Living in student house 23, Borlänge

Taking off from my friend Katrin’s post on the general idea of housing in Borlänge, I want to tell you a bit more about one of the three student housing options that Tunabyggen offers – student housing 23. Bear with me, this could be a long post!

General: Student house 23 is a building with apartments that have 2,3 or even 4 bedrooms. The idea is that you have a bedroom to yourself and you share a kitchen and bathroom with your flatmates. The number of bathrooms depends on the size of your apartment.

Location: Located bang opposite Locus, 23 is about a ten minute walk from the University. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Willys, Ikea, Kupolen etc. and the closest grocery store is Hemköp (literally a 5 minute walk).

Furnishing: While each apartment is furnished differently in 23 (some apartments have nice wallpapers, a nice couch etc.) each apartment is most definitely furnished with basics like beds, desks, chairs, microwaves, ovens, and refrigerators. As you can see in the pictures below, our apartment came with a dresser as well as an IKEA rack. The best thing to do is take stock of what is provided and then buy any additional necessities after you get here. Lamps are included as well! These pictures are bare because this was before we moved in 🙂

Facilities: Students living in 23 can use the common laundry facility in Locus (which you can read more about in a separate post) as well as the study rooms/common areas of Locus. However, since you have your own kitchens, you wouldn’t need to use the ones inside Locus. While there are no common rooms inside 23, feel free to hang out at Locus (most social gatherings will anyways be there!).

Rent: Your monthly rent can be anywhere around 2500-3500 (again, this depends on which exact apartment you get). I happen to live in a one-bedroom apartment with my husband and our monthly rent is around 4000 SEK. We have one room, one separate kitchen and one bathroom to ourselves. There are very few one-bedroom apartments available (maybe just two or three) so you need to be lucky to get these! If you are coming here with a spouse, I would suggest you check the availability of these.

To me, 23 was an ideal choice. You share a kitchen only with 2-3 other people, not more. You get the experience of living in an apartment where you can hang around in the living room if you don’t feel like being in your room all the time! Also, since Locus is a stone’s throw away, you can meet with friends for parties and then go home to a private space of your own. The general mix of international students here makes for some really enjoyable social gatherings.

I hope I’ve helped! If you have any more questions, please comment below and I will try my best to answer all of them!