Image source: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSC_9149_Valvet_Lund.jpg)

Berdymyrat  Ovezmyradov shares some information on life in Sweden for visiting researchers at Lund University. The blog post reflects only his personal subjective experience based on the secondment in 2020 – 2021. As such, this post cannot substitute official and up-to-date sources for foreign scholars planning a trip to Sweden, especially in times of changing regulations due to COVID-19. The practical information is shared in the hope that at least some part of it could be helpful for future scholars visiting Lund within the “Central Asian Law: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia” project.

Before and right after arrival

Some of my colleagues in Lund previously made excellent posts about Lund and the university. In this blog post, I would like to focus on a narrow topic of selected practical aspects of living in Lund.

I was lucky in that I had already been within the EU with a visa allowing me to travel to Sweden after I received an invitation from Lund University to join the project. Therefore, the only major procedure I had to undergo for obtaining a Swedish residence permit after the online application was to visit the Immigration Service (Migrationsverket) in Malmö, which took just over an hour to reach from Lund. Understandably, the process would be more complicated and take much longer if an application from Central Asia was made outside the EU (possibly involving the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow).

Immigration procedures and travel restrictions in the EU countries could change several times and suddenly since the pandemic outbreak in 2020. Therefore, it is critical to start checking the regulations long before the planned departure and then keep checking for updates until the arrival date. By the way, purchasing long-term travel insurance could be much cheaper abroad than obtaining it later in Sweden (particularly if you are unable to get the local ID number).

More on the travel to and within Sweden later in a dedicated section further in this post.

Upon arrival, the next step should be visiting the Tax Office in Lund as soon as possible to apply for getting the personal Swedish ID number (personnummer). This magic number gives access to nearly all sorts of benefits that foreigners can enjoy for free (or subsidized) in Sweden: bank account, healthcare, language courses, loyalty cards at local stores, appointments at certain offices, and so forth. I should warn that late arrivals and other delays in applying for the ID number could make it impossible due to some minimum requirements towards stay in the country to obtain the number.

One of the most critical points I would like to emphasize here is applying to the correct type of visa or travel document – it had to be Residence Permits for Researchers.  This choice could sound obvious, but I could easily confuse it among the many types available in the online application system via the Swedish Migration Agency website if it weren’t for timely guidance by another researcher from Central Asia who arrived before me. And here comes the advice I would like to give all future researchers visiting host institutions abroad within our project: never hesitate to ask for consultations and other help from administrators, assistants, and other researchers in the project who already went through the related experience. Not only is this much easier and faster than trying to figure out everything by yourself, but it can also save you from making costly mistakes that would be very hard or impossible to fix later.

The principal investigator shared contact details with me that proved to be useful already before arrival to Lund. Overall, everyone I met during my secondment at Lund University and other host institutions was extremely kind and helpful. I made sure to benefit from their skills and knowledge, asking for assistance and double-check at every step. This helped avoid considerable troubles due to misunderstanding and confusion that even an experienced traveller like me had several times during the secondment.

Finances

As customary practice in Central Asian countries, most of the expenses in this post will be shown with the conversion from the local currency to US Dollars (USD). Payments in Sweden are made in Swedish krona (SEK). The exchange rate has been relatively stable and, in the first months of 2021, hovered around 1 USD = 8.5 SEK.

Sweden is becoming a cashless society, but surprisingly I encountered a couple of restaurants in Lund where only cash was accepted. So I used to carry about 100 SEK just in case. There are still more places where it is impossible to pay, such as accommodations. Having a debit card suitable for electronic payments online is absolutely a must. Not only will such cards save exchange fees, but they can also help track daily expenses.

Just before leaving Sweden, I decided to withdraw some cash in USD and EURO. After a rather lengthy search, I found an ATM near the entrance to Malmö Hyllie station where I could withdraw the euro. At least from my debit cards, it was possible to withdraw up to one hundred euros in 20-euro banknotes at a time, so I had to spend quite a while letting others in a queue behind to use the ATM after few withdrawals before starting again. As for USD, ATM was not an option, and I found that fees charged by kiosks and other places to exchange (typically found around major train stations) very high. It could be more affordable if I had a personal bank account in Sweden.

