When I first moved to Uppsala, I had a pretty good idea of what Swedish student life would involve: lectures, fika, nations, and eventually learning to pronounce my best friend’s field of study, “sjuksköterska” without embarrassing myself.

What I didn’t really anticipate was how much of my life here would somehow end up involving sport. 

I should probably begin by making  it clear that I never moved to Sweden with plans of becoming a particularly sporty student. Yet somehow, I have returned to horse riding after a five-year break, run multiple 10Ks, become increasingly invested in university hockey, organised kubb and ice skating events for international students and learnt that the Swedish phrase “det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder” (“there is no bad weather, only bad clothing”) is less of a cute saying and more of a genuine national philosophy. 

Some of these activities required actual applications. Others required nothing more than trainers, friends or, in the case of kubb, several wooden blocks and a group of people becoming far more competitive than anyone expected. 

But they have also become some of my favourite ways of experiencing Uppsala outside of university itself. 

Apparently, Uppsala University can put you back on a horse 

Horse riding was actually the familiar part. 

I grew up riding, but by the time I was studying in Uppsala I had been out of the saddle for around five years. Riding is also not exactly the cheapest hobby to casually decide to return to on a student budget, so I assumed it would stay firmly in the category of “something past-Orla used to do”. 

Then I discovered the Uppsala University riding grants. 

Yes, this is a real thing. 

Uppsala University has had organised riding instruction since 1663, making its riding institution the second oldest in the world after the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Even better, the tradition has survived in a slightly more student-budget-friendly form: every semester the University awards riding grants consisting of 32 free lessons over 16 weeks at Akademistallet in Kvarnbo (about a 15 minute bus ride from the center of Uppsala). 

You can find the current application dates and requirements on the University’s scholarship and riding grant page. For autumn 2026, ten grants were offered, including places for both experienced riders and some reserved spots for beginners. 

After five years away, applying felt slightly ambitious. Fortunately, it turns out muscle memory is real. Unfortunately, so is the pain in muscles you had forgotten existed. 

Getting back into riding became one of the most unexpectedly special parts of my time in Uppsala. There was something really nice about having a part of my life that had nothing whatsoever to do with readings, essays or whatever deadline I was pretending not to think about that week. 

It also taught me something that I now tell other students all the time: actually read the weird university emails. 

Scholarships are not only enormous academic awards with terrifying personal statements attached. Uppsala University has more than 500 different scholarships and grants, and some of them are wonderfully specific. Sometimes university funding is for research. Sometimes, apparently, it puts you back on a horse. 

And for any fellow horse-girls wondering whether studying abroad means sacrificing half of your checked luggage allowance to riding gear: I borrowed a helmet and safety vest at Akademistallet when I started. Sweden is also very good at second-hand everything, so Facebook Marketplace and hästloppis (basically second-hand markets specifically for horse equipment) are your friends. 

Save the suitcase space. You’ll need it later. 

Hockey, beyond Off-Campus 

Horses were at least familiar territory.  Hockey was… less so.  I should probably disclose that part of my university hockey education before moving to Sweden came courtesy of Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus books rather than any meaningful study of NHL rulebooks. As it turns out, there is considerably more “icing” involved than Book-tok novels led me to believe. 

Uppsala does, however, have actual university hockey. UU Hockey represents students from across the University and competes against other Swedish universities in the Swedish University Hockey League. Their home games are played at Gränby (again about a 15 minute bus ride from the center), and, in a development that has done absolutely nothing to discourage my enthusiasm, they won the Swedish Student Championship in 2026. 

You can find more information about the team through the Uppsala Student Union’s UU Hockey page. 

One thing I like about university sport here is that you don’t necessarily have to be good at the sport to get involved with the culture around it. You can go to a game. You can bring friends. You can learn what “icing” actually is. Progress comes in many forms. 

There are even opportunities to try hockey yourself. Earlier this year, UU Hockey teamed up with Campus1477, the Student Health Service and Uppsala Student Union’s Buddy Programme for beginner-friendly sessions at Gränby where students could borrow equipment. 

So yes, I am pleased to confirm that university hockey exists even when Garrett Graham is not involved. 

Kubb: sport is a generous description, but I am including it anyway 

Then there is kubb. 

For anyone who has somehow managed to live in Sweden without being handed a wooden baton in a park, kubb is a traditional lawn game in which you throw pieces of wood at other pieces of wood until someone becomes unexpectedly emotionally invested in knocking over the king. 

I have organised kubb activities for international students, and honestly, I think things like this are an underrated part of “student sport”. 

Not everybody wants to join a competitive team. Not everybody wants a gym membership. And when you have just moved to another country, the invitation to “come play this slightly inexplicable Swedish game in the park” can be much less intimidating than “come sit in a room and make small talk with fifteen people you have never met”. 

The barrier to entry is basically zero. 

Friends + grass + wooden blocks + questionable throwing ability. 

That’s it. 

It is also one of the things I have come to really like about Uppsala student life. Being active here doesn’t necessarily mean committing yourself to a sport three nights a week. Nations, unions and student associations are constantly organising random things to try, and some of the best ones are precisely the activities nobody takes very seriously. 

Until somebody gets competitive about kubb. Which they always do. 

