{"id":1038,"date":"2025-07-03T16:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/?p=1038"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:02:42","slug":"my-experiences-at-volvo-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/2025\/07\/03\/my-experiences-at-volvo-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"My experiences at Volvo Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_1038 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_1038')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_1038').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/intern-abroad\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/03\\\/my-experiences-at-volvo-technology\\\/\",\"post_id\":1038,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"My+experiences+at+Volvo+Technology\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><ul>\n<li>Energy Engineering M.Sc.<\/li>\n<li>Sweden, G\u00f6teborg<\/li>\n<li>Volvo Technology<\/li>\n<li>10\/2024 &#8211; 05\/2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Hello, my name is Marc. I am a German studying Master Energy Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and participated in a research stay funded by the Erasmus+ Internship program during my master\u2019s thesis at Volvo Technology &#8211; one of the most Swedish companies imaginable \u2013 in the second largest city G\u00f6teborg, Sweden. Getting this opportunity, to work on practical research in a company, was very difficult and almost did not work out. I started applying more than a year ahead, but this was way too early for most cases. In Sweden, there are no mandatory internships of up to 6 months; Swedish students gain practical experience during their summer break. Yes, you heard right: all students have a 2-3 month study-free period during the summer, without the need to prepare for exams, since they finish them before Midsommar (the summer solstice). Their internship culture comes from the fact that students do not receive their student funding during vacation, so many rely on summer jobs to survive financially until the next study period. Because internships are limited to these three months, companies don\u2019t know about longer internships, especially not outside this period, as is common in Germany. Another aspect is that thesis work usually starts in January, as Swedish studies are separated into four periods, and are mainly carried out in groups of two\u2014eliminating most chances if you want to start according to the German semester dates and alone. However, you would not be reading this if I hadn\u2019t made it despite the low chances. I applied a lot, sent unsolicited applications to companies, connected with people on LinkedIn, and sent dozens of requests for an internship with the opportunity to follow up with a master\u2019s thesis, which is usually the catch in Germany. The position was acquired via an unsolicited application to an industrial PhD student in cooperation between Chalmers University of Technology and Volvo Group, which led to the position at Volvo Technology. Other research internships would have been possible at Chalmers, but the research topic and work environment at Volvo were the best option.<\/p>\n<p>Finding a suitable accommodation without being registered as a Swedish student brings further problems, since you are not eligible for student accommodations. Some shared living opportunities always exist but are highly requested and not available in sufficient quantity. Some international students even live in hotels or cabins for the first year. In Swedish metropolitan areas, housing agencies require you to be in the queue for several years. Even colleagues at my workplace, who were in the queue for up to three years, were not able to find suitable accommodation (for their living standard) and ended up buying instead. I found mine with a lot of luck on Facebook (which is widely used in Scandinavia and also serves as an online marketplace and for international exchange). The accommodation had two rooms, one bedroom, and one living room\/kitchen. The monthly costs were approximately \u20ac450 per person, with all additional costs included. I lived there with my girlfriend, who also studied at G\u00f6teborg University. For grocery shopping, I highly recommend using \u201cToo Good To Go,\u201d which offers a full bag of vegetables close to expiration for under \u20ac5\u2014this saves money since vegetables and fruits are noticeably more expensive compared to Germany. Monthly expenses for groceries were roughly \u20ac200 per person, including all food and household costs and eating out every two weeks. Since the canteen at Chalmers was \u20ac6 (student) or \u20ac8 (visitor), and at Volvo Group \u20ac10, I decided to always prepare my own food, which is popular in Sweden. There are always spaces with microwaves and cutlery. For transportation, you can use rental bikes for \u20ac30 per year (Nextbike\/Sty&amp;St\u00e4ll). Since I needed to get to the other side of the harbor to G\u00f6teborg Lundby, I bought a tram ticket, which was \u20ac60 (student) or \u20ac75 (non-student) per month. Even though I was a student, I couldn\u2019t use the student discount for many occasions, since in Sweden your student status is verified by a \u201cMecenat\u201d app account issued by a Swedish university, which I did not have.<\/p>\n<p>Everyday life during the research stay was a 40-hour workweek, starting at 9:00 and ending at 17:00. It is common to have a one-hour lunch break at 11:00, which I always spent with coworkers. Since I started in October, I was the only student at the company until January, when two other thesis workers joined, as is usual during this time. From Volvo, I received a laptop for my research work, which was mainly self-guided and supervised by weekly meetings with my supervisor. I highly enjoyed short coffee breaks with colleagues around 14:00-15:00, called \u201cfika,\u201d to discuss technical topics or daily life. There was one 30-minute fixed slot per week where the whole department met, and one colleague always brought sweet pastries or cake. The department worked great as a team, and I think this weekly contact, as well as spontaneous meetings on other days, helps with teambuilding. I also enjoyed that Volvo Group is an international environment, and you can get into contact with everyone on a casual basis since in Sweden you always call people by their first name; titles and positions do not mainly define your personality.<\/p>\n<p>During the winter, I came home from work when it was already dark, but there are many options available. Monthly sports membership at \u201cFysiken\u201d cost \u20ac33 per month (3-month period) for students, including gym, courses, team play, and climbing\/bouldering. I used to go every second day and made friends during climbing and basketball. It seems much easier to make international friends, as Swedish students usually already have their friend groups. Getting into those groups takes time and is comparable to making friends in Germany. With friends found that way, at the company or through international university programs such as ESN, you will definitely find people to spend time with\u2014though more likely internationals who will leave after six months. However, G\u00f6teborg is a city where you can spend your time at many places, such as bars with after-work discounts and pub quizzes, museums, or at the ice hockey arena watching \u201cFr\u00f6lunda HC.\u201d Around February, you will get home when it is still bright outside and can spend the sunset at famous places such as \u201cSkansen Kronan.\u201d On weekends, I recommend visiting the local historical<br \/>\namusement park \u201cLiseberg,\u201d the islands in the archipelago near Gothenburg, one of the beaches, or hiking around lakes such as \u201cDelsj\u00f6n.\u201d Trips around Sweden to Stockholm, Malm\u00f6, Helsingborg, or even Oslo in Norway are easy to do on a small budget. ESN also offered a one-week trip to Swedish Lapland, which everyone recommended to me, but I was quite<br \/>\noccupied by research work and also took vacation to visit my family over Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, I liked Swedish culture before, and this trip increased its attraction. Sometimes it was tough to receive the same rights as locals, since you always need digital proof such as Swedish student status (\u201cMecenat\u201d). For foreigners, it is also impossible to buy at a local food market or farm since \u201cSwish,\u201d the Swedish version of PayPal for payment, requires a Coordination Number for a Swedish ID, a Swedish bank account, and BankID. There are also several special days with traditions such as St. Lucia around Christmas, Valborg\/Walpurgis Night and Swedish National Day in spring, and Midsommar in summer. However, my girlfriend and I decided to continue our time in Sweden and enjoy one or more summers at the coast and in nature, where Sweden has much to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Energy Engineering M.Sc. Sweden, G\u00f6teborg Volvo Technology 10\/2024 &#8211; 05\/2025 Hello, my name is Marc. I am a German studying Master Energy Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and participated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,204,181,195,182,58],"tags":[100,116,48,156,63,141,43,114],"class_list":["post-1038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-engineering","category-goteborg","category-master","category-master-thesis","category-research","category-sweden","tag-energy-engineering","tag-goteborg","tag-master","tag-masters-thesis","tag-mastersarbeit","tag-research","tag-research-stay","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1383,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038\/revisions\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}