Year: 2018 (Page 4 of 4)

I previously wrote a blog for my first gasque, but one question new students always seem to have when they reach Uppsala is “What is a Kavaj dress-code?”. As gasques and dress-codes are such a large part of Uppsala’s traditions and culture, here’s a short guide for what to wear.

You may have already seen these 4 in a facebook event or invitation you received for a gasque:

• Udda kavaj
• Kavaj
• Frack
• Themed dress

These are the 4 most common dress-codes. Although not usually that strict, people often stick to and are quite meticulous about their dress. Let me run through a guide and a couple of dos and don’ts in your guide to gasque-wear.

The KLÄDKODER or DRESS CODE guide:

Udda kavaj : Smart Casual.
This applies to gasques or dinners that are nice, but not too nice. Generally, for an unofficial dinner or lunch, not too much pressure is on the guests to dress in a suit or full-length dress. They can wear a non-matching suit if they wish with, for example, a dark jacket and light trousers. Dresses shouldn’t be too short, but they can go above the knee.

• Semi-smart
• Mid to long dress
• Suit – doesn’t have to match

Kavaj: Smart / Jacket.
This is the most common dress code in Uppsala. For most dinners more formal dinners, kavaj (pronounced kav-ai) is desirable. Traditionally it would have meant at least a knee length dress or dark suit in the same material, these days there’s less pressure to wear a dark suit, but it should still be smart. Equally, there is also less focus on the length of the dress, but most people will wear a dress down to above the knee.

• Dark suit with the same material
• Mid-length dress

Frack / Högtidsdräkt : Evening dress / white tie.
The most official dress code usually implored at balls, jubilee events or very official dinners.

Dresses should reach the floor and should not be strapless (although again, not necessarily a must). If you wear a suit, the formal dark suit is worn and this can include cufflinks and tailcoats. The coloured nation / academic discipline bands are usually allowed at these events and if the dress-code says m.a.o that means medals can be worn as well.

• a.o – medals
• Ballgown (not strapless)
• Coloured bands and pins

Themed dress code

This is fairly self-explanatory. If there’s a theme (Harry Potter, Disney, Halloween etc.) you dress to match the theme – easy!

Do’s and Don’ts

DO’S

• Wear pins to all gasques
• Wear black shoes

DON’T’S

• Ever wear jeans as pants or jacket
• Wear boots
• Wear brown shoes
• Wear sneakers unless you’re a famous rap artist or comedian

In my first month, someone told me that you should always aim to dress a little smarter than the dress code specified to ensure you don’t dress incorrectly. Another tip from a fellow nation member was to look back at pictures from previous events and always pay attention to the inspectors as they’ve been around a long time! I found this sage advice whenever I was in doubt about what to wear. And, if you wear dresses, buying to the knee is always a safe option!

Some further words you may see:

Kostym: Suit

Mörk kostym: Dark suit

Smoking: Smart/Casual suit

Good luck and happy gasque-ing!

/Rhianna

Usage of a unique card for a particular activity has made sure that my card wallet remains a very crowded place. Bunch of keys have become a bunch of cards. Just like a key, each card has its own functionality and we are forced to depend on them for almost every single move we make. As absurd as that may sound, it is reality and we must accept it.

/Arindam

Maybe you heard about it or maybe you seen it in a film, but you probably still kinda don’t believe that it’s actually a thing. If you don’t have it on your bucket list, by the end of this post it will appear there. Yes, I’m writing about skating on a frozen lake!

I’m pretty sure you noticed that Swedes never waste a ray of sunshine – no matter what season it is. In spring ice cream trucks and outside tables appear when snow is still covering the trees. In summer the lunch break is also a sunbathing break (careful, you may trip over your laying-on-the grass coworker) that lasts as long as autumn allows. Now, during winter, we have festival of winter sports, practiced either outdoors or indoors. If you are not used to practicing sports when snow or ice is involved, I suggest you give it a try!

