I chose to go on an exchange because I didn’t do a semester abroad during college and I really regretted it. I chose KI because first and foremost because there was an exchange between my home university and my flight and housing would be covered. There is a strong Scandinavian heritage in Minnesota, and I’m a pretty serious cross-country skier so I have a strong affinity for Scandinavian culture as well.
As for information provided I felt a little bit misled about the amount of English that would be spoken. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I kind of pictured the situation to be more like in Ireland, where people speak the Gaelic language on the side just kind of for fun, but important stuff still happens in English. This was definitely not the case in Sweden. I’m not sure which side it came from, my home university or KI, but I definitely got the impression that there would be more English than there was.
As for the application process, it went pretty smooth and was a pretty easy process actually. I didn’t need any new vaccinations or anything else special that I can remember.