As my family is from Taiwan, I'm a particularly big fan of good, cheap food. In Stockholm, eating out all the time will take a fat chunk out of your wallet as the food here is quite expensive and comes in small portions. As a result, many of us have resorted to cooking our own food, with surprisingly good results!
At our "potluck dinners," each person brought a dish that is unique to their culture/ethnicity for everyone to share. In this manner, we've been able to experience a taste of food from Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, and Australia! I strongly believe that alongside music, food can also be considered a universal language. By this point in the year, I have traveled to other countries with these people, planned exploration trips around Sweden for the winter, and we have begun teaching each other how to make our "ethnic dishes". I'm really grateful to have met these people and look forward to the second half of this semester with them!
Although commonly stated, it is so true that the easiest way to get integrated into a community is to find other people who are passionate about the things you're also passionate about. For me, this meant finding people who enjoy sports, food, and adventures. Yes, finding a new community can take time and is often difficult, but recognizing this fact early on helped give me that extra push to move outside of my bubble, to be okay with being uncomfortable. As you get older, I think you'll also come to realize how more important it is to find a community that fits who you are rather than finding some "version" of yourself that fits a given community.
