Charlotte Wills ‘27 decided to spend a year of high school in Sweden for several reasons, but most importantly, she wanted to experience of being on her own for a year.
“Obviously, developing my own sense of independence. I’m the only one who’s on that plane. I’m the only one of the people I knew who is in the country. So it definitely forces you to really develop your sense of independence,” Wills said. “International relations is quite big, so just learning how different countries view the US, how I view another country.”
Though she decided to do an exchange year to gain independence, Wills also had an interest in going to Sweden specifically.
“I’ve known I’ve wanted to come to Sweden for about three years now, so my reasons have kind of changed a little bit, but mainly just the culture,” Wills said. “Obviously, they have some pretty nice winters, so skiing and stuff like that.”
Wills decided to do her exchange year in Sweden because of the culture, but she has also found some aspects more difficult than she expected.
“When people say, Iowa nice or Americans are really friendly, you definitely see that when you come somewhere like Stockholm, everyone feels a little colder,” Wills said. “Everyone’s focused on what they’re doing, and small talk, that’s not a thing here. It’s keep your head down, put your headphones in and get where you’re going, which has been pretty difficult.”
To live in Stockholm, Wills prepared by learning Swedish. However, she wasn’t able to prepare for everything, which meant a bit of a learning curve when she arrived.
“[Learning a new language], of course, is a challenge. Coming here, I already knew how to read it, but we don’t have anyone who really speaks it, and definitely not natively,” Wills said. “So hearing it at the speed that native Swedes talk with their accent and everything, it’s taking quite a bit of work, but it’s all coming together.”
Living in an unfamiliar country, alone, is a completely new experience for Wills, so had know idea what to expect.
“It’s been so much unexpected every day, I feel like you can’t really go into it expecting anything, and your expectations have to be pretty low,” Wills said. “Everything is kind of a surprise, and you just [have to] have fun with it.”
