Hi internet! I got an email from someone today asking about life in Delta House while I was doing my masters at JIBS or Jonkoping University. So I was more than happy to give him the story:
Hello Dave,
Thanks for reading my blog. I didn't know other people read it other than my friends. I don't mind the questions at all.
About Delta House: I loved being down the street from the University. It's also in the middle of downtown where the most interesting things happen. You've got a grocery store around the corner, lots of places to eat out, it's near the lake and the train station (depending on how often you want to take the train anywhere makes life very easy), the night life is...a little too close. There's a club called The Velvet Lounge in the same building on the ground floor. In fact the same entrance to Delta House is used for bringing the kegs of alcohol in for storage. Anyway, that club can blast out some solid bass that can be felt in the floors above. I knew some to of the kids who were on the next floor up and when the club starts up their things would shake. It was pretty annoying, especially if needed to study. Bring some noise canceling headphones. I was on the third floor, and we could still hear it. I don't think the fifth floor, the top floor, was affected (which only houses three people with the nicest bathroom, btw). But we used to use the top floor as a party floor because they have the most open space out of all the floors.
The other four floors open up to a long corridor connecting the 14 student rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and common area. The kitchen size is dependent on which floor you're on, and they got bigger the high the floor was, although the top floor doen't have an oven, so they use the fourth floor's. And the kitchens are set up pretty much the same with the same stuff: sink, three microwaves, three fridges, etc. The common area is a room that used to be a student room. I know cause they kicked out (relocated) the students who lived in those rooms. They had to set these up cause kids that used to live in another dorm adjacent to the Delta House, called the Alpha House (now nonexistent) complained about the living conditions to the news agencies. The story was picked up nationally, and was a huge embarrassment to the school. So building code people came in and helped get the living conditions up to code. The main reason for the common areas was to have a place to eat. People usually ate in their rooms or wherever. Not really a problem. Most common rooms were used more or less for drinking. They had tv's but they didn't work very well. We demolished the couch in our common room.
About the rooms. They're okay furnished: bed, closet, desk, the all powerful lamp (containing all the electrical outlets, internet jacks, and the only light source in the rooms). Not so bad, but the walls are super thin. If the guy in the next room snores, you're out of luck. And the sizes are mostly the same. This was a telecommunications office building before it was converted to a dormitory. On the third floor in the middle of the corridor was the bigest room of them all. This was a shared room, one that I was staying in, and we rocked delta from there. I had speakers, TV, PS3, a couch, and lots of room to party. Our room simply kicked ass. It was the common room on our floor.
They have clothes washers and dryers in the basement, which I think they've set up a reservations system now. Now when I was there. And you get in and out of the main door and the doors to the corridor floors with an electronic key, individual rooms with a standard metal, pointy on one side, key.
Here's the lowdown. Is it worth it? Well, it depends. I loved living there. The people on my floor became my family, my best friends. We were all international students, cause they only allowed internationals in there, but we all had to figure it out with each other. We had a great time together. There was drama, and lots of other stuff with people who didn't get along, and we were living very close to each other. You could have privacy if you wanted, probably not silence on command, and you'd have to deal with a bunch of drunk people every weekend. I did notice that some floors were quieter than others. It all depends on the mixture of people on each floor. If you're a social person and want to hang our with lots of people all the time from the moment you arrive, this is the place. You can always study at the library a few minutes away, or any coffee shop (lots of coffee shops [Sweden is up there on the countries that drink the most coffee per capa]) and most offer free wifi. I think internet is extra in the dorms.
If this doesn't sound like your brand of tea, then there's Raslatt. It's a good bus ride away and where many immigrants live. There you'll have a normal apartment with a couple other people. You'll only have to deal with them, it's very quiet. Not quite as social, people there tend to become much better friends with their program students. It is harder to find friends with like interests there, but it's more like normal life where you're in control. There are parties there that are fun and they even have sockertoppen which is an activities center of sorts where there's a pool table, kitchen, and some other stuff, but they usually throw some parties there that can be pretty crazy; but living in town I usually stayed in town. No bus ride there and back.
Well, there's my one sided view. I lived in Delta for a year, then moved to an apartment across the street from Delta and continued the same type of show with a better room where I could write my thesis.
My mom's cancer is in remission. Thanks for asking. She's doing very well; getting into cycling. She did a 50 mile charity ride about a month back and is now looking for a better road bike. She has all her hair back and doing very well. She has to go to the hospital every week to get a chemo shot, but otherwise doing very very well.
Sara and I got engaged on new year's 1/1/11. and we're going through the immigrations process for her to come to the United States of America. Hopefully she'll arrive in September. She's that amazing.
Well, I've been ranting cause this was an amazing part of my life. I hope that this was enlightening to you, and if you have any other questions or need any help, please let me know. And if you do decided to live at Delta, let me know how it is now. I was in the first wave of people who got the bugs out of the poor system. If you want to really focus on your studies, go to Raslatt and ride the bus everyday, but in this school I find that unnecessary. I was a masters student, and I know of other masters students in Delta who loved being there. Others who didn't as well. But I also know of a PHD student who love it as well. It all depends on what you want.
I think I'll post this on my blog in case there are others who are googling the Delta House in Jonkoping.
Later,
Eric
