Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Universitetet i Tromsø
Study programme: Dentistry
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Spring semester 2013/2014

Arrival and registration

It was easy to find my way to school. My coordinator at KI had provided us with very good information about the public transport system in Stockholm. We were welcomed by the coordinator who answered all our questions and introduced us to the other contact persons we needed to know.

Later we went to the library to get student cards and swedish sim cards, before we went to the student health centre to take an MRSA test.

The rest of the day we were introduced to the different parts of the university building and said hello to the other students on the semester we were going to follow. 

We were supposed to meet a person from Global Friends, but she was abroad and they had not arranged for anyone else to meet us. We had to find someone else who could enroll us in the student union. 

Acommendation

I came to Stockholm in the beginning of march. I applied for housing at KI Housing and private at web pages such as blocker.se. It was very difficult to find accommodation, and at first i didn't get housing at KI Housing. KI Housing distributes all the rooms to the students arriving in january first, so i was lucky to get a room at KI housing. Some of the other students arriving at the same time had to find accommodation elsewhere. 

The first month i lived in Vårberg, one of KI housings newest accommodations.

Leisure time and social activities

We received some emails about activities from Global Friends. I participated at one of them, but none of the other exchange students in the dental program attended. The dental student union (Odontologiska föreningen) had a pub night almost every friday, some dinners and other activities, and i attended most of them. It was fun! I was more together with the other exchange students than the swedish students.

Pre-departure

I wanted to go on exchange to meet new people, experience a new country and to experience how dentistry is taught in a different university.

I got some information about my alternatives and the application process from my home university, and my exchange coordinator helped me a lot during the application process. I also found exchange information at KI's web pages.

The vaccination process was OK. I had to take an MRSA test before I came to Sweden, and they took one at KI too. 

Courses during the exchange period

ETL001 : Comprehensive Care - with subject specific courses
Orofacial pain and jaw function (OSK): This is a course that we don't have separately in Tromsö. We got patient that were submitted from their general dentists for pain or discomfort, and did a clinical assessment, treatment plan and control for each patient. This was very educational and I had great benefit from the course. The teachers were great! Prosthodontics in clinic: We had very many different teachers, and up to 5 different teachers each treatment session. This was a big change from my home university, where we are assigned one teacher for the whole semester. The funny thing was, they always had "fika" (coffee break) at the same time, so treatment was very ineffective in this section. We had to wait a lot. They didn't always agree about the signed treatment plan, but we usually worked it out. The good thing here is that almost all the teachers are specialists and have a lot of clinical experience. The lectures were good. Cariology in clinic: In this section the teachers were organized and the teacher usually came by to ask how things were going. We didn't have to wait that much in this section. The negative thing was that they sometimes had 5th year students as teachers, and they couldn't sign our papers, so we had to ask for a teacher to look over everything again to get our signature. Orthodontics: I didn't get to do much in this course, and was actually pretty disappointed about the whole course. I have a certain amount of patient treatments that I need to get through before the exam in my home university, so i will have to do a lot more when i come back to Tromsö this autumn.
ETL002 : Child and Adolescent Dentistry - Odontology
This was mostly practical, and we treated children and adolescents in the pedodontic department. We had several teachers, and I only had the course coordinator once. I had a swedish partner and we assisted each other. I had some language difficulties, but my partner helped me translate my norwegian into swedish. The pedodontic lectures were very good!

Summary

I am satisfied with my stay at KI. I have got new friends and it's been interesting to see how the dental program is taught at KI. 

Language and Culture

I did not take a language course, because i can understand and speak swedish to a certain degree.

Studies in general

The student-teacher interaction is very informal and friendly. We had a lot of patient treatment, and a few lectures (not mandatory). I can understand swedish, and could therefore have swedish-speaking patients. Some of the patients did not understand my norwegian-swedish, so i had some difficulty communicating with them and make them understand. 

When it came to the relationship between the theory and clinical education, it seemed like the swedish students had completed several subjects already, so i missed some of it and needed some extra help in the clinic because of that. But the teachers were usually very helpful and guided me when necessary. As an example: We had not started on the subject "removable prosthodontics" at my home university, but the swedish students were already finished with the lectures, and in addition they had finished the practical preclinical training in this subjects.