Swedish university students study via distance while surfing in Bali

In recent years distance-based learning has taken off at Sweden’s universities. I say ‘at’, but you don’t need to be ‘at’ anywhere to study a course or program at a Swedish university. As long as you have an internet connection you can be anywhere you like… a beach in Bali, for example.

I’ve personally studied via distance at several Swedish institutions while living in both the UK and Portugal. There were sometime glitches with the web-based platforms (for those classes requiring ‘live’ lessons with voice and webcam features) but things generally went smoothly and my experience with net-based learning was overall very positive.

Some Swedish students, however, have taken things to the next level. They’ve decided to use their study grants and loans to live in luxury villas in Bali and surf every day on some of the world’s most highly regarded waves – sometimes twice a day.

From an article in Uppsala University’s student magazine, Ergo (my translation):

Most of our life here revolves around surfing and studying. We usually surf in the morning or evening in order to avoid the middle of the day, when temperatures are at their hottest. When we surf two times during a day we try to relax for the remainder of the day in order to be able to study. To have a surfing session during sunset is amazing!

–Zakarias Challis, Swedish university student/surfer in Bali

photo by Tom Booth (tboothhk on Flickr CC)

Zakarias shares a modern luxury villa, complete with chef and cleaner, with five fellow university students who also share a love of surfing and the understandable desire to avoid Sweden’s cold winters and make the most of their student years.

Of course everyone can’t live off generous student loans and surf Bali in luxury for an entire semester, but they aren’t the only Swedes in Bali doing just that. It’s almost sickening, but you can hardly blame them now, can you?

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