I decided to open free accounts in two popular financial services: Revolut and TransferWise. Opening the accounts with a long-term visa in the EU allowed benefiting from full-fledged functionality, including possibilities of using debit cards and bank transfers. Each of those competing services provided unique benefits: TransferWise proved to be more convenient in currency exchange and cash withdrawals, while Revolut offered extra services such as travel insurance and even buying stocks. Each service can be accessed almost exclusively as a mobile app, so having a smartphone for app installation is desirable. I would not claim that fintech can fully replace a traditional bank. Nevertheless, the relatively new technology could provide certain banking services in much more accessible and economic way while staying in a foreign country for smaller amounts to spend. Among the appreciated capabilities in both Revolut and TransferWise was nearly real-time control over my payments, which included numerous options for safety and analytics of spending by categories. And tracking expenses does matter in a Scandinavian country, as the next section would explain. Notably, the support provided by the project during the secondment would be enough to cover even substantially higher living costs than the expenses indicated furthermore mostly for the personal example of a frugal lifestyle. The experience showed that saving for travels and other purposes was quite realistic.

Living costs

Many foreigners perceive Scandinavia as being among the most expensive places on earth to live. After travelling to many countries, I would personally agree with this viewpoint when it comes to accommodation, less so with other kinds of expenses. I had been a budget traveller since my first study abroad many years ago. So the costs presented below are primarily for the most economical options in each main category of living costs in Sweden. I also maintain moderate rates of consumption in shopping and eating habits. The indicated figures are thus cannot be accepted as very representative for an average adult.

Numbeo is a popular website for comparing living costs across cities, which is not perfect but reasonably representative of what I observed in at least two cities. Table 1 shows selected expenses in Lund, Tashkent, and Almaty.  In the middle of 2021, consumer prices in Lund were about 150 % higher than in Almaty and 160 % higher than in Tashkent. Meanwhile, Expatisan.com, another website to compare living costs, suggests the cost of living in Sweden is approximately 161% more expensive than in Kazakhstan, and 200% as expensive as in Uzbekistan. Presumably, the prices in Table 1 are probably for an average product/housing at a conveniently located normal store/area.

Table 1. Cost of living comparison according to Numbeo.com (as of June 2021)

Note: For easier interpretation, the presented expenses are converted from Swedish krona to USD Dollars (at an approximate exchange rate as of 2021, rounded to closest integer when appropriate).

In my personal experience, the expenses in Lund could be 20-40% lower than indicated in Table 1 if you aimed like me at bargain-hunting searching for lower-cost options and being ready to live or shop in less convenient locations, buy in bulk, and choose budget products lines. Table 2 shows the summary of my monthly budget in Lund. It should be noted that I was often choosing the most economical ways to spend money. I often had lunch and dinner at inexpensive restaurants and rarely travelled outside my region – Skåne county (I mostly walked within Lund without frequently using public transport). The results could differ considerably for people with different cooking, traveling, and other preferences and skills. The details about my accommodation and other choices are discussed in the following sections.

Table 2. Low-cost scenario budget (in USD) for each month of winter and spring 2021 in Lund (excluding insurance, long-distance travel, leisure, events, and other less frequent expenses and lump-sum costs.

Accommodation

Finding a suitable place to live would likely become the next concern after a residence permit. Hotels and hostels in Sweden appeared, on average, more expensive than in the majority of other European countries. And after finding accommodation, rent would likely be the single most significant expense. Sweden seemed to have a housing shortage, and searching for accommodation is particularly challenging in a city with a large student population.

My preparatory stay in Sweden was only for few weeks before traveling back to another European country to complete a preceding academic work. Renting an apartment for around one month is not easy in any country, so I had to use a combination of other housing options in Sweden. In the beginning, I booked few days of stay at budget hotels and hostels in Malmö. At the range of 30 to 60 USD per night, these were much more affordable than in Lund, and I also wanted to explore the vibrant city, which is about ten minutes by train from Lund station.

The pandemic outbreak was already happening in Europe, so remote work was soon allowed and even encouraged. I used this opportunity to move to a hotel in the beautiful Swedish countryside outside of Lund.  My daily accommodation cost for the next two weeks was then reduced to around 25 USD, which represented considerable savings even after accounting for transport expenses. I could still reach the campus in less than one hour using bus and train with my transport pass. In exchange, I enjoyed something that was not immediately available within a city – living in the natural landscape near one of Sweden’s numerous splendid lakes surrounded by forest. 

The remaining two weeks of the preparatory visit were spent closer to the outskirts of Lund in an apartment found via Airbnb at around 25 USD, a very reasonable rate for accommodation within a city in the country. The issue with the corresponding app was the more effort and time it took to find and negotiate the place to stay with a host compared to Booking.com and similar hotel booking services.

