Lund University International Podcast

Tim Parker (TP): Hello and welcome to the Lund University International Podcast. On the show we aim to give you a taste of what international student life is like, as we speak to current students, alumni, teachers and many more special guests. My name is Tim Parker, I'm an International Communications Officer here at Lund University. And today we are talking about the Lund University International Instagram account. And we have some very special guests with us here in the studio. So first of all, we have Alejandra

Alejandra Maguiña Angeles (AMA): Hello, everyone. My name is Alejandra. I'm from Peru. I'm 25 years old, and I'm currently the Instagram ambassador for the Lund University Instagram account.

TP: Nice, so currently in your week right now?

AMA: Exactly.

TP: Perfect. Although I'm guessing when we air this episode, your week might be over.

AMA: Yeah.

TP: But it's live right now. And beside you we have Dom?

Dominik Mazur (DM): Hey, my name is Dominik. I come from the Czech Republic. I'm 25 years and... yeah I'm 25 years old. Then I did actually my Instagram ambassador week right before Alejandra, so you might probably know me already.

TP: Nice. And then both weeks went exceptionally well. Or are also going well.

AMA: Thank you very much.

DM: Cheers.

AMA: I really enjoyed your week, Dom. It was really nice.

DM: Thank you. I'm really enjoying yours so far, so...

AMA: Thank you.

DM: You're off to a good start. And let's see, let's see how you end it up.

TP: Positive vibes all around. And we have a full studio today. We also have one other guest.

Lukrecija Vaisyte (LV): Yes. Hi, I'm Lukrecija and I am from Lithuania, currently studying Environmental Management and Policy. So with the Instagram account I work as the coordinator of the ambassadors and I also did my take-over in early September. Yeah, but you guys really went off the good start in the spring semester. You were one of the two first ambassadors after the winter break, so that's really refreshing to see faces again.

DM: Yeah, yeah, I remember I actually wanted to sign up already in the first semester. I remember texting to someone on the... on the account who was already taken. I think someone was taking over at the time. I was like, "Hey guys, I want to join, I want to, I want to do this". And then I got a message from you.

DM: I don't know who was it, but yeah, there's going to be... there's going to be like a option for you to sign up. Like we don't do ad hoc, but we do this. So once I saw it, I signed up.

AMA: Exactly. I remember, Tim, you told me that I was the first one who applied to be an Instagram ambassador.

TP: That's right.

AMA: And it made me feel so special!

DM: Did you wait for it to come out?

AMA: I literally did not. But I just saw the Instagram story because I think you posted it to the Instagram account, right? Like "you can apply here". So I did it, and it was all natural. I think it was destined to be.

LV: And now you're here with us. Here we are.

AMA: Yeah.

LV: So maybe we should tell the people who don't really know what is our Instagram account about? So I'll introduce it a little bit. So it's the international Lund University account, meaning it's aimed at the prospective international students. But of course we have like 43,000 followers to this day, and most of them are probably prospective students, but it also includes the current students and alumni. Some of the staff. And how it works these days is that we have international Instagram ambassadors like Alejandra and Dom taking over week by week and showcasing their student life in Lund, and we try to get to like different students coming from like different countries doing different programmes.

LV: So we get like a good variety of advice and kind of personal insight into Lund.

TP: Nice summary. And there's also at the beginning of every semester, a #HeyLundUni hashtag competition as well to capture that excitement of arriving in Lund.

DM: You did a reel, right?

AMA: Yeah, I did a reel.

DM: I had a photo.

LV: Perfect. On the bike, on the bike in front of the library of course.

TP: Variation on a classic theme.

AMA: Yeah. I think the account is very valuable for international students. I followed the account before applying to Lund University, and I really think it helped me to know more about student life and accommodation... How is the Nations thing here, for me, it was very valuable. I don't know about you?

DM: For me, I mean, my application process was kind of chaotic, but not because of the uni, but because of myself! So I didn't really reach out to the uni account until I was actually here. So, so for me it was different. But I can see how it must have been valuable to see like, how is the life here and, and the Nations and stuff.

TP: For sure. For sure. And yeah, I mean you've both recently had your takeovers and they were both fantastic. You can really see some highlights of student life at Lund and also not just at university but on the weekends and all the aspects of life as an international student. So Dom you've had some fantastic reels about the things you've been doing in and around Lund, do you want to...?