The place I paid visit to lays around 40 minutes’ drive from Uppsala and is called Fjällnora friluftsområde. It’s a recreational area where you can find cottages for renting, playgrounds, campfire places and sauna. In summertime you can bathe in the lake and barbecue afterwards, in the wintertime though… This is where the fun starts.

Sweden is a country with consistent, cold winters which turn shallower lakes into skating rinks. Everybody knows how to skate The ice is thick, safe and well prepared – where I visited there are 12 km of cleared ‘lake paths’ with smaller loops (in case you are not ready to take the big one, or you don’t have time for it). The skates that are used on the lake are a little bit different from what I’ve expected, first you put on ‘special shoes’ and then assemble ‘the blade’. On ice they are very stable and it feels like taking skis to the ice. Also, I noticed that skating with those is slower which makes it simpler for beginners.

The site has a reception where I rented mine, the renal is usually open form 10 till 16. There are daily updated on their facebook page.Renting out the skates (shoes + blades) costs 60 kr per hour or 180 kr per day.

After returning your equipment you can pop in to the cozy restaurant for a fika or a simple meal like soup or sandwich. The prices are ok!

How to get there? Bus 809 from Uppsala Centralstationen. Entering your bus ask for two zones. From Fjällnora bus stop walk approx. 3.5 km. The wavy main road leads from the bus stop to the site, but I still recommend Goggle maps. I didn’t try hitchhiking, but that was quite tempting while walking on the side of the road.

So, did you update your bucket list?

/Adrianna

Uppsala University was last week named Europe’s seventh most beautiful university when Times Higher Education listed the ten most beautiful universities in Europe:

1. University of Bologna, Italy
2. University of Salamanca, Spain
3. University of Coimbra, Portugal
4. University of Rostock, Germany
5. Aarhus University, Denmark
6. Gdansk University of Technology, Poland
7. Uppsala University, Sweden
8. Grenoble Alpes University, France
9. Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland
10. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

Anyone who has ever been to Uppsala and seen the city for themselves know that Times Higher Education were absolutely right to include Uppsala in their list. However, for those who are still eager to visit Uppsala for the first time and see the UU campus areas for themselves, I thought I would talk a little bit about the different campus areas and university buildings that make Uppsala University one of the most beautiful universities in Europe!

The building Times Higher Education refers to the most in their ranking is the university’s main building, which was inaugurated in 1887 and was built in a Romanesque Renaissance style (with many columns, statues and a whole lotta marble). In the middle of the building is the grand auditorium, which seats about 1800 people (on notoriously uncomfortable chairs, bring a pillow to sit on for longer events). The university building is still, despite its magnificent and historic environment, frequently used for lectures, events and academic ceremonies. There is for example the conferring of degrees, when those who received their doctor’s degrees during the past year receive their doctor’s hat or wreath of laurels. The ceremony includes firing cannons (this is done outside without actual cannonballs), Latin and people wearing ball gowns and white ties.

Photo: Aishvarya Tandon

The auditorium of the university main building
Photo: David Naylor

While Uppsala is the home to many historic university buildings, there are also new ones being built to meet the changing needs if the university along with its staff and students. The single newest UU building is the Segerstedt Building, which houses the university management and administration staff. It also houses a Service Centre where students can get help with most of their questions related to being a student in Uppsala. The Segerstedt Building is located in the middle of one of Uppsala’s most historic areas, next to both the Uppsala Castle and the Botanical Gardens. Down the street is the Evolutionary Biology Centre, which also houses the Museum of Evolution.

The Segerstedt Building
Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt

Before the university central administration moved to the Segerstedt Building, they were spread out at a number of different addresses in Uppsala, but the university management had their offices in a building popularly known as Skandalhuset, or in English “The Scandalous Building”. It is located across the street from the university main building and got its name because of the scandal that arose in the 1910s when people realized that the newly constructed building was taller that the university main building. This was of course unacceptable, and consequently, Skandalhuset got its name. Since then, quite a few buildings that are higher than the university main building have been constructed, but Skandalhuset remains the most scandalous building in Uppsala, at least when looking at what the building is called.

