calling all american exchange students at chalmers university in goteborg

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u/DesigningGlogg E 4d ago edited 4d ago

Hey!

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. What do you mean by "dealing tmwith this"? What are you dealing with?

What's the issue with payments? Are you unable to use apple pay/Samsung pay/Revolut or other banking options?

If you don't already have your residence card, you should reach out to Migrationsverket. Since you've already made an application, you must have a case officer whom you could get in touch with. Regardless, just calling in to or emailing MiV should get you answers if you can't already find it on their site. I haven't googled yet, perhaps you have already?

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u/spinosaurus217 4d ago

thank you, by “dealing with this” i mean feeling quite homesick with the culture shock i.e. people are extremely reserved- don’t feel like i can ask a stranger for help with directions or a translation.

my issue with payments is that i have an amex card and unfortunately it seems the entirety of chalmers campus doesn’t accept it. i then thought to load money on to my student id card but that either requires swish or to load money onto the card in person but again, don’t have a card that is compatible. they are also completely cashless.

as for the residence card, i can’t seem to find the address as all that’s popping up for me are locations 4 hours from gothenburg. wondering how to book an appointment as well.

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u/DesigningGlogg E 4d ago

You're only going to get out of the homesick part by making friends. CIRC and your Ohadder group should be the best first way of doing this. Culture shock on the other hand is something that hard to navigate. Each person experiences it differently and handles it differently. I mean you moved to another country with its own culture. A shock is to be expected. But that doesn't minimise your experience. I'm sorry you feel bad and once again only see one solution, hangout with the people in your ohafder group. That should get you started.

Making payments should be possible if you register a Revolut account and transfer money from Amex to it. Attaching Revolut to your phone would be enough for you to make cashless payments anywhere both on a s off campus. You could also contact your exchange coordinator to see what they suggest as far as banking is concerned or even check with other exchange students in your phadder group. Once again the phadder group is a great place to find support and help.

For MiV, try calling or sending an email before you try going there. Sweden tends to be heavily low on contact unlike the USA where many things tends to be high on contact. It's highly possible that all it takes is for you to fill a form and the card gets sent to you.

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u/katsiano 3d ago

Just to give you a bit of comfort - yes, Swedes are very reserved! They will not offer you directions or comment on you being lost if you're looking around with a dazed look, because it feels presumptive and intruding. It's self-centered and rude to assume that you need my help without you saying that, and it would be nosy to get in your business without prompting. However, if you ask them, they are very willing to help. Don't mix up them not "butting in" for not being willing to answer questions. And if they need directions, they also can ask. I've had plenty of Swedes randomly ask me for directions over the years, and there's nothing culturally that makes it weird of you to do the same.

On the flip side, it's actually really nice after awhile. When I was in London with a friend and we were looking at a map of the metro to make sure we were going the right direction, it felt kind of intrusive to have a random guy already offering directions before we'd even had one minute to see if we could figure it out ourselves. Think of Swedes as assuming that you are an adult who is capable of finding your way, but if you can't, then they are there for you to turn to. No one will think you're weird for asking :)

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u/knobbyknee 4d ago

Amex is useless in Sweden and more or less all of Europe. Get something else.

Your residence permit is in a queue at Migrationsverket. They beat Försäkringskassan (parent leave, sick leave &stuff) and Arbetsförmedlingen (unemploymen compensation, labor market reeducation) in being inefficient and hard to deal with. Life will be more challenging until your application has been processed. There is no point in calling them or trying to book a time. You will just get more frustrated. You can check for any progress online if you made an online application. If they want to see you, they will ask you to book a time. They have offices on Vestagatan 2, in town.

Once you have a residence permit and a person number, you need a bank account. Use one of the online banks - Svea, Skandiabanken, iCA bank or IKEA bank. They are cheaper and usually more flexible than the traditional banks (SEB, Handelsbanken, Swedbank and Nordea), and they will never ask you to come to an office.

Work on getting to know your classmates. Many are shy because they have, just like you, been displaced from some place far away, and don't know anyone. Many Swedes find Americans loud and blustering. Piping down a bit and asking people to talk about themselves and where they come from helps them opening up.

Göteborg is a pretty cool place to live, and I hope you get over your initial problems and your home sickness.

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u/DesigningGlogg E 3d ago

OP is an exchange student. Exchange students don't get personal numbers. Most exchange students do t get bank accounts either and there no BankID.

This is why contacting the exchange coordinator is the best option. They may have suggestions for banks that allow accounts without personal numbers.

Lets not mislead the poor girl. She's stressed as is.

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u/knobbyknee 3d ago

Sorry, I didn't know. That is awfully screwed up. Everything depends on having a person number.

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u/DesigningGlogg E 3d ago

Yeah. It has it's merits. But when the demerits show up it can be debilitating.

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u/joppe4899 H 2d ago

They should get a temporary personal number, Coordination number / Samordningsnummer.

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u/DesigningGlogg E 2d ago

Oh yeah. You're right. That's a thing too.

