Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Universitetet i Bergen
Study programme: Medicine
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Autumn semester 2011/2012

Arrival and registration

Everything went smooth and easy, the information was good and it was easy to find help. The only thing that was a little problematic was the UAC (accomodation). There office had very limited opening hours, soo to get your key you had to plan for someone to get it for you/take an early flight. The student health center gave good information on the first day, and are located at booth campus. 

Acommendation

I applied for housing at UAC and ended up at Strix. We looked online for privat housing, but this proved to be very difficult (and expensive!!). The student accomodation was cheap, located by the subway and the standard was OK. 
I would recomend for all other students to do the same!

Leisure time and social activities

We didnt paticipate in the arranged sosial activities - it was easy to make friends in the class, and living at Strix was also very social. The sweedish student were very nice and interessed in getting to know us! 

Pre-departure

After many years in the same town and at the same university i was feeling restless and wanted a year abroad. 
Why did I choose Stockholm and KI? First of all I've heard a lot of good things about KI, secondly I've always liked Stockholm and its urbanity. 
The information from KI was good and easy to find (www.KI.no), and emails was answerd fast. 
I had to test myself for MRSA after arrival, this was arranged by KI for all exhangestudent.  Other than that no certificates was nessesary (exept passport).

Courses during the exchange period

D9XX01 : Clinical Medicine- Neuro, Senses and Psyche
ØNH and eye: to short courses with a lot of seminars and practical teaching in diagnostic tools. Intens, but I never learned so much on so little time befor! The seminarcases were integrated and you learned how to intepret symptoms, how to examine - and how to treat. Neuro: also a very good cours. The studentgroups very bigger, but you also had consultations with "real" patient alone/with one other student. Psyche: this was my favorit cours! we had 4 weeks of practice were you were alone/with one other student at two different wards. In this way you had the chanse to follow-up the pasients and see there progress, and i got a good impression on how psychiatri wards work. Every week we had seminars and some lessons. The examination format was excellent! You really had to think about different diagnoses and how to seperate them. It resembled real situations!

Summary

My semester at KI was amazing - the courses, the educational setting, out classmates and of course Stockholm - everything var perfect! I wish I could go back, and i strongly recommend everyone to take a semester at KI!

Language and Culture

Im from Norway, so I didnt have any problems with the language. You quickly learn how to replace some of the words so that both students and pasient understand. 

Studies in general

The studies at KI was beyond my expectations! All the teachers/doctors welcomed us in a good way and seemed very dedicated to the students. There was much more practice then we're used to from our home country, and we were divided into small groups (3-4 student). I also enjoyed the seminars - very interaktiv and I learned alot! The courses focused more on learning the basics (both in theory and in pracis) and we were drilled in the most important diagnoses. This differs from my home country in many ways; we're used to much more theory in big groups, and our pensum is more on a spesialist-level. I personally feel that I learned more the "KI-way" - and also it was more fun!