Running Uppsala (literally) 

Running has been the least administratively complicated chapter of this story. 

No scholarship application. No team selection. No equipment loan. 

Just trainers, an increasingly questionable Spotify playlist (Norwegian rap anyone?) and the decision to voluntarily run ten kilometres (I still don’t quite grasp the metric system). 

I have run a few 10Ks while living here, and running has turned out to be one of my favourite ways of actually getting to know Uppsala. A city starts to feel different once you know it beyond the route between your apartment, campus, your nation and ICA. 

There are paths along Fyrisån, plenty of green spaces and routes where the city very quickly starts turning into countryside. You also don’t need to be somebody who considers running alone “relaxing” (I am aware that this concept remains suspicious). 

Campus1477’s free Student Sports programme includes several different running options, including regular running sessions, social long-distance running, slower-paced running and “Run for Fun”. 

Their Student Sports page is worth bookmarking generally, because running is only a tiny part of what they organise. 

Which brings me to one of the best student tips I somehow did not know immediately. 

Campus1477 has free stuff. A lot of it. 

Most students in Uppsala know Campus1477 as the student gym. 

What I didn’t initially realise is that you can become a Student Sports Member for free, even if you don’t have a normal paid gym membership. 

The free membership gives you access to selected activities and sessions organised through Campus1477’s student sports programme. At the moment that includes things like badminton, running, pickleball, table tennis, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, yoga, social cycling and other activities. 

A small but important disclaimer before everyone cancels their gym membership on my recommendation: this is not a free Campus1477 gym membership. It gives access to the activities specifically marked as open to Student Sports members. 

Still, free is free. 

You can find out how to join on the Campus1477 Student Sports Membership page, and their events calendar is worth checking regularly because the one-off activities change throughout the semester. Most of their student sports events are free. 

Basically: before deciding that a new sport is too expensive to try, check there first. 

Then winter happens 

Eventually, of course, Uppsala gets cold. 

Sweden’s response to this appears to be that once the temperature drops below zero, everybody should simply find colder sports. 

Honestly, I respect it. 

One of the easiest winter activities to try is ice skating. For the HT26/VT27 season, students can use the public skating hours at Studenternas on Sundays from 17:00–20:00 for free, with no advance registration required. You just turn up with skates. 

“But Orla,” I hear the hypothetical international student who arrived in August from somewhere considerably warmer asking, “why would I own ice skates?” 

Excellent question. 

This is where Fritidsbanken enters the story. 

Fritidsbanken might genuinely be one of my favourite Swedish ideas. Imagine a library, except instead of checking out books, you check out sports equipment.  Anyone can borrow equipment, it is completely free, and the normal lending period is up to 14 days. What is available depends on what has been donated to your local branch. 

There is a Fritidsbanken in Industristaden in Uppsala, among other locations, and you can find the details through Fritidsbanken’s website. 

For an international student who understandably did not prioritise packing alpine skis for their move to Sweden, this is incredibly useful. 

And yes, you can go skiing 

Which brings me naturally to skiing. 

Uppsala itself is not exactly known for its majestic mountain range. This does not appear to have stopped Uppsala students. 

Campus1477, Uppsala University’s Student Health Service and Upplands Academic Sports Federation have organised student ski trips to Romme Alpin in Borlänge. The February 2026 trip was open to all students and cost 515 SEK for the return bus journey and SkiPass, with discounted ski and snowboard rental available as an extra. There were spaces for 150 students. 

I would not assume that the exact same trip or price will run every year, but this is exactly the kind of thing worth watching the Student Health Service events calendar and Campus1477 pages for once winter approaches. 

They have also organised beginner-friendly cross-country skiing in Uppsala itself, and students without their own equipment were specifically directed to borrow skis, boots and poles from Fritidsbanken. 

And look beyond the University itself. Nations, unions and student associations organise their own trips too. Uppsalaekonomerna, for example, runs an annual January ski trip to the Alps for its members. 

The moral of this section is apparently: never underestimate Swedish students’ determination to locate snow. 

So, do you need to become a “sporty person”? 

Absolutely not. 

Four years into living in Uppsala, I still wouldn’t describe sport as the defining feature of my personality. I am still considerably more qualified to discuss fictional hockey players than analyse a power play. 

But when I think about the things that have made Uppsala feel like somewhere I actually live, rather than simply somewhere I go to university, a surprising number of them have involved being active in one way or another. 

Getting back on a horse brought me back to something I had really missed. 

Running gave me a reason to explore parts of the city I otherwise might never have seen. 

Hockey gave me another way into Swedish culture (BookTok education notwithstanding). 

And something as stupidly simple as throwing wooden blocks around a park has helped me meet and bring together people from all over the world. 

So I don’t think my advice to new students is “join a sport”. 

Instead, keep one thing you already love and say yes to one thing that sounds a little ridiculous. 

Apply for the oddly specific scholarship. 

Borrow the skates. 

Run the 10K. 

Go to the hockey game even if your knowledge of university hockey begins and ends with Off-Campus. 

Keep an eye out for the ski-trip application. 

And if somebody hands you a wooden baton in Ekonomikumparken and starts explaining something about a king, just go with it. That’s Uppsala.