BSI's Abroad - Sweden
Fall 2017 | Study Abroad | Audra Christophersen | BSI 2nd Year
Living
and learning in Uppsala, Sweden has been the experience of a lifetime. Through
the University of Michigan’s own CGIS program, I set out to complete an
exchange year at Uppsala University. When I arrived in Uppsala in August 2017,
I had one year of BSI studies under my belt. As a BSI student, I spend most of
my time in Uppsala at the Informationsteknologiskt Centrum, or the Information
Technology Center (ITC). The university has Human-Computer Interaction and
Information Systems programs, so I have been taking most of my courses through
these departments.
My
class schedule changes weekly, something I had to get used to. Typically, the
first few meetings of a course are lectures. As the course continues on, I have
less lectures, and more interactive classes, like seminars, labs, and
workshops. Most of my courses have semester-long projects. Last semester, in my
IT and Society course, our class collaborated with the Uppsala Akademiska
Sjukhuset (Uppsala Academic Hospital). We were tasked at helping design a
possible system to track hospital assets, like surgeons and wheelchairs (you’d
be surprised by how difficult it can be for staff to locate a wheelchair). From
conducting research on tracking technologies, to interviewing medical and
non-medical personnel, to observing staff in the workplace, this project took a
lot of time and effort. At the end of the course, we presented our report and
findings at the hospital in front of a variety of people: the course
instructors, hospital staff, and more. It was fun, engaging, and (occasionally)
challenging to work on a large project with a real client.
One
of my favorite Swedish traditions is fika. In simple terms, fika is a coffee
break. To quote the official site of Sweden, “Fika is much more than having a coffee. It is a social
phenomenon, a legitimate reason to set aside a moment for quality time. Fika
can happen at any time, morning as well as evening. It can be savoured at home,
at work or in a café. It can be with colleagues, family, friends, or someone
you are trying to get to know. It is a tradition observed frequently,
preferably several times a day” (https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/fika/). I
frequently meet up with friends between or after classes for fika. In the
middle of meetings, there are typically fika breaks. Even my courses have
mid-class fika breaks where students (and the instructors!) grab a quick
coffee.
With
all of this in mind, I am excited to return to Ann Arbor in the Fall and apply
what I have learned in Uppsala to my studies in the School of Information.
