This time: all about the Nations (specific yet interesting article about Lund's University and the Nations) and of course, even more thumbs!
What is the role of the Nations? They are perhaps described best as student societies. They are by students for students, this means practically everything they do is organised by students. You can only find them in the two big student cities of Sweden: Lund and Uppsala.
They offer everything that is related with the student life but is not about studying itself, i.e. food, parties, pubs, apartments, proms, sports, dating services (never used it but someone told me this exists!) and many many more.
What you have to know? Without being a member of a Nation you have totally lost. You won't be able to enjoy student life at all! The reason is that you're not able to join any activities they offer and that includes you have to pay 50SEK (at least!) for a beer instead of 25SEK. And that matters. A lot.
Thus, you are strictly advised to follow this checklist:
1.) Pack your luggage (see 2nd point for more details what to bring)
2.) Go to Sweden (preferably by car and bring a lot of booze, you will need it!)
3.) Join any Nation (Nobody cares which. There are some slight differences that I'm going to point out later)
4.) Party (No comment on this one. Erasmus students don't need any explanation.)
5.) Minor issues like finding an apartment (it will work out, believe me!)
Enough talk for now! I think you are curious for more thumbs! Let's go!
There is nothing like the German "Mensa" (some kind of cafeteria with cheap food for students) at Lund's University. So, what do you do if you are hungry? You go to the Nations.
For only 35SEK (~4€) you get a salad, a main dish and some dessert with coffee.
Still there are big differences. A smart students goes to Malmö Nation!
They serve (usually by far) the best meal and they avoid the main problem of all the other Nations (no matter what you are up to): the queueing.
In the other Nations you have to queue up forever, then you pay, sit down and enjoy your meal. The quality of the dishes differs a lot but most of the time it's quite good and you are full afterwards (of course, there were some really bad exceptions). The problem is since it's students cooking (which skip their lectures) they only have limited capacities. You have to be there at 12:05pm the latest or you have to leave hungry again =(
In Malmö Nation, on the other side, you get in, take a glass (that's their way how to count the number of people), sit down and wait for them to serve the food and to ask you to pay. It definitely feels like a restaurant (much better ambience) and the best about it: the food is soooo yummi!
The next picture is for one special friend. He always has lunch with us in Germany but never eats anything and complains all the time how disgusting it is while we try to enjoy it more or less.
Glaube mir Markus: Es ist einfach unglaublich geil! Da kannst du noch so viel mies machen. Du würdest verzweifelt aufgeben und weinen.
The salad is nothing special but they often serve a self-made bread which is pretty good. But what I really enjoy is the dessert. Most of the time it's some cake and you can have as much coffee as you want to. And of course: flower milk!
I think everyone who had lunch with me only once knows what I'm talking about: it's the best brand of milk there is and it has cute flowers on the package <3
(and I swear, I will win the bet!)
But of course there is a downside: Malmö Nation offers lunch every weekday (the other Nations only twice a week so check the schedule) but you have to be there at 11.40am. The number of glasses is limited and often there is someone who takes 5 glasses for all of his friends who have classes until 12 (So just do the same! It's definitly worth it).
During the weekends you can have brunch at the Nations. But take care, some of them have a huge buffet (that's what you want (waffles!!!), i.e. Östgöta Nation) and sometimes it feels more like commom lunch where you queue up (of course) and order your food.
We had brunch in Lunds Nation once. Unfortunately, it was not a buffet but the dining room is on the top floor in one of Lund's highests buildings and you can sit outside!
And there's one more: the "sittning". Every Nation hosts a banquet once a week in the evening where three dishes are served. It's more expensive but usually the food is something more exotic and really good. Don't forget to buy the tickets in advance (more than one week)!
It was my first time last week, when Franzi (the girl with the towel on the head) invited us for celebrating her birthday in Västgöta Nation (usually refered to VGs). I should mention that there always is some motto. This time it was opposites (hence the strange clothing). And don't wonder: Pirates are opposites of everything.
On the picture you find (amongst others I don't really know) Johannes who visited his girlfriend Cordula (Coco), José, Tess, Bryan, Franzi, Shane and Rico who, of course, enjoys it way more than everyone else!
(I really sorry for the bad picture but that's everything I have)
After the sittning you have free entry to the Nations club and you don't have to queue up like all the others!
Every Nation has it's own club but VGs is perhaps the most popular. Their club opens every Wednesday and you should not expect to much: bad party music, lots of drunk students but after all, that's exactly what you want (for the friends back home: der Zirkel in Lund)!
