Exchange report - incoming students
Fyren utanför Nobbys beach, med vy över Newcastle.
Home university: Nanyang Technological University
Study programme: Biomedicine
Exchange programme: INK
Semester: Spring semester 2013/2014
Name: YAMING ZHANG
Email address: ZHAN0352@e.ntu.edu.sg

Arrival and registration

I did not apply the KI pick up service, but I received help from my own schoolmate. I really appreciated his help to pick me up at the Arlanda airport. Because of him, I did not face any difficulty for transportation and finding the accommodation. Really thanks a lot to him.  

Then the next day was the introduction day, I met more students from there and they were really helpful and friendly.

Although I was sick for a few times due to the cold weather, but I have never been to the health centre before. Because I did not really know how the student health centre works and detailed information was not given on the website.  

En av de första bilderna jag tog. Kommer ihåg att jag var så fascinerad av granarna vars grenar växer uppåt istället för neråt som vi är vana att se dem. Lägg också märke till innan du åker vilket håll vattnet spolas ner åt och se om det verkligen är som de säger att det snurrar åt andra hållet på andra sidan ekvatorn! ;-)

Acommendation

I stayed in Vårberg(150sek/night) for two weeks that applied through KI housing, and then moved to Pax(116sek/night). Comparing to Pax, Vårberg has much bigger room, kitchen, better facilities and very motherly housing coordinator there. Whereas, Pax is much cheaper in term of rental and very near to Vastra Skogen station, about 3 minutes’ walking, which only took less than 20 minutes by bus 507 or train to my Solna campus. What I knew strix(96sek/night) housing is the cheapst, but abit further from Vastra Skogen metro station.
En liten egengjord karta över Newcastles innerstad. Hoppas att det kan underlätta i sökandet efter och valet av boende. Har även markerat var mataffärerna ligger, kan vara lite svårt att veta när man kommer annars. Längst upp till vänster ska det föreställa en svart pil som visar åt vilket håll Uni(versitetet) ligger.

Leisure time and social activities

 

I participated in several events organized by Global Friends, such as welcome dinner, hiking and many more. I worked in MF (student Union) pub for once that was really fun experience and enjoyable work environment. I made a few Swedish friends from those activities.

Newcastle Beach

Pre-departure

 

I applied exchange very last minute, because I was not sure if I could go or wanted to go. During the last minute of application, there was not much choice left for me to choose. But thankfully, there was one vacancy at KI. After searched online, KI was the best in science field than any other choices left for me to apply. The whole application process was very short and simple for me, which was done within a week. I was not required to be vaccinated nor to bring any certificates over.

After I received the offer, the final term exam came; I was so busy and confused to handle administration and exam preparation. Luckily, one of my schoolmates had the same offer earlier than me, and he did help me a lot on the paper works.  

Right after exam, I started to apply accommodation through housing at KI, bank statement and insurance for resistance permit (RP) application. Because of my mistakes I made earlier on the RP application, I suffered more than the rests as I needed to re-apply the RP again when I arrived Sweden, of course I had to pay again for the application fees.

Lifeguards är ett av Australiens signum. Här är en som utför sitt viktiga jobb att hålla koll på alla oss turister :)

Courses during the exchange period

BIOX07 : BACH - Neuroscience
I enjoyed this module a lot. I felt so grateful to have the neuroscience laboratory. From there, I had a chance to really understand how the brain looked alike and where all the parts of brain were located.
BIOX09 : BACH - Pharmacology and Toxicology
I used to have problem based learning (PBL) in my Polytechnic days. So I did enjoy the part for toxicology that used PBL system. I am really grateful to have very cooperatively group mates, as all of us were active in discussion, shown up for all the meetings and did our individually tasks with standard. I attended all three laboratory sessions for pharmacology part, they were really great experience to test drugs on ourselves to see the effect. It was really beyond the learning from textbook.
IEE046 : BACH-Biomedical project for exchange students
I applied the research project under Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB). Initially it was extremely tough for me as I never had any dry lab experience; therefore I took a lot of time to understand what I planned to do. My supervisor was very patient to guide me and allowed me to free choose what I wished to do. Lately, I received many helps from the phD students from the same lab. They sacrificed hours and hours to teach me on the coding and understand on my topic. Because of them, I never regret for taking up such new challenge in KI.
Studenter på campus.

Summary

I am thankful I have been offered to such amazing exchange program once in my University life. KI defined is my right choice.  Instead feeling competitive in school, I had more time to relax myself, to travel around, to meet new friends, to listen more stories around the Europe.

Lastly, I learned to be more independent and able to cook many yummy dishes on my own.

En av landets många charmiga kängurur.

Language and Culture

 

KI did subsidize the exchange students to learn Swedish class outside, but I did not wish to pay. So, I attended the language @ KI beginner class. It was the free course, taught and organized by KI students. I am slow learned, therefore I did not learn a lot of Swedish, but I did enjoy the class to know more people around the world who attended the course.

In fact, I picked up very simple Swedish words and phrases from my classmates and from daily life like Ursäkta (Excuse me), which you would hear a lot of people saying it in the train, bus and everywhere.

Söt wallaby i Kuranda National Park, utanför Cairns.

Studies in general

I have experienced a totally different education system comparing to Singapore. I did enjoy the oral exams, which were more like a group seminars to share ideas and knowledge.

I used to take many modules at the same time, but I only took one module at one time in KI. It made the whole study load less and more focus on the current module.

In lectures, professors encouraged questions from the floor. There was one time, one of the professors brought over his kid to the class as his kid could not attend kindergarten and stayed home alone either. The scene was really lovely and made me feel Sweden is very family orientated culture.

I did not do well for one of the modules at first time, but I was gave another chance to make up the result. It made me feel result was not everything, but the learning progress and the real knowledge I have gained.

Matar en vacker fågel i Australiens största inhägnade fågelpark (fast den var ganska liten) i Kuranda, utanför Cairns.