And if you take the 10 hour long ferry across the Baltic sea with nothing with you except the largest suitcase Ikea can provide and an old classical guitar made of flamed maple: then your imagination can help you to believe that you are on a one-man journey far from home.

For me, my Erasmus exchange was a lot of things. It was the Wednesday-evening chat over a pint of Falcon at the Professor sportsbar together with my american friend. It was a decision to bluntly jump in to a group of people on my first day at Frescati campus, a group that would stick together the whole semester. It was John Mayer at the Ericsson Globe, Lars Winnerbäck at Malmö arena and a memorable lonely night in a dark flixbus cruising through Scandinavia; the sudden insight of the wonderful absurdity of my current lifestyle.

But primarily, it was an exploration of my identity. The identity of language, of accent, of country, of profession and of Europe. When I got the privilege to witness my friends' first visit to a sauna, deep in the woods of Norrtälje, I had never felt more like a Finn. When my classmates listened with fascination to my funny version of Swedish, I had never felt more like a Swedish speaking Finn. And when we, in the same woods of Norrtälje, stayed up dancing and talking the whole night, I had never felt more like a citizen of the world.

This highly international experience is largely thanks to the outstanding Stockholm University and Department of Psychology. From day one the tutors and the student union assured that we felt like home. There were pub crawls, sightseeing trips, international festivales, beach afternoons and open mic nights. After a while I started to recognize the familiar faces of the international students and it felt like the community went further than specific departments or buddy groups. At times it really felt like we all were part of the same big international family.

When I needed time for myself, I tried to explore the city on my own. I fell in love with the sight of Gamla stan (the Old Town) at night and with the exotic atmosphere of Södermalm. The large network of public transport in Stockholm makes it easy to go around the city and nearby areas.

For any student thinking about going on exchange: do it. And for any student thinking about Stockholm: do it even more. The city is a perfect mixture of urban and nature life and the university is as professional and high class as it gets. Just remember to be active and to participate at all the welcome activities. And not to be afraid of loneliness; it gets to every exchange student at some point. Try to embrace it, sit down at some small cafe in Gamla stan and video call your family. That should be enough to remind you that home is always waiting for you, when it’s time to go back.

Jakob Langenskiöld, who studied some courses on the Psychology Programme and one on Psychology II, in the fall semester of 2019.