For better or for worse its still school

School is school no matter where you go or how it is organized. I’m not quite sure why, but I thought school would be less monotonous in Sweden.
It’s more confusing. I get lost more; look dazzled or confused more often. But whether it’s delivered in Swedish or English, school still brings more homework and early morning classes.
I was surprised to discover Sweden’s university system is completely different. Classes consist of five-week sessions and there are five of those sessions per semester. (One interesting linguistic note: Semester means vacation in Swedish.)
Students take one class per session. At the end of every session, there is a large exam. If for some outlandish reason you fail, the exam can be repeated at the end of the next session. So on and so forth it goes, through six allowed tries, until you do finally pass.
Exams here seem to cover material in more depth then the finals I faced at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
I told my Swedish flat mates that in the U.S. you get one try at an exam.
“That’s ridiculous,” they cried.
I do like the idea of having the option of retaking finals. Even better, I passed my first one without need for that luxury.
This system has its perks and its drawbacks. I find that it is nice focusing on one thing at a time. There is more knowledge to digest, and less busy work. Learning is very self-directed. For someone like me, who is easily distracted, that requires a lot of discipline. It gets boring at times. I find myself longing for the variety and structure of our American university system.
There is also less time for extended projects, which means less research and no long papers.
For the past 10 weeks, I have been taking “Svensk For Ulanderska Studenter,” or Swedish for foreign students.
It’s been grueling, boring and rewarding all at once.
While I now make some sort of sense in Swedish, I still commonly say, “Kan du saga det en gang till,” (can you say that again) and “Kan du tala langsammare” (can you speak slower). It’s an improvement, but I have a lot of work ahead if I want to be conversational.
Yesterday was my fist day of a new class, it was a familiar scene: Students hunched over their desks hurriedly taking notes as the professor lectured. The one person in the back of the classroom who cant seem to stay awake, counterbalanced by the over-eager student who asks questions just to hear themself talk. Had it not been for the posters in Swedish on the walls of the room, I could have sworn that I was back at UAF in one of the dimly lit rooms in Bunnel building.