BEST – Board of European Students of Technology

Welcome Letter to new Master Students

Hello and welcome to Uppsala! First of all: congratulations for getting accepted to our university!

With this letter we’re wishing you a warm welcome to your studies and we’re giving you some

information that might come in handy for you. After finishing reading this letter you will know

where to buy a bicycle, how to join the Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students, where

to meet new friends and which Student Nation you want to become a member of.

THE MASTER RECEPTION

During September, there will be a Master Reception for everyone who starts on a master’s degree

program at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology. This Reception will be organized for you by the

student organization BEST Uppsala in association with the Uppsala Union of Engineering and

Science Students. More information about them can be found below. The Reception will include

the following events:

Saturday the 6th of September: City Rally

The City Rally is an event where you will move around town in teams and do tasks at

different locations while learning about the sights and the history of Uppsala. It’s a great

opportunity to get to know the city, and of course also a great opportunity to get to know

new people. We’ll start the City Rally from outside the Ångström Laboratory at 14:15, so

come if you want to join.

Wednesday 10th of September: Nation Crawl

The Nation Crawl follows the same idea as the City Rally, but this time the teams will visit

the Student Nations of Uppsala. You get see what they are like during the evenings. These

nations are the centre of Uppsala’s student life. Most of them have a history that goes

many centuries back. Joining one is highly recommended! We’ll start the Nation Crawl

outside the Cathedral front gate at 17:30, hope to see you there!

Sunday the 14th of September: Chill & Grill

In the Chill & Grill event you don’t have to move around that much. The “Chill” part

includes playing games and hanging out with your new friends and the “Grill” part of

course stands for delicious food. This event will take place at 17:15 outside the Ångström

Laboratory, by the volleyball fields. BEST will bring the food.

Friday the 19th of September: International Evening

In this event you will represent your country and introduce some of its best food and/or

drink to the other participants. This is a great opportunity to learn something about food

customs in other countries than your own. If you want to participate in this much

recommended event, then you should bring the food and/or drink that you want to

present at the International Evening with you when you arrive in Uppsala. Remember that

those delicacies won’t necessarily be found in here! The time and location for the

International Evening is to be announced.

Wednesday the 24th of September: Final Gasque

This is a traditional student party where you sit at long tables, eat delicious food and sing

drinking songs together. In this event you are intended to dress up a little. In most gasques

you’ll encounter during your studies the dress code will be suit or long dress. The songs are

of various lengths, ages and origins. These events will be organized by student

organizations and nations throughout the year. Our gasque marks the end of the master

reception 2014. It starts at 18:15 at the union house Uthgård (Polacksbacken). Tickets to

the gasque will be sold on Friday the 19th, Monday the 22nd and Tuesday the 23rd at the

Ångström Laboratory (outside the 4000-corridor) during the lunch hours (12:00 – 13:15).

Also we want to inform you that on Saturday the 13th of September there will be the annual

Uppsala Culture Night, which is a night with lots of things going on, spanning from art exhibitions,

museum events, music performances, special guided tours in the castle and much more. This is

one of the biggest annual events in Uppsala! Check out kulturnattenuppsala.se/en.

THE STUDENT UNION AND THE SECTIONS

The students of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at Uppsala University are by tradition divided into

sections. What section you belong to / feel part of is defined by the courses you take. In this way there’s a

section for mathematics students, one for chemical engineering students, one for IT students, etc. Those

who take chemical engineering courses traditionally belong to the chemical engineering section

(abbreviated as simply “K”) and so on. Each section has its own student organization. These are small

compared to the Nations, but are still quite visible at the Ångström-Polacksbacken part of the university

campus. The section organizations organize many events either individually or together throughout the

year, spanning from parties and gasques to guest lectures and doing sports. Occasionally they even

compete against each other in sports or other games. Taking part in the events of the sections is highly

recommended!