DM: Yeah, sure, I can share. I mean, I think I would like to share maybe the whole thing, how I approached it, because for me it was my programme. I study Entrepreneurship and Innovation and it's relatively busy. So by the time I got into this ambassadorship, I was like, "Wow, this is exciting!" And now as it was approaching, I was like, "Oh my God, I've got so much to do and I also have this ambassadorship...!" And I tried to, like, plan everything, but you know how it goes with planning, like, you plan it and then you leave it to the last minute anyway, at least that's me.

LV: But I saw your good, like, plan and it was like very perfectly... I mean Alejandra didn't stay behind with planning as well.

AMA: Yeah, me too. I, like, I think I wanted to portray my everyday life. I think it's important for international students, prospective international students to get to know a little bit more of my daily activities. But I also enjoy a lot how [to Dom] you did your reel with this nature thing, the hiking and the recommendations and the cafes, I think that's very valuable as well.

DM: I pretty much just sum up what I've been up to, what I, like, it's my interests, right? So I just wanted to share what are the options, and I know that maybe not everyone will enjoy hikes, but there was also coffee places I enjoy and yeah, places in Lund even like you can just visit, which I found really nice.

DM: So I had some good... some comments from the people, that... yeah, "thanks for sharing the cafes, thanks for sharing the trips" and stuff. So hopefully, hopefully yeah people can take something from it.

AMA: Yes, I have received a lot of questions as well, people from all over the world. They really think the information we share... they value a lot of information. So I think it's very interesting for us to let them know a little bit more.

LV: Yeah. And you get this peer to peer experience, when who they ask is current students. It doesn't feel like as remote maybe as staff sometimes could feel.

AMA: Exactly. And it's not that we're trying to portray a perfect life because we all have ups and downs from time to time, but it's important for them to know that it's really good to be a student in Lund, and that's what we're trying to share.

DM: But back to you Tim, as you asked about the reels. I mean, we know reels are well, it's like, it's what the algorithm likes at the moment, right?

TP: That's right.

DM: So obviously, like, we we enjoy them as well, at least like I enjoy creating them, but man, they take so much time.

All: They do!

TP: I mean, I can tell from how high quality they are, like "Damn, these guys put a lot of effort into their reels!" They're really, really nice.

AMA: Yeah. And it really helped me to meet with you Lukrecija, to really plan it. Yeah. You gave me some ideas so it was really good.

LV: That's really nice.

TP: Then that's a good point to also know that when you're an ambassador, we have an interim ambassador coordinator who's there supporting you the whole way through helping with tips and planning as well.

LV: That's me! No but it's really nice, like I'm staying in touch with the ambassadors every week, like every day of their week and before that. So it's really nice to see Dom now after he took over, but we're still now in touch at least a little bit on different projects or just, yeah, you can just meet for coffee afterwards as well.

DM: Yeah I have to say it's super helpful to have you, like, on side, to know I can just reach out to you. Like I didn't fortunately have many problems, but I remember there was some messages. It's like I was, "what do I say?" You're like, "I don't know". So you could take over and help me out there as well. Which is helpful.

AMA: Yeah exactly, and right now I'm sharing, for example, my process of looking for a job here, and that's a topic that many people are very interested in. So yeah, I think it helps us to stay in touch with prospective students.

DM: Are you looking for a job after uni or during uni?

AMA: Right now because classes finish in March.

DM: Okay.

AMA: So for my programme, so... I would prefer to have a job right now.

DM: Yeah okay.

TP: Nice, proactive approach. I like it. Yeah, I'm just. I mean, I'm looking here at your most recent reel Alejandra as well. It's really a nice tour of the main Lund University library.

AMA: Inside!

TP: Inside for once, yeah!

AMA: I remember meeting with Lukrecija, she helped me actually! Yeah, it was really nice. I came up with that idea with a friend and yeah, I think it's very interesting to also show how it is inside because we all see these incredible pictures about the building outside. Yeah, outside. But then inside is also amazing. Yeah. And I also spend a lot of time there. So that's why.

TP: It's your study spot?

