After a succesful series on the procedures of admission to Higher Studies in Sweden, I’m now going back to a bit more personal chained writings (series). I’ll try to keep track of my experiences around my master at KTH ;)

I’ll start fresh..

In the summer of 2003, I was finishing my high school studies and I was planning to go to Universitatea Tehnică Cluj-Napoca (en. The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca), located in Transylvania. It was really far from my hometown (Galați), but I went to Cluj-Napoca a year before and the town and youthful atmosphere seemed a far better alternative than the polluted and busy capital, Bucharest.

What many didn’t knew was that it was also a nice alternative, considering I actually wanted to try my luck in Sweden. Partially due to family reasons, but mostly due to personal ones, I didn’t try that. I was seeing friends sitting their SATs and Toefl exams, trying to find the money they needed, etc, for going to Germany, UK, US, and other places. I simply didn’t see myself doing all that for another place other than Sweden. The pure fact that people were looking for the money they needed, or that they were accepting clauses like “I will work at your company 2 years after I finish my studies” seemed restrictive. It’s like “Here’s the carrot..” but I would have always thought of the stick waiting behind the corner.

Why only Sweden? Because of a.. almost spiritual experience in Sigtuna, Sweden. Sounds lame, I know, but it felt right there. And the feeling was backed up by the reality of having most of the Swedish things in place, without loosing the humane part. In 2001 I was thinking Sweden is a lot like Germany, but with a touch. In 2007, I went to Frankfurt for one day, and I realised I was right. You can probably replace Germany with any Germanic country/culture and that wouldn’t change anything. It’s something about the culture, language and social context that attracts me and makes me feel like home in Sweden. Period.

And it’s not Scandinavia, it’s specifically Sweden!

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