Since Uppsala is a popular university town we get a lot of posts in our sub with questions related to the university. To make things a little easier, I figured we could gather useful links and info in one post (and get it stickied by the power of our benevolent mods). So, without further ado...
The best place to start is with the university's own guide.
Housing
You can get housing through the university, the nations, or privately. The first apartment you get is usually small, not in great shape and not exactly soundproofed either, but with time you'll be able to upgrade to a better apartment. Check out these links:
* uu.se
* studentboet.se
* nationsgardarna.se
* kvalster.se
There are a number of facebook groups that could be useful too, scammers have recently started appearing though, so be weary:
* Bostad Uppsala
* Studentbostad i Uppsala
* Uppsala housing/Bostad Uppsala
The Nations
Whether you're looking to make friends, go on social gatherings, find a sports team or just straight up wanna party, you should definitely join a nation! Once you've joined one nation, you can enter them all and your membership is for life as long as you keep paying for the membership each semester. They offer jobs as well so you can earn some extra money, and it's a great place to make friends! The nations also own a large amount of student apartments, and they use a queue system for distribution. The different nations have different amounts of housing though and you have to be a member of their specific nation to be able to get access, so if finding a better apartment is your top priority you could consider joining several nations. They also use a point system, so if you choose to work at a nation you'll earn points with them that lets you get better apartments. Learn more about the nations here:
* uu.se - the student nations
* Uppsala Student Union
* Nationsguiden is a handy calendar to see when the clubs and pubs are open and if there are any events happening.
Life here
The summers can get really hot and the winters can get extremely cold. The city is pretty compact and everything is within walking or biking distance, so consider getting a bike. You can find second hand bikes on blocket.se or buy a new one from biltema or xxl. The public transport is good (though a little expensive if you ask me). When it comes to food, if you plan your meals well you can easily get by on a little less than 2000 sek monthly, or at least I did for a while. Alcohol can only be bought from Systembolaget which has some pretty inconvenient open hours, so plan your shopping. There are plenty of gyms around town with varying prices, but a lot of students stick to the university's own gym Campus 1477. Safety has been getting worse these last few years I'm afraid though, so walking around outside blackout drunk at 4 in the morning isn't risk-free anymore, like in most big cities. We have one of the biggest hospitals in the country with great service, but the waiting time at the ER can vary extremely these days. I've had some patients say that they only waited minutes to see a doctor and some for several hours. It's cheap though, so don't hesitate to get help if you're in need. There's is a lot of beautiful nature just a bike ride away and thanks to our Freedom to Roam you can forage and camp pretty much wherever you like.
Average cost of living in Sweden
Feel free to help me update and make the post better :)
Good luck out there, future Uppsalabor!
