Swedish Student Culture feat. Elektro

I think I've repeated this to loads of people and I'm going to be saying it here once again. One thing bad about Stockholm is that it costs a lot to eat out... The cheapest amt you'd pay for a decent meal is about 50 kronors = S$12. You'd probably think that as students, we have some cheap canteens or cafeterias around the campus like in NUS, where you can get Chicken Chop and Spaghetti for S$2.80 as like Bizad. Well, that's where you're wrong. Meals still cost 50 kroners plus plus in the cafes in school. I remember that when I told David I was bringing food from home to KTH for lunch, he commented that I was becoming truly Swedish!


Introducing Elektro!

Because of the high cost of eating out, it's a habit for many students in Stockholm to bring their own lunch to school or to buy lunch from the supermarket near school. Therefore, we have nice cosy places like Elektro in my school KTH, which I think is pretty characteristic of many schools in Stockholm. Basically, in KTH, every department has a little room of their own. (pronounced section, but I don't know if its spelt that way) Let's call it a student room, cos its basically just that. I, personally think its a really cool place, but its something that will never appear in Singapore. 1. because food in Singapore is just too cheap and 2. you need integrity among the students to keep a place like this going, which I think Singaporeans are still devoid of.

The student room of each department has its own unique layout and features, but they all have lots of tables and chairs, stoves, and most importantly microwaves. In Elektro there are just 8 or so, but I remember seeing something like 12 microwaves in the bigger physics Student room. During lunch time, this place is packed with students who have brought food from home and you see loads of people heating up food on the stove or in the microwaves. Its stocked with plenty of dishes, cups and utensils. You just have to use them and remember to clean up after yourself. If you haven't brought anything from home, there's also a large freezer where there's a stock of frozen pizzas and bread.


Microwaves all busy during lunch time.


Student Pantry. Clean up after yourself.


Frozen pizza and bread.

Someone buys everything in bulk, so the prices are very reasonable and its probably cheaper than what you buy at the supermarket down the road at the tunnelbana station. Basically, I think it is a service to the students and not aimed at making profits hence the good prices.


You also can get some chocolates if you are craving something sweet.


And yes, I like this fridge, with a lot of Swedish desserts. I have tried almost every different kind of dessert in this fridge. Whoops. Gym alert!

In the freezer, refrigerator and table, there's a little basket or tin for you to pay for whatever you have taken. Therefore, this place is maintained upon a circle of trust in the students of the department. I once commented that to my friend that this would never be possible back home and there will be a handful that will surely abuse the system. But my friend says that it'd probably not work if it was a student room for the school and not the department, because in a smaller group, cheating would be like stealing from your friends, which makes some sense. However, I still think this will never work in Singapore.

In addition to filling ur stomach, this is also a room of entertainment. There's a foozeball machine, pool table, coach and tv and dart boards around. On some nights, this place is turned into a mini pub for student parties.

And that's Elektro for you.