2008 Woodie Awards
Sweden acts as gateway to Europe for student
Brian Kimmes
Issue date: 4/19/05 Section: Front Page News
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I arrived in Jönköping, Sweden, the first weekend of January, joining 400 international students from over 40 countries attending Jönköping International Business School.
JIBS differs from SDSU in a number of ways. First, the students do not have to pay for classes; their tuition is paid by the government.
Also, the classes are geared toward individual work and most classes are graded on one final exam. Class time is also minimal compared to SDSU. Last quarter, I averaged five hours of class per week, approximately one third of what a normal SDSU student has and this quarter I have eight hours of class per week.
Since I don't have to be in class very often, I have had lots of free time to travel. My excursions have taken me to three other countries and various cities within Sweden. My first trip took me to southern Sweden, a city called Malmö, and then to Copenhagen, Denmark. The next adventure was to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The following trip let me embark upon my first ferry ride, from Sweden to Tallin, Estonia. Finally I visited Glasgow, Scotland.
Each place had something unique that made it enjoyable. Malmö had an old castle that was open for tourists to see the interesting history of how "guests" were treated. Part of the castle tour was to see various torture devices that were used there.
Copenhagen is a much larger city than Malmö. In this city is a famous row of old, brightly colored houses along a canal leading to the sea. Also, Copenhagen has an interesting nightlife. I had never seen so many strip clubs in my entire life.
Stockholm has been my favorite city to date. The architecture is quite impressive. Almost every building is old and beautiful. What makes Stockholm so unique is that it is located between the sea and a lake, so the entire city is on islands, earning it the name the Venice of Scandinavia. I visited the Vasa Ship Museum, dedicated to the Vasa, the most infamous ship in Swedish History. It was supposed to be the crown jewel of the Swedish Navy in the 1600s. However, that dream died less than a mile from shore as the ship sank to the bottom of the sea.