Last autumn, I had the opportunity to participate in the Double Degree Program with Lund University. Specifically, I took part in their Finance program, by taking four courses in the first semester of the academic year. While some of the courses were similar to those I took in Groningen, I still learned a lot, as the program had a more quantitative approach. The program put a lot of emphasis on learning and using Python in a Finance environment, which is a very valuable skill to have. Additionally, the university encouraged participating in extracurricular activities, such as joining a Research & Analysis group at LINC (an organization comparable to FSG in Groningen). I joined the Trading and Quantitative Research term, where I worked together with a quantitative asset management company from Malmö, which was a very valuable and interesting experience.

Besides academic activities, there was also time to engage in cultural activities. Lund is located right next to Denmark, so it was possible to make multiple trips to Copenhagen, for example to watch one of Denmark’s games during the 2022 World Cup. Additionally, we also visited Sweden’s second biggest city, Göteborg, as it is only a 2.5 hour drive away. Finally, we also visited Swedish Lapland, and saw the northern lights. 

Lund itself is also a very fun place to be as an international student. There are multiple student ‘nations’, all with different focus points, for example music, or sports. These nations organize multiple activities every week, and are very open to international students. I joined a nation together with the other Dutch students from Groningen doing this program, and met a lot of new people that way, from a lot of different countries. 

The cost of living in Sweden is quite high, especially compared to the Netherlands. Additionally, a study abroad is a great time to engage in cultural activities, and discover new places, which can get expensive as well. The grant provided by the GUF has helped me out a lot financing this, and I am very thankful to the GUF for handing out the grant. It has definitely made my experience abroad even better.