Exchange Report

Exchange report - incoming students


Home university:	Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Study programme:	Biomedicine
Exchange programme:	Erasmus
Semester:	Spring semester 2011/2012

Arrival and registration

Before the semester started, the KI exchange team organized an introduction day. During that day they gave all important and useful information. This day was also a great chance to meet all the other exchange students.

Acommendation

I applied for housing through the University Accommodation Center (UAC). It is great that you only need to apply there and don’t need to apply at the private market especially as finding affordable housing in Stockholm is difficult. I lived in the student house PAX which is a very nice, with local traffic well-connected place to stay where a lot of other exchange students live. Negative was the inflexible UAC opening hours to pay the rent and to pick up the key at arrival. However, UAC was working to offer a flexible internet-based payment system.

Leisure time and social activities

Stockholm offers a variety of activities. I visited museums, concerts, bars, discos, (ice) hockey game, paks, the archipelagos. went skiing, cruises etc.
I participated at events of global friends, Medicinska Förenigen and CMB pubs. I find escpacially the idea of global friends great!
Due to the fact that I only participated in one course, the lab did not have any Swedish people and the student house was very international I only made one Swedish friend and a lot of international ones.

Pre-departure

I spent the summer semester 2012 studying at KI. I decided to do an exchange to discover another country, meet new Swedish and International friends, improve my English and Swedish and get an insight in the university/education system of a foreign country.

I was particularly interested in Sweden as the destination of my exchange because I spent several vacations with my family and friends in Sweden and was always fascinated from the friendly people and the beautiful nature.

My home university Heidelberg has exchange programs with several Swedish university. I chose KI cause the KI is an international well-known institute, one of the best biomedicine research universities in Europe and located in one of the nicest cities in the world.

The information on the KI website was informative and the exchange coordinator were a great help to organize my stay in Stockholm.

I did not need to bring any certificates or required vaccination cause I worked with yeast and had no patient contact.

Courses during the exchange period

4BI063 : MAS-Biomedical communication 1

I attended the master course Biomedical communication 1 because it was the first course in the summer semester and I liked to get in contact with the “regular” Biomedicine KI master students. The course based on lectures in a scientific topic (nuclear receptors) and general presentation skills (reading, writing, presenting, rhetoric). These lectures were combined with practical assignments in writing, presenting a poster and a slide presentation. Before each assignment, the topic was prepared in a separate small student group meeting with a supervisor to clarify any issues with the given task. I really liked the problem-based approach and the work in small groups. Additionally, the course requires a lot of staff effort. I think it very important to improve and to learn how to improve the communication skills besides the scientific skills. So it is important to have such a course in the master studies. However, to find the ideal level of teaching is difficult, especially if the basic requirements are very diverse.

2EE008 : MAS-Biomedical project for exchange students

During my stay at KI, I performed a biomedical project for exchange students in the lab of Prof. Ph.D. Nico Dantuma at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology Institute (CMB). I worked on the proteasome shuttle factor Rad23 in the model system budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The group was very friendly and I learnt new techniques in yeast biology as well as general research skills.

Summary

Stockholm is a very livable city, and I have enjoyed my stay at KI. In the beginning I had to get used to the darkness, but because I found friends fast and Stockholm has a lot to do and discover, this was not a big issue.
All in all I can only recommend an exchange in Stockholm at KI.

Language and Culture

One amazing thing about Sweden is that you can talk to nearly everyone from a small child to an old pensioner in English. So you do not need good Swedish language skills to “survive“ daily life in Stockholm. However, it is nice to speak and understand the foreign countries’ language. I attended a Swedish course in Heidelberg prior to my stay at KI and participate in the language course offered from KI for exchange students. I really like the option to participate in a free Swedish course and learn more about the Swedish culture. However, the amount of people attending the course were strongly reduced later in the semester. My teacher was very friendly and invited us in the end of the course for a dinner at her place.

Studies in general

I attended courses in the Master program Biomedicine. I appreciated the close and intensive contact with teachers/supervisors, the personal feedback, and the problem-based learning approach in small groups. The teachers/supervisors were always very positive and encouraging in their criticism. However, I had the feeling that the negative or aspects which could be improved were sometimes not mentioned.