AMA: Sometimes from time to time, yeah.

TP: Yeah, it got... that building got voted to be the most beautiful building in Sweden in an online poll.

DM: She got those likes.

TP: It's a highly photographed building!

DM: Yeah, it is, I have a lot of photos of it.

TP: Yeah, as we can see from your take over as well. And Dom, you also went live during your week? You did an IG Live about Spark Lund, tell us about that?

DM: So first of all, what is Spark? Spark is a student-led coaching service. We are basically, it's not part of our programme, but we are students all from my programme, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and we're trying to help students that have some business idea to come to us and be, you know, show them how they can develop their business models, how they look for the value and how they can test it and whatever.

DM: So that's our main goal. And we actually had a kickoff event on Wednesday when I was taking over the Instagram account. So I thought it would be amazing, once for Spark, but also for the students to know that there is something, something like that. So we tried to do, yeah, IG Live.

AMA: Perfect timing!

DM: Yeah. It was perfect timing, to be honest. And so we just yeah, we just did, we talked a little bit about that. We were a little bit afraid because we didn't properly try in like a noisy area before, and then we started recording. There was no one in the hall, but then the lectures finished and everybody was just like, going in and it was getting busy. And we were like, "Okay, do you think they're going to hear anything or not?" So we have to put the phone all the way up to the face, just to be sure!

TP: It worked out fine.

AMA: Yeah, yeah. And I'm also checking the private messages and many people is asking when are the applications going to be open for the next round of Instagram ambassadors.

TP: Nice. Well, in April.

AMA: Oh, nice.

TP: Which means it's perfect timing. Yeah. We've been getting lots of... a lot of emails coming in since you guys have done your weeks of people wanting to be ambassadors. So you're inspiring everyone. And Lukrecija, we should not forget that you also had a very good week last semester as well.

LV: Yeah. Yeah, I think I was the first one in the in September, so it was like after the summer break because during the summer holidays and winter holidays, no one is taking over. But we give ambassadors time off as well. So yeah, so then the content is just curated. But so then as I started as the coordinator of the ambassadors, I also took over.

LV: So yeah, that was fun. I remember the week was way busier than I initially expected. You know, it's like second week of my Masters, head all in. But yeah, it was, it was fun and like I'm the... how to call it, commuter student, I live in Malmö, so I could show a little bit about that. Yeah it was fun.

AMA: Yeah I get that. I'm also trying to plan a lot of activities for this week to show people what we do. I'm having a lunch with... I shouldn't probably say this, but I'm having a lunch this Saturday with some friends from Latin America because I also want to show that we are many from Latin America here. I've been receiving a lot of questions around that. "How many Latin Americans are there in Lund?"

LV: How many? As if you know exactly the number?

AMA: At least in my programme, I'll show them!

LV: It's nice to show that, okay, you're in Lund, you are immersed in Swedish culture, but you can also find a little bit of your home.

AMA: Exactly. [To Dom] Do you...

DM: Aha, funny story.

LV: I was asking about the Czech... just yesterday.

DM: Funny story. Yeah, we had a meeting yesterday with the Czech guys because I like, I don't know anyone. I don't know anyone from the Czech Republic here. Like, I wasn't actively looking or, like, trying to search. Nothing against Czech people, don't get me wrong. I was just like, no, I was just hanging out with my peers from my class.

DM: But then as I took over the Instagram ambassadorship, people were reaching out like, "Oh, so I'm not the only one here!" Yeah, yeah, you're not, there's more of us. And then yesterday we met over coffee just to see who was actually here. So I first thought maybe it would be mostly Erasmus students or on their exchange, but it was actually students who study their masters here as well. So. So it's nice. Yeah.

LV: Speak your own language, you know, mother tongue?

DM: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

AMA: What about Lukrecija, do you have...?

LV: Lithuanians?

AMA: Yeah.

LV: Yeah, there's quite a few, but... okay, "quite a few". Not that many, but I feel like I do sometimes from time to time, like on purpose, kind of try to find some Lithuanians. Like I would post on my Instagram accounts or ask my friends, "do they know any Lithuanians?" and suggest that we could, you know, speak the language or celebrate some of the national holidays together.