If I were lucky during my first visit, I could theoretically find short-term housing through Lund Apartments for Rent. This private Facebook group where I was added by one of my foreign colleagues remained quite active during the entire period of my secondment. As always in such social networking places, it can be a viable place to search if a reasonable caution is exercised to avoid potential scams (usually involving advance payments to foreign accounts).

When I returned to Sweden soon after my first preparatory visit, another option luckily became available, which was much more affordable: LU Accommodation services by Lund University itself. I guess most of the visiting researchers would prefer this long-term housing option from the beginning. So my main advice here is to try reserving the university accommodation long before arrival, desirably two months or earlier because it is in high demand. The earlier you apply to LU Accommodation, the more choices you would be offered to select from different options for your target budget and size. The later you apply, the more you risk of getting no offer in the end. Assistants in the project would provide crucial support to become eligible for university housing as a researcher (ask as early as possible). Other researchers could also suggest alternatives, including even the possibility of temporarily staying or sharing an apartment when available. I benefitted from one of the temporal options generously provided by another visiting research at some point.

After an adventurous first month of the secondment, I was offered a studio by LU Accommodation. Of course, I accepted it and remained at the university housing until the end of the secondment in Lund. I loved my relatively small but very comfortable apartment with basic furniture, kitchen appliances (including new utensils, fridge, oven, and microwave), private bathroom, and internet all included. Importantly, housing in Sweden includes typically a laundry room with washing machines and driers at the basement level that all residents can freely book and use. This was a great relief since I found laundry services were almost nonexistent in the area. The monthly rent at around 5500 SEK could seem high for many countries but is quite reasonable for a university town in Sweden. The tenants had to give a minimum notice of two full months to cancel a contract for the rental period.

Image source: LU Accommodation, Lund University website.

Illustration of university housing in Lund

Shopping

Many products I used to buy in Sweden were more affordable than I expected before arrival when shopping in stores such as Lidl and Wyllis conveniently located close enough to the city center to reach by walking. Household items and confectionery were also affordable when buying in stores such as Jula, ÖOB, and Rusta – all located within Nova, my favorite shopping area at the outskirt of Lund. Several smaller stores were available around the center of Lund to buy Asian food. For more Asian and other products, Allfrukt in Malmö was worth visiting from Lund to buy in bulk (this big store also has a canteen inside). Ikea within a more extensive shopping area could be visited near Helsingborg, but it would take an entire day to reach and come back.

As for shopping online, a popular local alternative for eBay seemed to be Blocket (www.blocket.se). To compare prices, Pricerunner (pricerunner.se) appeared to be a popular service. The English language is not always available in those local websites, but the problem can be more or less solved using Google Chrome browser with automated webpage translations. To illustrate bargains that users might be lucky to find online, I bought a usable 32-inch TV with minor defects for 12 USD on Blocket. Lund Student – Sell and Buy together with Sell/Buy Stuff in Lund were two private Facebook groups where one could occasionally find attractive offers.

Blocket – famous Swedish online market

Pricerunner – website to compare prices and find places to buy in Sweden

There is Swedish Amazon website, but I instead ordered couple of times from the German online shop of Amazon where I found a greater variety of electronics, which cost less than buying locally even after paying the delivery fee. It should be noted here that deliveries of packages and post in Sweden are often made to supermarkets close to the indicated delivery address (it is also possible to send post there). In my case, I received SMS notifications to collect Amazon packages from the local Coop store (passport had to be shown to staff).

Local transport

Skånetrafiken app allows searching for journeys within Skåne quickly and easily. Two figures below show 24-hour ticket prices for the area around Lund and the entire region. Transport pass for more extended periods was available worth considering for exploring Skåne during weekends or holiday. Such passes could be electronically borrowed via Skånetrafiken to friends, which was sometimes convenient. I frequently used 24-hour tickets for trips to Malmö and Nova shopping center in Lund for two days.

Medium zone journey offers in Skånetrafiken

Regional journey offers in Skånetrafiken

Travel

For both arrivals and departures, the most common routes to access Lund that my colleagues and I considered were as follows. Usually, the travel involved Copenhagen (CPH) airport and train directly to/from Lund with a breathtaking view while crossing Öresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden. Skånetrafiken app can be used to buy tickets for journeys to and from Denmark after arrival. There are smaller airports around Malmö and Helsingborg, but these offer limited flights, which were not suitable for me. An airport near Gothenburg is further away from Lund but offers a decent range of flights in cases when travel to Copenhagen becomes problematic (for instance, due to the pandemic-related restrictions). This is also close to one of the biggest cities in Sweden with lots of things to see provided a traveller has enough time and not too much luggage.

