I was very impressed by the KI pickup service. It helped me feel more secure about arriving and finding my accommodation. Introduction day was very well organized and a great opportunity to meet people and feel more comfortable. The student health centre contact was very clear. They were very welcoming and organized about the MRSA screening required for my clinical placements.
I participated mostly in social activities that were not formally organized. I met a lot of people at Introduction Day and within my student accommodation. The programs offered seemed to be fine, but I was not able to attend a lot of them and preferred to organize my own free time. I made a few Swedish friends, one through my course at KI and others through friends of a friend.
I was given the opportunity to go on an exchange for occupational therapy at KI and I could not refuse such an opportunity. I love to travel and experience new places and cultures and meet new people with different life perspectives than my own. I wanted to gain more clinical experience in my field, which was the biggest draw of the KI exchange for me. The exchange information I received from KI before arriving was very helpful, though there was a lot to sift through. My own university helped me in terms of going through the application process, but the majority of the information I needed was received through KI itself. I was not required to get any vaccines that I did not already have, but I brought my health records and immunization history forms with me just in case.
AT1X01 : Community and Home Based Rehabilitation - Cultural Perspectives
The course was very interesting and taught me a lot about my own country and other countries in terms of healthcare and rehabilitation. By comparing and contrasting America with other countries I could better understand and explain my own situation to others. The examinations were both group and individual which allowed for different learning opportunities and interesting discussions. The guest lecturers were very enthusiastic and cared a lot about our learning.
1EE083 : Clinical rotation for exchange students - Occupational Therapy
My first rotation was in psychiatry and I learned a lot in four weeks. My supervisor was very enthusiastic and she taught me a lot about her work as an OT in psychiatry as well as her work as an OT in general. She was able to communicate her thought process very well to me and I learned from her on a personal and professional level.
EAR001 : Clinical rotation 1 for exchange students - occupational theraphy
My second rotation was in outpatient brain injury rehabilitation for 8 weeks. I learned a lot about the patient population, assessments, interviews, interventions and the overall rehabilitation process. My supervisor was a great teacher and mentor. She allowed me to participate in a lot of group and individual sessions and she slowly allowed me to transition from watching her to working on my own with patients. I was able to interview, assess and implement interventions with patients on my own.
EAR002 : Clinical rotation 2 for exchange students - occupational therapy
No third rotation.
EAR004 : Analyses of literature from an occupational perspective
The analysis of literature allowed me to explore a topic I found interesting on my clinical placement. I was able to learn a lot about the topic, relate it to my clinical experience, and to read the most current research regarding best treatment practices to address the issue.
Overall I had a wonderful experience during my exchange period at KI. I learned a lot through my clinical placements that I will carry with me as I continue my studies and my career. I learned a lot about the culture of Sweden through my every day life. I learned a lot about other cultures through the course. I found everyone at KI to be very friendly, welcoming and accommodating.
I participated in the Swedish language course offered. I was able to learn basic phrases and pronunciation. I found it very difficult to learn how to actually speak very well in Swedish but the course allowed me to better read and understand the language as well as eventually understand some of what was spoken by others.
The majority of my studies were clinical placements and these were both excellent. The arrangements were very organized and clear. My supervisors were both wonderful and I learned so much from both of them. I was able to build very close relationships with them as supervisors and as mentors for my time in their country and culture. Theory was very well integrated into the clinical education and I was able to draw many links from my home university studies to the clinical work I was doing. The course I did take at KI was different and perhaps less demanding than my home courses, but it had its advantages as well. The content was very different and globally focused rather than specific therapeutic knowledge and this was a nice supplement to my education. The classroom environment was different in terms of structure and general feeling. There is a different relationship between teachers and students in Sweden than I have in my home environment such that there seems to be more of a push for student's advocacy of their opinions and wishes for how classes should run.