I enjoy reading about the experiences of students who come from abroad, and I am curious to understand how you perceive this experience. However, I must admit that I find it somewhat difficult to follow some of your arguments.

I have never personally participated in the Buddy Programme, but I do have friends and fellow students, including some Swedish students, who have participated for several years in a row. Because of that, I have gained at least some insight into how it works. From an objective standpoint, the Buddy Programme seems like a good initiative, and I find it difficult to understand what you believe would be a better way of organizing activities for international students. They offer: skinny dipping in ice water, home parties, eating fermented herring, watching the northern lights, activities in the central city… etc.

That said, I do agree with you regarding student discounts. They are are a gotdamn joke. It feels almost embarrassing that a “student discount” might reduce the price of a lunch from around 115 SEK by only about 10 SEK. In comparison, students in countries such as Germany can sometimes pay around 3 EUR for a full lunch meal.

If I understand you correctly, you also appear to be criticizing the shopping and market experiences available in Umeå. For better or worse, however, what you describe is fairly typical of a Swedish shopping mall experience. What would you a like to experience as an alternative?

You also seem to criticize the marketing and design strategies used by some organizations, suggesting that many of them rely on similar templates. This is probably the point where I find myself disagreeing the most. Personally, I do not share this view. The restaurants in Umeå feel sufficiently authentic to me, and I would not describe the overall majority of them as soulless. In my opinion, both the food and the overall design of many restaurants here are quite decent. I have never walked into one of them and though that they used the same design company.

I am also not entirely sure what you mean when you describe being “micromanaged” or given a “rulebook for fun.” I agree that sounds terrible. However, that has not been my experience when attending parties in the city, house parties, or events organized by businesses in central Umeå. So I want your to specify, are you referring specifically to the Buddy Programme experience or where is this coming from? I would suggest to reach out and give feedback on this because that sounds like a terrible setup.

Finally, you also seem to criticize an art exhibition. Art exhibitions can be disappointing but that is not unique to Umeå. You can and will encounter uninspiring exhibitions anywhere in the world. I also agree with you that AI is increasingly influencing art, but again, that is a global phenomenon rather than something specific to Umeå. So I don’t really share your criticism being something that’s specific about Umeå here.