In the beginning I mentioned that there is no difference in which Nation you join. Still, we wasted a lot of time in choosing "our" Nation: "Maybe we should go to a smaller Nation then it's easier to get in touch with Swedish people... but they offer more sports..."
As I've said it does not matter. You don't have to be a member of that specific Nation to be able to join their activities (maybe you get some priority in the queue but that's it).
BUT: If you are a member of VGs you pay only 30SEK of entrance fee instead of the common 60SEK and that is a difference (Attention: that's only in VGs. Members of i.e. Hallands don't get a discount on the tickets of Hallands Nation).
I can promise you will end up there sooner or later because practically every Erasmus student goes there. So don't worry and join VGs (Maybe you encounter some conversations like "oh again VGs, why is everybody member of VGs??" Well, VGs is nothing special. Nevertheless it will save you some money for booze!)
[Due to some missunderstandings I have to add something here. I'm definitely NOT a fan of VGs. And the reason why I said that it is perhaps the most popular of all clubs is the following: On Wednesdays everything you have is VGs. So you go there. On the weekends, there is at least 3 different Nations you can choose of plus a huge variety of private parties which I prefer BY FAR! But we come to that later.]
Again, I have to mention the queueing. The clubs open at 10pm. And you should be there on time otherwise you have to queue up for 30-60 minutes and that's definitely not worth it. They do it just because they can (their excuse: they have to check your Nation membership and IDs).
The main problem with the queueing: you are not allowed to drink any alcohol! WTF! Are we living in the Stone Age?!
After you managed to get inside, you are as happy as I am [with my beatiful girls Iga and Maran =)]!
And then you figure out that the Nations close at 2am! Yes! I had to get used to it so bad. Still, I cannot believe it every single time again.
After all, this is something you should concern when you pick Sweden for your Erasmus year. The parties end at 2am. So don't waste any time and start pre-drinking in the afternoon!
And when the party ends? Well, usually you go home. At 2. In difference to Germany there is no alcohol limit when riding a bike!
Still, Rico has to do what you really should not (700SEK!). (And don't ride your bike without lights. Police just started to control and you have to pay 500SEK for EACH light you're missing)
No comment on the picture; I know exactly what it looks like.
After the parties strange things happen in Lund. But I somehow felt at home <3
[Explanation for the Lund people: there are some guys who do the same thing with my bike EVERY single time!]
Mephisto! Er ist hier in Lund! Es geht ihm gut und er fliegt!
[For all the people that don't understand. It's a long story and you don't have to.]
Finally, I'm going to tell something about "my" Nation: Hallands Nation.
What they offer? The cosiest pub amongst all the other Nations. They serve a lot of different beers (35) and whiskeys (24).
But there is one thing you should never do: NEVER ORDER A WEISS BEER THERE!
I was so much looking forward to it and what I got was that:
I mean, how could they? Please, Hallands, order some proper glasses. There are a majority of German students in Lund. Do them the favor or you will perish without a single tear.
What else do the Nations offer? Well, I don't now anything about the housing but they offer some apartments for which you have, of course, to queue.
More interesting are the sports they offer. If you are interested in some sports during your spare time you should check out Hallands Nation. They have a soccer, a volleyball and a floorball team and each Thursday they organise some special event like fencing or climbing.
We also had some tournaments vs the other Nations. On this one, we had to play some stupid games like to throw and catch eggs as far as possible without braking them. The winner Nation won some free tickets for the university's prom.
We (Ann-Sophie, Victoria, Estelle, Maria, Farah) are still very confident, painted with our Nation's colours blue and white ("We are blue, we are white, we are Halland's dynamite!"), but our arch enemy, VGs, won. Those bastards!
There is one Nation, that is a little bit different from all the others. If you join Smålands Nation (the rather leftish one), you have to join a second Nation to gain all the benefits.
Nevertheless, we had a great evening on one of their parties! What happened to Rico's hand! It is swollen really bad and it turned green! I suposse it already started to smell like rotten meat!
(Thanks to Michalis, Tiphaine, Pa (I know that's not even a real name) and Suzanna)
Wow, it's so much text this time, I pretty much doubt that anyone is going to read that. After all, there is a lot of important information, especially if you plan on going to Lund. And let me tell you something: you really should!
There are some more Nations (13 in total) and I'm really sorry for not mentioning them. All in all, you know everything you have to, so now it's up to you. Come to Lund and find out the rest. You are always welcome!
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