Umeå and me

Sunday 20th August 2006 was the first time I set foot in Umeå.  It had not been my first choice for an Erasmus exchange, I had actually been due to study in America for the year but politics within my home university meant that it would not be possible.  So with not a lot of time to choose, I told my study advisor that I liked the idea of studying in Sweden.  This wasn't really grounded in anything other than that I liked the "idea" of Sweden.  His reply to me was that if I wanted to do my Erasmus exchange in Sweden, than the best place to choose would be Umeå... and with only that conversation I decided I would leave Ireland for a year and study in the North of Sweden.

In the months before arriving I read as much information about Umeå as I could and by the time I got on the plane in Dublin, I couldn't wait to arrive.  I arrived in Umeå on a Sunday afternoon and went for a walk downtown.  After walking for about 20 minutes around downtown Umeå I had only encountered two people.  Every shop was also closed.  I felt like I was in a ghost town and I immediately thought "Brian... what have you done, you have to stay here for an entire year!!"

Thankfully the next morning at the orientation course it was explained to me that the Swedish students had not arrived, and the only people in Umeå were the locals living here and the international students taking the orientation course.  As the weeks went on, I continued to meet more and more people from every country over the world and my initial fear went away as over 30,000 students descended on the city.  

I initially came to Umeå to do an Erasmus exchange, but as anybody who has come here will tell you, it is so much more than just studying.  I had lived, loved and partied in Umeå amongst some amazing people from around the world and when I left at the end of my Erasmus exchange I thought that would be the last time I was in Umeå.

I went back to Dublin where I completed by bachelor degree in Business and Management.  After this I worked for a year in two different sales companies, however I wasn't satisfied with the direction my life was going.  I have always had a keen interest in entrepreneurship and I began to look at Masters programs that would increase my knowledge in this area.  No matter what program I looked at, I always came back to the Umeå University webpage.  There is no doubt that the Erasmus exchange had made a huge impact on me and ultimately I applied for the masters program in Business Development and Internationalisation and was accepted!

So after never thinking I would be back... I arrived again in Umeå on the 24th August 2009.  Hopefully over the two months that I will write this blog, I will be able to give you an insight into my experiences and my perspective on life here in Umeå!

Keep reading :)