Carolina Rediviva.
Photo: Stewen Quigley

Auditoriums and central administrations are important to have, but what university would be complete without a library? All campus areas at Uppsala University have their own libraries, but the central university library is called Carolina Rediviva and is located at the top of the Carolina hill in the middle of Uppsala. Its construction was completed in 1841 and used to house not only the university library, but also functioned as the university main building until our current one was inaugurated a few decades later. Nowadays Carolina Rediviva is not only the home to thousands of meters of bookshelves, it also houses the university library’s cultural heritage collections. While parts of Carolina Rediviva are being rebuilt until 2019, students are still welcome to sit in the library and study, though it might be a bit noisier than it usually is.

Reading room in Carolina Rediviva
Photo: Magnus Hjalmarsson

These are of course only a few of the Uppsala University buildings that contribute to Uppsala University’s place at Times Higher Education’s list. If you want to explore all of our campus areas, you can do so at the Uppsala University Campus Guide: http://www.uu.se/en/campus/#/

/Cecilia

I remember the day I arrived in Sweden. The very first thing that amazed was the stunning sunrise in Malmö right next to the Öresund bridge. After I began my day in Malmö I started moving towards the coast to take a ferry from Oskarshamn to Visby. I could see a beautiful nature, never-ending forests and all these cute red houses which are so typical for Sweden. 🙂

When I arrived in Gotland, I realized was going to live on the island for the following 10 months. It was something completely new to me and also a bit weird seeing a little dot in the middle of the Baltic sea and realizing I was 150 kilometres from the mainland.

However, I fell in love with Visby! It feels like being on holiday for 10 months. J Okay, it is not a real holiday because our master programme in Sustainable Management is only one year, so it is quite intense but where else to study sustainability than on this green island? Moreover, I can enjoy all the beautiful sunsets almost every day because Visby is considered the sunniest place in Sweden. J (and the TripAdvisor does not lie).

What I really love about Sweden is fika. No matter what, there is always a time for fika! And after I learned how to fika, it has gained much more importance to me. It is not just a word, it is a very significant part of the Swedish culture and it is not a surprise that Swedes are one of the greatest coffee consumers in the world (since I moved to Sweden, my addiction to coffee has heavily increased and I have to say that I highly contribute to the statistics).

What surprised me about Sweden? Haha, I would say all the typical Swedish dishes which are actually not Swedish. Halloumi cheese, tacos and ice cream! My Swedish flatmate cooked tacos for us on one of our first days in Visby and I was sort of confused whether I moved to Mexico or Sweden.

Now, I am heading towards the end of my studies, but I have been having a very good time in Gotland so far and can highly recommend this place to everyone, who wants to be focused on their studies, being engaged with other people (campus is super small, so you always encounter the same people which is nice!), enjoy a bit of the student’s life and getting lost in tiny streets of Visby! 🙂

/Karolína

Cleaning days, cooking food, bar work, late nights, serving dishes, washing up. All unpaid, all mandatory, altogether. The life of a clubworker is not glamorous, it’s not flashy or prestigious, it’s not for everyone. But what it is – is a rewarding and incredibly fun collective experience. The people you work with become your best friends, the people you serve are your nation’s members, your course friends, your co-workers.

Like the minions in ‘Despicable Me’ they are the hard-working cogs in the system that help the nation run the way it does. They are the ones that contribute to the successes of gasques and other formal nation events, they train to be bartenders, pub managers and cooks and go on to be active members and full-timers at the nation. You’d be hard-pressed to find a curator or full-timer at a nation who didn’t initially start as a club worker…  it’s almost a rite of passage.

In my first few weeks at my nation I had no idea what a club worker was – I had some idea that they were the people that ran the events at the nation. It was only when senior members started to tell me stories about how they made their best friends at the nation through the club work. Adventures involving workers weekends, New Years parties, after-gasque parties, sexas. You put in long hours and work very hard, you give the nation your all for one, two or even three semesters, depending how involved you get.