The sections are all part of UTN, the Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students. This is the student

union for the students at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at Uppsala University. UTN is here to

make sure that the environment of your studies is the best possible and that you get the most out of the

education, information and activities at the faculty. Activities arranged by UTN include the river rafting

(Forsränningen) on Walpurgis (the 30th of April) and the big annual career fair Utnarm in November. Make

sure you don’t miss those! Joining the Student Union is completely free (go to www.utn.se/join) and highly

recommended. More information about the Union can be found at www.utn.se/en/anout-utn.

BEST Uppsala is also a sub organization of UTN. BEST stands for Board of European Students of Technology

and is an international student organization for technology and science students. BEST is active in 33

European countries and organizes many events all over Europe throughout the year. Other than the Master

Reception, BEST Uppsala will organize a cultural exchange with BEST Valencia later in 2014.

THE NATIONS

The Student Nations are the heart of the student life in Uppsala. All 13 of them are located in the city

centre in the area near the cathedral. Many of them offer free time activities such as choir singing, theatre

& spex (a less serious and very much entertaining form of theatre), playing board games and doing sports.

The Nations own student rooms and apartments, so applying for accommodation from your Nation is

possible and recommended. They all have their own Nation pubs and they organize their own parties.

Working at the Nation and taking part in their activities are a great way to make friends and to get to know

other students in Uppsala! The Nations are the following:

Värmlands Nation

Värmlands is located right next to the cathedral.

It is known for its Friday night parties and it has

its cosy pub in a really old basement located in

the back yard of the Nation’s main building.

Värmlands serves lunch every day from Monday

to Friday.

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Västmanlands-Dala Nation

Västmans-Dala – or V-Dala as it is commonly

called – is a big nation that offers members a lot

of activities spanning all the way from sport to

music and theater. V-Dala has the biggest library

of all the Nations. This Nation also has a really

popular pub where you for example can taste the

“blåbärsnyp”, a blueberry shot. V-Dala too serves

lunch every day from Monday to Friday.

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Uplands Nation

If you like pea soup and waffles, then Uplands is

where you should hang out on Thursdays after

your lectures. Serving that food on that particular

day is a long and appreciated tradition in the

history of this Nation. Uplands also offers

activities within theatre and music. Uplands has

had its Nation building for almost 200 years now,

all the way since 1825.

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Norrlands Nation

Located at the riverside, Norrlands is the biggest

of the Nations in Uppsala. Norrlands has night

club parties on Wednesdays and the Nation’s pub

“Orvars krog” is a big and popular one. Activities

at Norrlands include the oldest male choir in

Uppsala, a photographic society and lots of sports

among many other things.

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Kalmar Nation

Painting, textile crafting, spex and singing in a

choir are things you can do at Kalmar Nation.

This Nation comes with a really nice pub that

they turn into a fancy restaurant on Fridays. If

you like dancing to the wildest Balkan and

Eastern European music, then Kalmar’s Club

Katuskha is what you’ll want to visit.

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Södermanland-Nerikes Nation

Södermanland-Nerikes – or Snerikes, as it is

commonly called – is the oldest student Nation in

the Nordic Countries, having been founded as

early as 1595. Snerikes is famous for its Tuesday

night club parties. The theatre organization of

Snerikes is the biggest in Uppsala and Snerikes

also has a student orchestra rich with traditions.

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Smålands Nation

Smålands is just across the street from Snerikes

and offers activities from choir for ladies to

playing chess. Smålands tests your knowledge by

organizing Pub Quizzes every Wednesday in the

Nation’s pub and helps you find interesting stuff

on Flea Markets arranged by the Nation a couple

of times a year. Smålands also has an

Environmental Group for those who care about

the environment.

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Gästrike-Hälsingelands Nation

This Nation – commonly referred to as GH – lets

you choose Sports Pub or Cocktail Bar, fancy

restaurant or fancy pancakes. GH is a cozy small

Nation close to Uppsala Castle.

