For many years I have been passionate about Sweden and its language. Therefore, I started studying Swedish in evening school 3 years ago. Last year, I got the unique chance to play as a professional volleyball player for 8 months in Gislaved, which definitely reinforced my predilection for the Swedish culture and improved my Swedish a lot. Since I wanted to keep up and even improve my level during summer, I started looking for a good Swedish course. Via a Belgian class mate, who had attended UISS several years in a row, I got the tip to have a look at the summer courses in Uppsala. After having looked through all the information on the website and especially the good student reviews, I immediately decided to subscribe for the 3 week course.
The morning language classes were intense, but so much fun! Since the group was quite small, there was room for a lot of personal coaching and conversations, which improved my level a lot on a short period of time. Moreover, our teacher was very helpful and always challenged his students!
As an afternoon course, I chose ‘Arts in Sweden’, which dealt with the history of art, architecture and design in Sweden. It provided a comprehensive overview of the art-historical development of the country from the Middle Ages to the present, combined with visits to very interesting sites and museums.
In the evenings and during weekends, there were many chances to get to know each other better (and to speak even more Swedish) through organized fun events (social evening with games, pub crawl, musical evening, potluck dinners, …) and field trips (Salu silver mine, moose park, midsommar). In my spare time, I also really enjoyed exploring Uppsala, which is a cozy student city, with interesting museums, nice architecture and beautiful parks.
To wrap it up: my time at UISS was an amazing experience I’ll never forget! I would definitely recommend this summer course to everyone who wants to learn Swedish on a high level, combined with a lot of great cultural and social activities!