The team working a gasque

We had keys to the house, locked up at the end of the night. I was a part of a select group of people who understood so much more about each other, I knew what their work ethic was like, what their dreams were, what their approach to their studies were. When you work alongside someone in this setting it’s very easy to really know a person. They’ll be some of my closest friends for a long while to come. There are many after cleaning day Sexas that I’ll remember for a long time to come (the bits I can remember at least!).

Work hard – play hard. That should be the motto of the club worker. We work, but in return we can attend the KMK Sexa and the KMK Ball – these are collective nation experiences and heaps of fun. Also, although every nation is different, almost all clubworkers receive a ‘KK card’ – the elusive, all access, never paying card that lets you skip the queue of most clubs, 04s or other evening nation events with a guest. If you manage to find time when not working, it’s the best benefit to utilise. We worked together to organise great nights out with a large group and a guest each.

The team I shared my time with was fantastic, and I’ll miss working with them a great deal.

/Rhianna

When I told people that I was coming to Sweden to pursue a master’s degree, I got 2 questions;

1. Why Sweden?
2. Why Gotland?

Sweden can be answered simply enough, with beautiful people, great universities and everyone able to speak English! Plus studying Sustainable Management, Sweden has green policies galore such as journeying towards fossil fuel free energy and proactive recycling measures.

But Gotland?

To those who don’t know, Uppsala University has a campus on Gotland. When I saw my programme took place at Campus Gotland, I wondered what was significant about this campus being the other programmes didn’t mention a location. Of course, a quick search points to this big island in the Baltic Sea.

Having decided to come to Visby the main town of Gotland some 90 kilometres from the mainland, I wondered about island life. Things like whether there would be a supermarket sprung to mind. Waiting at Nynäshamn harbour terminal to journey across the Baltic, all I could see was a big white wall out the window, I thought who would put that there? Turns out that this great steel wall was in fact the ferry that was going to take me to Gotland. I guess I wasn’t the only person going to be on the island with a ship that large. I was not alone in my romanticised view of an idyllic rural life on the island, my roommate brought 6 months of supplies on the ferry! Our worries were in vain finding multiple supermarkets!

Does one go mad with fresh air on the island or what is there to do? There’s activities ranging from climbing walls in old warehouses, saunas where you can dip in the Baltic sea if you’re inclined to losing toes, movie nights in an ecovillage and afternoon tea in full Sunday best before a visit to one of the longest caves in Sweden.

Although there are plenty of activities to keep one entertained, it is still a small place and requires some creativity to keep yourself busy. Visby is a tourist hotspot during the summer but a different, far more chilled out, place during the academic term. Usually we have some nice homecooked dinners and fika on quiet days! I knew this before coming and was looking forward to a change in pace from the hectic lifestyle I was leaving behind.

Visby consistently ranks as one of the sunniest places in Sweden. Being Sweden, this may not be a feat worth bragging about yet I’ve grown a real appreciation of the sun, especially the orangey red reflections across the sea it as it sets. Everyone has their own spot for the sunsets and whether it be from the waterfront, cliffs or across the city, you can’t but be awed by its beauty.

Travelling is one pursuit I haven’t really engaged in here. Even with the youth fare (25 years old and under) on transport, it’s still a chunk out of the student budget. This has meant that people tend to stay in Visby rather than breaking off into groups for weekend getaways. I have managed to explore other parts of the island too and got up to see the famous Rauk’s (limestone sea stacks) of Fårö.

Hygge is distinctively Danish, but as a Swede once told me it’s a concept that is very Swedish too. It can be used in a variety of situations from dinner with friends to me-time curled up under a heap of blankets, candles lit and book in hand. Hygge (pronounced hue-guh) doesn’t have an exact translation into English but can be interpreted as cosiness. Gotland to me is the epitome of Hygge!

As I write this in my home town of Dublin I am looking forward to going back to the Scandi chilled lifestyle I’ve come to embrace. The days will be getting longer and warmer, so bring on semester two!

/Daniel