Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: National University of Singapore
Study programme: Biomedicine
Exchange programme: INK
Semester: Spring semester 2013/2014
Name: Min Hui Teo
Email address: minhuiteo@gmail.com

Arrival and registration

Arrival was good. They gave us pretty detailed and elaborate info about practical things like housing (like bedbugs etc) and living. I especially loved the short workshop/seminar by the Australian guy on cross-cultural communication. He presented things in a way that was different from many other speakers and was memorable.

Oh yes, I was really quite impressed that we were each given personal folders with our name and sticker with the course that we were gonna study. it was so personal and much effort and thought must have been given to it. It's something small but so thoughtful  and sweet :)

Acommendation

I applied through KI Housing AB website. It was not easy because everything looked the same online. As I had no prior experience in how living in Sweden can be like, and how the living environment can be, i was lucky to have a friend whose aunt lived in Sweden for some years. She gave us inside info about which accom to apply to (like Pax is good as it's near Vastra Skogen, a pretty central train station that's just a few stops away from Centralen). Details like that are not given online and it won;t be easy for someone who has no one to refer to. For e.g. my friend regretted applying to Jajagarten as she didn't know she had to walk so far. (VS Pax walk only 3 min). Things like that could be given online in more digestible versions.

For Eg.

Advantages of Pax:
- 3 min walk away from the T bana, Vastra Skogen
- Just 10 min by train away from Centralen 
- big spacious rooms (give a more accurate photo)

*include a google map photo with a weblink and directions on how to get to it

etc :)

And perhaps more photos can be given about the living envt. E.g. how the area around is like in both Winter and Summer. 

Strix and Pax are really similar online but it turned out that many in Strix regretted applying there because it was just slightly cheaper than Pax but so much smaller in rooms and older. Perhaps the housing website can have a (moderated) review page like how hostel world works so that past tenants can give feedbacks and advice.

Leisure time and social activities

They're fun! Global Friends are a really fun bunch though they appear just sporadically. I wished they have some more gatherings like maybe every 2-3 weeks for just a simple fika (potluck style to save money?) so that exchange students can know each other better. I loved that they arranged for us a buddy.

Pre-departure

I've heard a lot about how prestigious and rigorous education in KI is. I've also heard a lot about how good the Scandinavian education can be, for e.g. the Finnish and Swedish education system. Thus, I wish to be part of this learning experience. KI was really good in that everything like term schedules and module info was uploaded online way in advance. This allowed us to plan logistical things like flight tix early in advance. However, the website can be easier to navigate as it wasn't easy finding documents like the course contents and proposed schedule (in excel) online. The site for exchange students was quite a maze to navigate in. It was good that I needn't be vaccinated as I was taking Biomedicine.

Courses during the exchange period

BIOX07 : BACH - Neuroscience
Really love how interesting facts and concepts are presented.
BIOX09 : BACH - Pharmacology and Toxicology
Appreciated how the emphasis was on understanding how different classes of drugs work. We didn't have to memorize much details like drug names and their mechanism, unlike in NUS (Singapore) or ETH (Zurich) and many other schools, where memorizing details like those were key. This really fueled us to learn what's important.
BIOX08 : BACH - Tissue Biology
This was the most challenging mod for me as I couldn't differentiate between the tissues. Most things looked too similar when stained and observed under the microscope. I loved and appreciated the tour to the lab where they showed us the whole process of harvesting tissue to getting it ready for analysis. That made me interested again in why I was learning what I did.
IEE047 : BACH-Biomedical project for exchange students
N.A.

Summary

I thoroughly enjoyed myself because Sweden is such an open and liberal society. It's really one of the best places one can choose to live and work in and I would love to come again.

Language and Culture

Nope as it clashed with my overseas trips.

Studies in general

I love the Swedish education! Compared to that in SG, studies in KI was surprisingly much more easy-going than I expected, given its reputation. Teachers were really passionate and cared that we question what's taught. This meant that we had to absorb as they teach so that we can question. Hence, the pace of learning was good too. It's the epitome of efficient and thoughtful education where Bio is not mostly about stuffing students with facts, regurgitation and that lesser lesson time might not mean compromising on the quality of education.

I particularly loved how open PhD students and Profs are to welcoming students to visit their labs and really try out some expts. For e.g. Lovisa from Neuroscience guided us to her lab and let us try a bit of what she is doing. This is real passion and openness out of what she needed to do as a PhD student and I really appreciate her.