Written by Supritha
29 Apr 2018
Studying in Sweden, entails a lot of things from a world class education, to making your place in a global community, to creating a milestone in your professional career, but it also entails the opportunities to travel throughout Europe! This is my second year in Sweden, and right now, I am taking a small vacation with my family who came to visit me! 😀 we are travelling around Europe and here is some information about travelling through Europe as a student of a Swedish University!
– You don’t have to get a visa to travel to most countries in Europe!
As a international student studying in Swede, you will be issued a residence permit while coming to study in Sweden. And this residence permit, will allow you to travel within Europe (All EU Schengen countries) , without applying for a separate visa!
– Driving!
You can easily rent a car and travel by road to different counties easily! All you need is a residence permit, and a valid licence. Taking road trips with friends is an awesome way to bond and to travel as well!
– Student and youth discounts!
Tickets for tourist attractions could be quite expensive for a student, but worry not, since your Swedish Student ID will get you discounts in most places 😀
– Food choices!
This is a heads up to all the vegetarians out there: As a vegetarian living in Sweden, I’ve not had any issues finding vegetarian or vegan option in most restaurants. But, in the south of Europe , like France, it is not so common to find vegetarian food. So you’ll have to learn to live off grocery stores during your travels, with bread and some make-shift food. Of course, there will be some options in a few restaurants but it is not easy to find vegetarian food as in Sweden.
– Off season travel can save a ton of money!
As a student it is not easy to spend a lot of money during travel. Here’s a small tip – Europe in general is very beautiful, but it is at it’s best during Spring and Summer. However, travelling during winter can save a lot of money.
– Travel within Europe and within cities!
There are many ways to travel. Cross-country in bus is one of the cheapest ways. There are other options ranging from driving, to trains, to ferries to flights! All countries in Europe are highly connected. And each city, especially the big ones, have a great public transport network. The public transport networks in most cities work similar to Sweden, so it feels very comfortable to travel within other cities in Europe! And again, there are student discounts for public transport as well 😀
– Weekend travels!
If you don’t have a lot of time to travel, there are many options to take a small weekend trip! You can take ferries to countries close-by! Riga, Finland, Estonia etc and the best weekend getaways, and they are very VERY affordable!
/Your Swe-desi Seafarer signing off 🙂