With some savings and relaxed travel restrictions, why not use rich opportunities for travel within Sweden and the EU? The figure below shows long-distance train fares from Malmö to Stockholm shown by SJ train ticket app, which started from 23 USD – ridiculously low price for a high-speed train trip (not only in Sweden but any developed country)! Of course, getting such bargains requires booking in advance (in the SJ illustration, ten days before travel). While in Stockholm, the local airports offer great choice of routes to the EU countries at very affordable prices. I used the opportunity to visit the Baltic states after seeing my friend in Stockholm during holidays when safety conditions temporarily improved. When returning to Sweden, I used the FLIXBUS app to book a 60-euro bus journey from Vilnius to Copenhagen with longer transfer in Berlin and involving ferry service between Germany and Denmark, which provided brief sightseeing possibilities in different countries. The same FLIXBUS could be used for travel between Malmö and Stockholm, which added flexibility outside the train option.

High-speed train offers by SJ – Biljetter och trafikinfo

Communication

Lund University offers Eduroam, a wireless internet connection freely accessible at academic institutions in many countries with a valid account. And I benefitted from Eduroam access in several places outside Sweden too. Setting up Eduroam and university email account upon arrival to campus did not seem very easy. Still, I was fortunate to have a colleague who showed me how to set up without referring to instructions available on the university website quickly. My university accommodation included a LAN internet connection, and having a travel router to create a Wi-Fi network at home was helpful.

With unlimited internet access provided within campus and university housing, one can save on mobile connection fees, which were not cheap. In my subjective experience, it was relatively easy to get cell phone number and mobile internet using Comviq, a popular Swedish brand with its sim cards sold in many places. Store staff where I bought my card provided guidance for setting up, which was not easy for me to figure out as instructions and mobile app by Comviq were all in Swedish. Fortunately, the Comviq app itself was not very hard to use for viewing balance and adding funds. Mobile fees seemed more expensive than in other developed countries I visited recently, so I tried to use mobile data only outside my home or university network. My usual Comviq plan, FASTPRIS MINI cost about 11 USD including 3Gb and more than enough minutes of calling within Sweden. It was usually purchased at least twice a month.

Some options for mobile connection offered by Comviq app

Food

I am not a vegetarian (yet), but I try to minimize meat consumption for various reasons. Sweden impressed with its wide range of choices I rarely have seen elsewhere. In particular, I liked plant-based mince and other veggie products at local groceries. As for dining out, I was lucky to find delicious falafel almost everywhere. It was healthy and the most affordable at 3-5 USD per falafel roll or bread. And Lund is known for its falafel restaurants.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Falafel dish

Hobbies

Besides hiking in natural zones around Lund and regional travels, I enjoyed swimming in a beautiful lake in the countryside during summer and early autumn. For networking with locals and sports, foreigners could join one of the numerous clubs called korpen in Sweden. It is possible to find local football and other clubs by searching online (for example, using keywords such as “korpen Lund”). Chrome browser can help translate the club web pages and contact for membership.

Concluding remarks

I enjoyed and greatly benefitted as a researcher from my secondment at Lund University. This was made possible due to the comprehensive support provided by the project and the Sociology of Law Department. Conditions for my travel and stay were generally very comfortable – not least because of relatively efficient systems of local bureaucracy and flexible regulations (it was particularly evident during the pandemic). Furthermore, life in Sweden turned out to be less expensive than I expected (not taking into account housing).

At the end of this blog post, I would like to reiterate that I only expressed my personal opinions and subjective experiences, which can never be considered universally applicable. The text reflects my preferences, and I did not intend to promote any particular choice or product, or service. Under no circumstance can the information provided here replace regularly updated and “more serious” sources such as governmental websites, which potential visitors should check first. I wished to write this post because I felt it was my turn to give selected tips and ideas in the hope that they could be useful for future guests.  These were previously shared by colleagues in Lund and proved to be valuable for me.

Again, I would like to repeat the most important advice given at the beginning of this post: the project assistants and other researchers are probably the most excellent sources of practical information and further help to complete the secondment successfully. New researchers should never hesitate to ask for assistance, so they hopefully would become experienced with practical matters soon enough to help future researchers in turn.

I was lucky to personally meet colleagues from different parts of Central Asia already during my first days in Lund. Never in my life had I experienced such an exciting feeling of belonging to the region and having so many things in common. It was like being a part of a big Central Asian family. It was also nice to meet local researchers and professors at Lund University personally and colleagues from other institutions online. I am immensely grateful for the comprehensive support I received from the project and the colleagues that helped me feel at home and grow as an interdisciplinary researcher during my secondment in Sweden.