LV: So that's always fun. But also, I think when you take over and you say where you're from, you often get the comments or DMs saying, "Woohoo, I'm also from this country!" So it's... I guess that's why we behind the scenes are trying to get like as diverse a set of ambassadors for the semester so that everyone feels represented, but also that, you know, you can kind of increase your community or whatever.

DM: Talking about representation, I had a really nice comment from one girl from Bosnia because me and my friends, we went over for a weekend to Bosnia-Herzegovina and she's like, "Oh, this is so nice that, you know, you're showcasing Bosnia-Herzegovina on your account! We're quite a small country," and stuff, so it was kind of nice. It's even like a one post on a story can have an influence on someone like making their day or whatever.

(All): Yeah, exactly.

TP: That's awesome. That's really nice. And I mean, like, as you guys are talking about the international environment at Lund, you can really see that on the account. We've had so, so many ambassadors from so many different countries. I'm also thinking about the ambassador that was on the week before you, from Ghana?

AMA: She was amazing. I totally love her.

TP: Her reels were so wholesome and inspirational, and made me want to go back and be an international student all over again. Really, really enjoyable.

AMA: It's a really good experience because when you, as you said, one year from now you're going to go back to the Lund University account and you can say "Oh, I did it!"

LV: "That's me!"

AMA: "That was the best week ever!"

TP: And at the time you were like, "God dammit, there's so many messages!"

LV: But then you remember the good things, you know.

DM: And it's like, I remember taking over from Diana. I was like, "Oh man, she, you know, she's got the game!"

AMA: Yeah, I felt the pressure as well! Everyone gets pressure from the week before.

TP: And like I mean Diana also looked like so relaxed and calm all the time and I'm like "Okay, you just made like seven amazing reels. But you look like you're chilling with your friends the whole time."

LV: Well I mean, I study with Diana, actually; we call her our Insta - no, not Instagram, our programme influencer generally. I feel like it's a thing like she likes doing it on a daily basis anyway. And so taking over for her was like another day, you know?

DM: Actually, yeah. If you guys want to follow their programme, she, she's still posting something.

(All): Yeah.

DM: I'm following and watching what... yesterday you went to some place?

LV: Yeah, we did. We went to Höganäs.

TP: Nice, nice. What did you do there?

LV: We were at a steel powder plant. So where they make steel powder. Yeah. That was pretty interesting. The most like dusty and dirty study visit ever. Like I came home and I felt like "oof", but it was fun, like one hour trip a bus and then like, really in the industry you see steel powder.

AMA: Yeah in my case for example my friends helped me with some content. I don't know if in your case the same or did you... did it by yourself.

DM: With the Spark, Spark Live? Yeah, I had help.

AMA: Yeah! It's a good opportunity also to engage all the people in your Master's, your programme.

LV: Or your corridor.

AMA: Exactly, they become part of this. It's a great experience for anyone who surrounded you.

LV: And everyone gets happy that you're kind of representing the programme as well. So yeah. And then they're like, "Oh yeah, can you feature me on your lunch or something?" Yeah, I know really, that happened. But it's like in a nice way so it's awesome.

DM: I was working on my thesis during the week and my like programme project basically, and I was always like, "smile, you're on the Lund University account!" And I had my, my partner for the thesis, her mum, she comes from Lund but she lives in the US now. And like she basically saw it on the...

LV: So she follows the account?

DM: Yeah. Now she follows the account because she was like "oh I saw you the account." And I was like "oh, all right". So she saw her on the account and was like "what are you doing on there?"

LV: So when I introduced the account and I said who are the followers then yeah, parents as well are the followers.

DM: Yeah, yeah.

AMA: Oh yeah, I received a message from a mom from Peru. She reached out to my personal account. She wanted to know some information, but yeah, parents, they follow the account.

LV: Yeah, it's for the parents too, you know, not just the prospective students.

DM: Yeah.

TP: The parents are out there watching. And for anyone that was watching your week, Dom, they would have seen a lot of hiking that you've done. So looks like you have a pretty good idea of outdoor activities in Skåne and Sweden?

DM: Yeah, I try to. Like, I really enjoy outdoors overall, like in my life. So I was ultimately looking for what is here to do when I came here. So we actually just looked up the national parks around here and like always try to see how we can get there easily with public transport because none of us have a car or like, cannot get easily around here. And the public transport here is amazing so you can get anywhere where you want with it.

