Hello new students and welcome to KTH!

TEXT HEAD OF THS INTERNATIONAL, GABRIEL PINHEIRO

You will probably hear this quite a lot during our International Arrival Days if you are an international student: we are really happy to have you here in Sweden and want to give you a warm welcome!

I am Gabriel and I work at THS, the student union at KTH, as Head of THS International, which means I am responsible for overseeing the operations of our International Subgroups, the THS International Reception and THS MAIN. As a new international student to KTH, you get to experience the amazing student life Sweden has to offer, including some very fun activities, such as Gasques, pub nights, spexes, and much more!

First off, we want you to know that any event that you go to is totally voluntary. The main idea is that you have fun! We at THS International have a team of volunteers who work very hard to give you many different experiences and ensure that you can find something you like. We are looking forward to hosting you on our museum visits, gasques and especially our board games nights! We will have some exclusive events now during the reception which you can sign up to in our Signup System. If you did not receive information about that, please email us at info@thsint.se and we can figure it out for you! We will also be having many more events throughout the semester with the help of THS MAIN. Those events are open to any student and are a perfect opportunity to interact with new people.

So, if you are looking for a good chance to meet new people that share some interests with you, or if you just want to have some fun, come along for the ride. THS MAIN also has aMAINzing blue overalls (ovve in Swedish). You can get one by becoming a MAIN Member, which is as simple as attending a Member’s Meeting! Those are always announced on MAIN’s social media, so follow them on Instagram! You’ll see overalls in many different colours around campus, many of them covered in patches you can sew on. The patches can be for events, drinks (alcoholic or not) and even trips! We work on making sure that we can give you fun glimpses into Swedish culture and student life, and we are working on making sure those connections become even tighter. We strongly encourage you to become a part of your chapter’s life and that you go to chapter events. That way, you get to know the Swedish student life up close, as chapters are the best form of experiencing what it is like to be a student in Sweden.

This year specifically, THS International wants to make sure that every student, no matter where they are from, has the same experience and representation that Swedish students do. We have been working hard for the past years to make sure that you are represented and heard, and we are proud of all the achievements that we have brought along! THS has slowly but surely become more and more language inclusive, and most of our public documents have English translations available soon after their Swedish originals have been released. We still feel and know how complicated the language barrier can be for most international students and this is one of the aspects we are constantly trying to improve. Despite the challenge of dealing with a different language and culture, we are here to also prove how much fun you can have while at KTH. And, of course, if you have any issues during your time here, you can always contact us and we will do our best to help out.

So, once again, welcome to KTH! I hope your stay will be as memorable as it can be! Enjoy your time here, make new friends and have all the fun and experiences you can dream of! And if you ever need help or just wanna have some fun, look out for THS MAIN!