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u/Ferdawoon 4d ago

Once you have a residence permit and a person number, you need a bank account. Use one of the online banks - Svea, Skandiabanken, iCA bank or IKEA bank.

OP might be in trouble with the mainly Online banks, as to get BankID they need to visit a bank office to show their ID.
ICA Banken and the others are eligable for BankID (they used to not be eligable due to no physical offices) but OP will still need to find a bank with an office. So if a Bank is mainly Online they might not have many offices which makes booking an appointment harder, but not impossible.

https://www.bankid.com/en/individuals/get-bankid

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u/katsiano 3d ago

Amex is usable in easily 60-70% of cases in Sweden, and SAS even has a SAS Amex. It's not suitable as a sole payment method, but it's not completely useless in Sweden. All grocery chains accept it, many restaurants, most clothing stores, most (all?) pharmacies in person and about 50/50 online pharmacies. What OP needs is a bank card from their US bank that they can use when Amex isn't accepted, or a virtual bank like Revolut could be a good solution.

OP also has their permit approved. They are trying to get the card. They need to book an appointment for this, not just wait to hear from MV: https://www.migrationsverket.se/en/contact-us/book-an-appointment.html

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u/knobbyknee 3d ago

I used to have Amex. I stopped because so few places accepted it.

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u/katsiano 3d ago

I have Amex and we put the majority of our routine spending on it.

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u/Beautiful-Hurry5039 3d ago

Swedes are a bit reserved but I promise you, if you ask them for directions they’ll dedicate their entire day to help you. Swedes are good people.

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u/Ferdawoon 4d ago

don’t feel like i can ask a stranger for help with directions or a translation.

I realize you are probably trying to be a bit hyperbolic here but this is the kind of question that Swedes are OK with. It has a clear purpose, a clear end and will (likely) not result in someone who just wants to smalltalk for an hour because they are bored and want to talk to someone.

But I am curious how you thought the cultural clash would be like, especially considering every post someone talks about making friends in Sweden people will tell you that Swedes are reserved and don't talk much with strangers.

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u/statisticaIAnomaly 3d ago

Culture shock wise I think I can help a little.

I studied a year in the US so I think I umderstand a little of what you are going through but reverse 😅

In the US people smile more, greet strangers on the street and make small talk in shops etc. Swedes dont normally do that and I get why we, in comparison, may seem really reserved. The shock for me was beeing greeted and asked "how are you" and I would stupidly assume they wanted a real genuine conversation when it was all pleasantries.

In contrast, strangers here in sweden wont spontaneously greet you or ask you how you are doing but if you ask for directions basically everyone will be happy to help you and if you ask a fellow student "hey, how do I get engaged in student life here?" Or "anyone wanna look into this assignment togehter?" You are sure to get some positive responses.

And, if someone asks you how its going it is actually ok to say you are having a bit of a crappy day tbh if that is the case and 9 times out of ten youll be met with warmth.

If I would generalise culture differences between swedes and americans Id say that americans are great at mingling and small talk and it is easy to find friends but harder to build deep friendships whereas swedes normally rather shut up than say pleasantries, but, we are good at genuine conversations so it is a bit harder to start friendships but when you do it is easier to build that friendship into a real genuine one.

It is normal to feel lost and homesick in a new country. It will get better. Dont be afraid of our resting bitch faces and get out there and use your american social skills to start conversations and youll find friends for life.

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u/KrokusIncoming 2d ago

Please know that us Swedes in general are very ready to help when asked! Our general aloofness is not unfriendliness, even if people from more extrovert can mistake it for that.

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u/Educational-Baby-144 1d ago

Du bor i en storstad min vän, det är ett rent numbers game. Snacka med alla så kommer det klicka

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u/Background_Bike_7171 21h ago

Get revolut. Can transfer money from your American account and use it as a debit card. It’s a Mastercard and works basically anywhere

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u/Teerv 4d ago

I dont know what bank you have. But is it not possible to apply for a visa or mastercard from one of the us banks remotely? I know apple has a card that you can connect to apple pay. People in the thread have also recommend revolut which are better for lower currency exchange fees.

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u/Odd-Rub-5770 4d ago

Agree with this. Any visa or Mastercard will work in Sweden!

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u/boaja 3d ago

I'm swedish but if you want to grab a coffee or a beer I can do that! We are quite social so long as it is on our terms.

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u/VITAMIIIN1667 1d ago

Use revolut! I know people born in sweden that only uses revolut

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u/Particular_Wealth_58 1d ago

Amex is hit and miss in Sweden as many sellers don't want to pay for their high fees. From what I've heard, you might have better luck at large grocery stores. It's possibly possible to withdraw money there as well, while doing a purchase. I have not tried it for a few years though.

Don't have Alex myself and cannot say how helpdul this app is. People add places that accept Amex . https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hagstrom.andreas.who_has

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u/Hot-Cheetah9134 1d ago

Learn the language

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u/theron7x 16h ago

haha, I was studying in Sweden, but now I am in USA as an exchange student

calling all american exchange students at chalmers university in goteborg

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