacancies located in places like the UK and France. The possibility to go to Scandinavia never occurred to me.

Until I read a post on the Industrial Design TU/e Facebook group which stated that The Interactive Institute Umeå was looking for interns. After scrolling through their website I was really excited. The areas they focused on were areas I was very interested in.

I am lucky that I ended up here. I got the freedom to put a bit of myself into the fascinating projects. I am part of a family rather than the coffee-making intern. That is something you definitely need during the dark and cold winters of North-Sweden. In December the sunset already starts before 14.00(!). However, the beautiful landscape, Northern Lights and countless Fikas’ make up for that. (= Swedish social coffee break with lots of sweets). Who doesn’t want to be able to impulsively catch the night train to cross the Arctic Circle and sled with huskies?

I would advise other students to broaden their view and look for their own perfect combination.

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