Exchange report - incoming students
View from Marina Bay Sands
Home university: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Study programme: Medicine
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Autumn and spring semester 2012/2013
Name: Anna Maus
Email address: anna_souris@yahoo.de

Arrival and registration

I didn't used the help of the pickup service by global friends so it was quite hard to find my way to the uac centre. So I recommend everyone to take this offer. The introduction days were really good orgaized and interesting. At the student health centre was quite a long waiting time to do the MRSA-test but beside this, the contact worked well.
Raffles Place and Merlion

Acommendation

I had an appartment in Pax through the UAC. This was really uncomplicated, the application worked well. During my stay I had some violoence problems with one neighbour on my corridor. It was possible to change the corridor and I felt well supported by UAC. The standard of the rooms was very good but the status of the kitchen depended a lot on the people living on that corrdidor. The cost of housing was acceptable, compared to the housing situation in Stockholm and very comfortable when having courses at Solna hospital. Unfortunately a long way to get to Huddinge hospital.
View from our apartment at Parc Oasis

Leisure time and social activities

I loved the programm offered for the exchange students. I went to a bowling event, a climbing evening and a horse riding tour at djurgården organized by global friends and all of these events were absolutely amazing! Beside this it was perfect to be able to use the student gym in Huddinge. 
The bonding events offered during both courses e.g. the boat tour to  Åland or the sauna event were great experiences as well.
I made some swedish freinds although it's not that easy because most of the swedish students have their own life and friends from school.
Hmong girls playing up in the rice fields in Sapa in Northern Vietnam

Pre-departure

I had been to Stockholm 2 years before my exchange for a couple of days for holidays. I really enjoyed the city and its people. I decided to do a swedish language course and because this was so much fun, I decided to go to Sweden for exchange. Because of KI impressive international reputation the decision was easy to make. 

The information given from both sides was good, I received all the information needed.
Especially the possibility to apply at UAC for an appartment was very good so I felt prepared for my exchange when I arrived.
No special certificates were required, but I think that the MRSA-test which was done during the introduction days is an important procedure.
View from New Asia Bar

Courses during the exchange period

D8XX01 : Clinical Medicine - Surgery
The surgery course was a lot influenced by the bad atmosphere in my group, the other students were occupied by their families and research projects so that they came late for seminars which lead to long waiting times. Beside this I really enjoyed the rotations although they very sometimes badly organized. Especially the rotations in upper GI and COLO had a lot of unused waiting time which I would have loved to use for studying. Otherwise the teachers were really nice and supportive whenever there came up a problem. I would have appreciated if the course would have focused more on basic skills and would have given more time for self-studying to go more into detail.
D10X01 : Clinical medicine-emphasis on reproduction and development
I enjoyed this course. Seminars and lectures were well prepared and well done. Unfortuantely the organization of the rotations in gynecology and obstreitics was not that good, e.g. one student had 5 shifts with the midwife while another one had only 1 or 2. Otherwise the teaching was very good. The examination format was well chosen but the written exam was difficult because some material was not included in the seminars and lectures
Tanah Lot in Bali

Summary

This exchange was a great experience for me. I felt very welcomed and supported and I learned a lot about Sweden and the swedish health system. I felt home in Stockholm although it was my first longer period abroad. Thanks for this!
Well-spent weekend in Pulau Rawa in Malaysia..

Language and Culture

I did some swedish course before I started the exchange.
Monkey in Bali

Studies in general

All teachers and instructors were very welcoming and supportive. If a problem arose, people were always willing to help. I felt especially that bonding events financed by KI such as the boat trip to Ahland during the surgery course or the dinner and sauna evenings during the course on reproduction and development reflected extremely well on KI's international reputation. Generally I would hope that future courses offered more study time. I felt that a lot of clinical rotations were not very efficient in terms of learning outcome and I would have preferred to have more spare time for self-guided studies in both Swedish and my medical courses.
Beside this it was sometimes really hard to miss one day because of sickness because the missed time had to be redone on the weekends. When missing more than 1 day, this could turn into a problem. But still, it was possible to talk to the teachers.
For any reason I can't save my report under courses, I will do it in this category: 

The surgery course was a lot influenced by the bad atmosphere in my group, the other students were occupied by their families and research projects so that they came late for seminars which lead to long waiting times. Beside this I really enjoyed the rotations although they very sometimes badly organized. Especially the rotations in upper GI and COLO had a lot of unused waiting time which I would have loved to use for studying. Otherwise the teachers were really nice and supportive whenever there came up a problem. I would have appreciated if the course would have focused more on basic skills and would have given more time for self-studying to go more into detail.

 

I enjoyed the second course: reproduction and development as well. Seminars and lectures were well prepared and well done. Unfortuantely the organization of the rotations in gynecology and obstreitics was not that good, e.g. one student had 5 shifts with the midwife while another one had only 1 or 2. Otherwise the teaching was very good. The examination format was well chosen but the written exam was difficult because some material was not included in the seminars and lectures.
Chili crab, something you need to eat!