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Östgöta Nation

Commonly referred to as ÖG, this nation is a

good place for a gasque since the Nation house is

so big. Lunch is served four days a week (from

Monday to Thursday) and on Fridays you can go

there and pick what you like from their After

School menu. Friday is also the day of ÖG’s night

club parties. Activities at ÖG include singing,

playing music and playing board games.

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Västgöta Nation

VG is the second of three Nations located directly

by the river. If soup is what you want for lunch,

then VG is the place you should go to since VG

offers Soup Lunch every day between Monday

and Friday. VG has a nice and small basement

pub underneath the main building.

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Gotlands Nation

Gotlands is the third Nation located along the

river and in fact the Nation building of Gotlands is

the only one located at the eastern side of the

river. It is one of the smaller Nations in Uppsala.

Activities at Gotlands include LAN events and

choir. They are very proud of the “Lammburgare”

(hamburger with lamb) that they serve in their

pub.

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Göteborgs Nation

Göteborgs is another one of the smaller Nations

and it is located right next to Smålands and

Snerikes. The pub of Göteborgs is very

comfortable because they have sofas there. And

on Thursdays they have karaoke nights.

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Stockholms Nation

Last but not least there is Stockholms Nation. It is

located right next to Värmlands, i.e. close to the

cathedral. Also known as Stocken, this Nation is

famous for its Thursday night club parties. Even

here lunch is served every day from Monday to

Friday. Stockholms Nation has long spex

traditions and it organizes an annual golf

tournament.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

The first step when you get to Uppsala is to get to know the campus and find the places you will study in.

This link is to a web page where you can find maps and pictures showing the main buildings:

http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/campus/.

The next step after looking at maps is to start exploring. In Uppsala it is more common to move around with

a bike than to use any other form of transport. You can try looking for a bike at the following places listed

below (from the website of Uppsala Studentkår):

Shop Address Telephone

Cykeltoppen Sernanders väg 8 (Flogsta) 018-46 10 90

Cykel Viktor Svartbäcksgatan 25 018-10 10 19

Cykelringen Kungsgatan 113 018-69 61 80

Eriksbergs Cykel Karlsrogatan 82 018-53 87 70

Fålhagens Cykel Strandbokilen 3 018-13 76 77

Leffes Cykel Sibyllegatan 9 018-53 60 45

Stahléns Cykel Väktargatan 26 070-560 2769

Tunabackars Cykel Folkungagatan 21 018-24 56 80

Biltema Bolandsgatan 17 077-520 00 00

Once you find the places that your lectures will be in, it is time to look up your course schedules. The

schedule of every course and every study program of the university can be found on a website called Time

Edit: https://se.timeedit.net/web/uu/db1/schema/ri1Q5009.html. Just search for your course name and

you’ll find everything you need to get started.

The gym and lots of other sports activities can also be found at Campus1477, a centre of sport and health

for all students. There you can buy a membership card for a specific period of time and find the activities

that suit you. More information can be found here: http://www.campus1477.se/.

For information about the bus traffic in Uppsala, you can check the website of UL: www.ul.se/en

This Master Reception has its own facebook group. Join us and be updated about the events! There you can

also inform your friends about your own events and parties: https://www.facebook.com/

groups/318416478320288/.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Here are some contact details of those who are responsible for the Master Reception 2014. If you have

direct questions to us, feel free to send emails and call/text us! We also recommend you to use the

facebook group for asking more general questions. All of us listed below are representatives of BEST

Uppsala and we are happy to answer your questions:

Person Email Telephone

Arina Gromova arina.gromova@best.eu.org +46704382473

Matilda Jirblom matjir@hotmail.com +46705212867

Robert Ginlund robert.ginlund@gmail.com +46705766644

Adam Schön adam_schon_92@hotmail.com +46703983203

Sakari Teerikoski sakari.teerikoski@physics.uu.se +46722815432

Sofia Alexandersson Ros sofia_0708@hotmail.com +46762286364

Johanna Sjölund johanna.sjolund@gmail.com +46763489330

Hope you will have a nice time in Uppsala and see you soon!

BEST Uppsala