Going to Sweden -- Why or why not?? Help please!

Hi
Im new around here, ive been searching the internet for travel sites and forums in the last weeks and i decided to stick with this forum because it seemed the best.
Im from Portugal, and im considering very seriously going to Stockholm to study for a year, but im not comletely sure yet if that is the place i really want to go. The main things that attract me in Sweden is the fact that it is so different from Portugal in so many ways, like the weather, the way people are and look like are just examples of that.
I dont know if there are many people in this forum from Sweden but i would like to ask some questions:

1) Are there any ski resorts near stockholm ?
2) How much money should i have per month ? (considering that i have a place to stay for 300 euros per month)
3) What do young people in the city do in the free time ? Im very interested in the winter time when the temperatures get very low
4) I would like to see the northern lights, i hear that in Kiruna i can do it, how easy is it to get there? How expensive is it? Will i see northern lights for sure?
5) How open are swedish people with foreigners ?
6) How do swedish girls like latin guys?

Thank you very much for reading, i appreciate any help you can give.

Hi,

1. It is quite easy to take a train or a bus to from most major southern cities to a ski resort. The good ski resorts are a few hours away though...

2. It obviously depends on how big a spender you are, but I would say maybe another 3000 per month (apart from the rent) would sufficient.

2,5. Have you considered going to Gothenburg instead? It is the second largest city but by many/most (depending on who you ask) people considered a nicer city to live in!

3. People in Sweden party and go clubbing a lot. Travelling is also very popular. Of course all the regular stuff like going to cafés and cinemas and so on is quite common as well... Unfortunately there's not that much interesting with winter time apart from that it is dark 18 hours a day and very cold.

4. I think the cheapest way to get to Kiruna would be by train. It takes about 1 day by train to go there from the southern parts of Sweden. I don't really know how common the northern lights are in Kiruna because I haven't been there. There is probably not a 100% probability that you will see it though...

5. I would say some Swedish people are very open with strangers and some are not. If you are a really outgoing exchange student however there shouldn't be any problems.

6. You'll probably notice that som girls don't like you at all and some girls love ya ;-) Flirting techniques in Sweden might differ a lot from in Portugal though, so ask some Swedish guys how you should go about getting that dream girl of yours...

If you finally end up in Stockholm or Gothenburg (or any other major city) you might find that the local IAESTE committees at the technical universities can let you go to their social activities (regardless if you study engineering or not). Check out this link:http://www.iaeste.se/local_committees.html

Have a great year!

Erik

Hi
Thanks a lot for the quick reply.
I hope that on "2)" you meant 300 instead of 3000 otherwise ill have to go somewhere else because i cant afford 3000 per month.
I really like to snowboard, that why i asked about the ski resorts, is is possible to buy forfaits(skipass) for the whole season to get cheaper rates on a per month basis?
About Gothenburg, the thing is my university only has agreement in sweden with the Stockholm university but i plan to visit gothenburg when im there anyway.
Regards

Hello,

About you wanting to see the northlights i can tell you that it's not 100 procent sure that you will see them. I guess it depends how lucky you are!

The easiest way to travel to Kiruna is with the flight although it's more expensive than by train. It takes about 1 day by train to go to Kiruna from Stockholm. About one and a half hour to get there with the flight.

Regards Erica

About going to Kiruna i pretend to go by train, not because of the price but because thats my favorite way of travel.
I would like to know if someone knows about skipass prices.
Also, whats there to see in Stockholm, what are the citys main attractions for tourists?
Thanks

Hi zuchy,
I think webwire must have meant 3000 SEK per month on top of the rent, rather than 3000 Euros. Don't know at the top of my head exactly how much that is at the moment, so please check.
If you are up for cold weather, fresh air and experience something completely different from Portugal I think you definitely should go to Sweden for a year.
Whatever city you stay in you should make sure to get out to the countryside every now and then, because there is a lot of beautiful places no matter if your in the south or north.
After experiencing the winter you will be amazed about the changes in spring, it really is a beautiful time and I think you will find that Sweden really is two different countries: one in the winter and one in the summer. The winter have some kind of introvert effect on people while in the summer people are a lot more happy-go-lycky. Like webwire wrote it's impossible to generalise about what attitudes people have, but I don't think you should have any problem with making new friends. And when you have I think that you'll find that people love to hang out in cafes in their spare time (or is that just me?), going to the cinema, gigs, doing some sport or whatever interests you have.
Yeah, it will be a lot of time spent indoors, I would think, but by all means dress up properly and go out on long walks on frosty days - they can be very beautiful: go skiing, or ice-skating and play in the snow

I lived in Stockholm for 5 years, although it's very beautiful and some people love it I would say that Malmo is my favourite city these days. It's not a huge city (Sweden's third) but it got a really nice vibe to it, much more alternative and laid back than Stockholm, there are some good galleries and very nice and cosy cafes, a couple of beautiful parks. If you'd like to change the scenery you have some really nice parts of Skane close by and the Danish capital Copenhagen just 30 mins away.
It isn't as cold as Stockholm, you will still find a big change from Portugal but you won't get a chock (hopefully).

Well hope this has helped you a little bit. Let me know how you're getting on.