Having a KI student meet us at the airport and take us to our accomodation was priceless!! I dont think we would have made it to the accomodation without our "buddy", or at least we would have had great difficulties working out the public transport system, and figuring out where to go. We hadnt planned any of this, although we were relying on our buddy student to guide us. It saved us alot of stress and made for a great arival to Sweden, especially as I had never been overseas at this point. Also, having our KI student buddy contact us prior to leaving was really great, it made us feel welcome and that someone was expecting us.

 

The introducation day was really good, meeting the staff and getting updated on our upcoming placement. Also I found that taking us to the wards we were placed on and introducing us to the staff was really nice.

I was placed in accomodation on sodersjuhuset's hospital grounds. I found the accomodation very convenient, especially with placement at the same hospital. Accomodation was organised through our home university and KI, we were just provided the paperwork to apply for it. I found the accomodation was adequate for student housing.

We tried to participate in as many social activities as possible. We were social with other exchange students on our floor, and visited other students on other floors who had social nights. We went to the ballet, art exhibitions and ice hockey which was advertised in information packs that were provided to us on our orientation day. We would walk the city as much as possible to explore, and were shown parts of the city from other students in our accommodation.

I chose to do an exchange as I saw it as an amazing oportunity. I am really interested in traveling with my career of Nursing and saw this as a great opportunity to practice overseas but with support, through having preceptors in a student role. I also felt I would have great personal growth in taking this opportunity, growing in my personal and professional independence and self confidence.

 

I chose to come to KI as I felt it would be a more challenging and rewarding experience. My University provided 2 exchange programs, one to KI, Sweden and one to England. I felt that the language and cuture differences that there are between Sweden and Australia would provide a greater learning experience. Additionally, Sweden has a great reputation for their health care system, and KI is well know world wide for its research and quality of students.

 

I felt that all the main information of placement and accomodation was provided before exchange. I felt that their could have been some improvements from my home university in face-to-face communication, especially in the lead up to our departure to double chack we had everything prepared and organised. Maybe KI could send out an email e few weeks before departure to wish their incoming students all the best, just to let us know they are expecting us, just for reasurence.

 

We were not required any vaccinations that i can remember, however we were screened through KI for MSA

I loved my exchange, and would recommend it to everyone!

We began a  language course but found for our 6 week placements it was a very heavy work load, and that it was a late night after working, and then going back to placement the next morning. I would suggest it for long term students, but not for a short term placement.

As my placement was only a 6 week exchange, only personal study was expected of myself. I was not involved in a unit of study, but rather had to satisfactorily complete placement.