TP: Good to know. Public transport in and around Lund is fantastic.

DM: Yeah. So yeah, there's a lot of a lot of places that you can visit. I have to say it's quite flat. So no mountains, which is a shame, but on the other hand, it's super nice nature just to go on a weekend and turn off from all of the studies and everything is just awesome.

TP: Switch off from Instagram for an hour or two, perhaps. Or not!

DM: Not during the ambassador week!

AMA: How many ambassadors are there for each round?

TP: There's usually about 15 to 17 each semester. So yeah.

AMA: And as you said, you try to like select people from a variety of backgrounds.

TP: Yeah. Exactly. So when we... when the ambassadors are selected during the application period, we make sure we get a representation from as many programmes and countries as we can. Which is pretty easy because Lund is super international, as you've already said. So there's usually students were about 130 different countries in Lund each year. So getting a diverse range of ambassadors is...

DM: Is it true that the most of the internationals come mostly for Master's, or is there actually higher percentage for Bachelors?

TP: Well, there's 130 international Master's programmes and only nine international Bachelor's, so...

LV: That makes sense.

DM: That makes sense.

TP: And I think you also, you guys, you already touched on, you can really showcase different events and different things going on in Lund and around Lund. I think that's a really good way for prospective students and even current students to get inspired, right, because there's so many extracurricular activities at Lund; organizations and associations that you can be part of.

TP: I think it's a really good way... and what you guys have shown so far is a really good way of showing all the things that are happening.

AMA: Yes, the Nations for starters, super important here in Lund. I think you only have them in Lund and Uppsala, right?

TP: That's right.

AMA: So it's very Lund-characterised.

LV: Yes, definitely.

DM: I mean, I personally can't say much about Nations because I don't go to many events, but I heard amazing things. I don't know why I don't take advantage of it, while I'm here.

AMA: The parties are good.

LV: And they serve good lunches as well, so you should go.

TP: Cheap lunches, good parties, perfect for student life.

TP: Well, guys, I mean, it's been fantastic to have you here in the studio today. I'm just thinking if there's anything else you want to touch on before we finish up, any inspirational words for our future students who are watching your week and thinking of coming to Lund?

AMA: Yes, I would just advise them to go for it. Applying to Lund University is a great experience. You won't regret.

DM: I can only agree I, yeah, I did actually study abroad during my Bachelor's in Sweden. I was in Jönköping, but I stopped here in Lund before and I just saw how beautiful the town is. And then I heard the amazing stuff about the University. So when I was applying for Master's, Lund was the only option for me, and it didn't disappoint and I would never regret that.

DM: So I'm really enjoying... the town when I came here, I was like, this is like, you know, like a fairy tale town, especially in summer, because I was here at the end of August and it was still like 30 degrees, for Sweden it was hot. And I was like, "Where am I?"

LV: Small streets.

TP: Cozy, cobblestone streets.

DM: I loved it. So, yeah, amazing. Super nice people from all over the place. So I can just recommend, guys.

LV: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you will find probably like all the nationalities you want from your country if you want to meet people from other countries, that's like guaranteed for you. You're not going to skip that. And then, yeah, as all of us said, there's so many activities like, you know, from parties to hikes to just all the organizations. So if you follow the account, I guess you will also learn from other future ambassadors what they are into.

AMA: Yeah.

DM: Not to be only positive... There's no IKEA in Lund!

(Laughter)

TP: There's one a ten minute drive away in Malmö.

AMA: Student budget, we can't drive! But there is public transportation.

TP: Exactly. Okay, well, there's a negative aspect of student life in Lund, although you can, you know, pick up secondhand furniture in Lund as well.

DM: No, I was mostly thinking about the IKEA meatballs, but...

AMA: Make your own, make your own!

DM: True, true, true.

TP: Well guys, thank you all so much for coming in today. It's been an absolute pleasure.

(All): Thank you.

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Lund University International Podcast. If you're interested in learning more about Lund University, you can go to our website, lunduniversity.lu.se. You can also follow us on social media on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And you can also chat with our current students on UniBuddy. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to bringing you a new episode very soon.