Abstract

With today’s growing network of international studies, there are more students studying outside their home countries than ever before. As a result of globalization, borders have been brought down and it is now possible for students from all over the world to have a multicultural experience away from home. This research is about international students of Stockholm University (Sweden) and of Concordia University (Canada). The notion of cosmopolitanism is discussed within the students’ lifestyle and media habits, differentiating between a traveling and a virtual cosmopolitanism. While observing and analyzing the lives of international students, the aim is to discover how adapting to different cultural surroundings can cause shifts in their identities. While looking for cosmopolitan attributes, within the international student environment, this thesis seeks to further explore: the bond of the real and the virtual, and the local and the global world. The methodology is composed of semi-structured interviews with international students and students without study-abroad experience, analyzed in a comparative design, where the lifestyle and media consumption of both, from both Stockholm and Montréal, are compared. The intention is to discover in this thesis, how cosmopolitanism occurs in the lives of international students, once “migrated” abroad; and how this process can result in the strengthening of one’s national identity.