The first two days at KI we had introduction days where we recieved a very warm welcome and lots of information regarding the UAC accommodation, student health center, swedish language courses, all the facilities we can use,etc. Apart from that I must say that the Global Friends organization is fantastic! Many students get a Swedish host student to pick them up when they arrive. And although I arrived at a date where there weren’t enough host students to pick us all up I got very clear information on which transport to take and how to get to my students dorm. And since it was a Sunday they organized for someone to pick up my keys. I felt very well looked after!

I was very well informed on how and when to apply for the University Accommodation and living there  was also a great experience because the students dorm was full of students from all over the world and from all possible fields of study so I got the chance to meet lots of interesting people. As to the facilities, they were quite good, my room was comfortable and big and we had a big kitchen to share with the people in our corridor. The only thing that would be worth modifying is the UAC opening hours since I found them a bit difficult to coordinate with my course schedule which of course was all mandatory.    

The Swedish students I met on my course were very friendly and in general its really easy to meet nice people very fast when you arrive to KI. As I mentioned before, Global Friends took good care of us and organized many fun events to get us to know each other. And apart from that, living in the students’ dorm also made it easy to meet people and go out and to get to know Stockholm, the people, the culture, etc. Stockholm has great  museums and events,and the cold weather doesn’t stop you from attending them! 

If someone would have asked me if I wanted to go on exchange on my first year of medicine I would have said no. But through the years I realized how important it is and how much one can learn from that experience so on my 5th year I decided to apply for the an exchange. And why KI? well, I have never been to Sweden and KI has such a great reputation that  it definitely was one of the best exchange options offered by my university. Although I must admit, my university did not give me much information about KI or any other destinations; I got more information from students that have been there in previous years. On the other hand once I applied for KI I received very complete and clear information about everything I needed to know before coming such as maps, important dates, the introduction week, Swedish course, the test for MRSA done upon arrival etc. It’s all accessible online and it was also sent to me by post.

Choosing Stockholm and KI as my Erasmus destination was the best decision I could have made! I am very happy I got the opportunity to be there and I’m only sorry it was just for one semester because it went by in a blink of an eye! It was a great experience and a place where not only I learned a lot but also met many special people. 

It’s really impressive how everybody in Sweden talks great English!  I had no problems whatsoever with communication. And apart from that there was a Swedish Language course for beginners which was useful for basic everyday vocabulary but of course I found it difficult to learn the language in only one semester.

Stockholm has a great academic environment. One can see and feel how important it is in this country to support students and investigation. I experienced a great relationship between student and teacher, they are very keen on teaching you and giving all the support you need with positive feedback. Regarding the clinical rotation, the only minus was the language barrier but I must admit that there were very kind patients that spoke English if they could and since Sweden has people from all over the world it wasn't strange to meet a Spanish speaking patient where I could help out to translate, so I also see that as a positive experience. When comparing KI with my home university, I must admit that Swedish students get to participate a lot more in their clinical rotations than we do in Spain. In my opinion Swedish students finish their studies with far better practical preparedness in clinical work. I definitely learned a lot thanks to the many clinical cases we went through and getting the opportunity to see the procedures and pathologies that one reads about in books makes it a lot easier to learn and understand them.