A few weeks ago I got one of the most memorable mails ever: I got accepted to Hyper Island. I couldn’t be happier, but what I didn’t knew, was that one of the hardest months ever was awaiting me. I started searching for a room or apartment in Stockholm. But believe me, that is one of the hardest things ever. Let me just give you some of the problems you’ll face when you start searching for a room:

• There is much more demand than there are rooms
• Sweden is a rich country, you’ll pay a lot more for what you’re used to
• Probably, you’re foreign, which makes it even harder
• You’ll find a lot of rooms inside an apartment, where you’ll have to live with somebody you don’t know. It’s not like your own place, nor is it like staying at a guest family. Not really what you’re looking for right?
• A lot of people hire a room or apartment they hire themselves. This is illegal! If you don’t watch out, they’ll kick you out within a few hours, and you’re back on the streets.

So finding an apartment is a bit like going to war. You have to be extremely fast, make sure you go to Sweden at least a week before your activities start, and act as quick as you can. But most of all, you need luck. If you’re lucky, you can find an apartment the first day you arrive here. But if you’re not, it can take days, weeks, perhaps even months.

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Hyper Island is actually pretty neat. They have schools in Karlskrona and Stockholm, the school is only 15 years old and their look on new media is as fresh as it can be. They have a unique way of teaching (if I even may use that word) and you work and learn in buildings you thought you would’ve never work and learn in. Putting all this together makes Hyper Island the place to be for new media lovers, and internet addicts. The problem is: you have to get in…

Just to give an impression, the roadmap to enter Hyper Island:

1. Write the best motivation you have ever written!
2. Collect all of your best work, and make the most wonderful portfolio you’ve ever designed!
3. Call UPS and make them deliver your motivation and portfolio asap!
4. Drive yourself nuts while you wait for your admission for a recruitment day…
5. Go to Stockholm for the recruitment day without the admission…
6. Call Hyper Island from your hotel room and ask if you are admitted…
7. Wait a little longer…
8. Get your admission and do the first victory dance!
9. Go to the recruitment day, do the hardest interviews and tests you’ve ever done, and meet the most interesting people…
10. Say goodbye the Stockholm and hope you’ll come back sooner than expected.
11. Have the most horrible weeks of your life while you wait for your final admission at Hyper Island…
12. Do your second and biggest victory dance ever when your get a mail that starts with “Welcome to Hyper Island!”

I’m at step 10 now, and I must say: the recruitment day was a unique experience.

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