The pick up service has been very useful for my friend and I because we arrived around 10:00 PM without knowing the city. A student from KI came to T-centralen, gave us our keys and led us to our residence, which was very kind from her. She gave us a COMVIQ card for the phone as well. I've really appreciated this service !

The introduction day was very nice ! I remember the speech of one of the speaker telling us to enjoy our clinical rotation and courses, but our personnal life as well ! In France, I would have never heard this ; thank you ! It was a preview of Swedish life. First fika as well ! I liked the intervention about what Sweden represented for us : design, recycling, nature, fika, IKEA... All the stereotypes that we could have (sometimes true) !

Concerning the health care center, the person working there was nice and the test has been realized quickly.

About the accomodation, I applied for 3 residences of KI housing thanks to the informations sent by KI 6 months before. I was very happy with mine (Pax) because I had my own bathroom, and the room was quite big (around 19 square meters with the bathroom). The kitchen shared by 10 persons was very nice to meet people and eat together ! I paid 4000SEK per month for it and I think that it worths it. Moreover, the location was very good because the subway was at 100 meters from the residence and then we were in the city center in 10 minutes. With the bus, I was in KI  in 20 minutes so this was practical.

I have participated in a lot of activities proposed by the student union : salsa courses, holi colour festival, kayaking in Langholmen, parties, MF pub, Patricia's boat, cruise to Talinn...

I think that this is an amazing organization, they propose a lot of really nice events ! And it makes the occasion to meet other students or to do activities with your friends ! Congratulations to them !!
The information is well provided by facebook and by mail. The only problem is that often there are just a few places so we have to be quick in booking !

I would have liked to know more swedish people of my age. I made two swedish friends.The problem is that I was in a program of clinical rotation, with almost no courses, and I always was the only student in my ward. During courses we were just a few erasmus students. In this way, I didn't have the opportunity to take time to speak with swedish students everyday and to create a real friendship ; just chating sometimes, with friends of friends, at lunch or in some events. It's the only regret that I have !

I chose to go on exchange to discover new ways of thinking and cultures (in Sweden and by the other Erasmus students). I love travelling so I wanted to discover a new country as well : I had never been to Sweden, and my brother told me that Stockholm was a very nice city ! Moreover, I wanted to go in a country where people speak english. I also have to admit that I needed a break in my medicine studies. This is why I came to Sweden ! I didn't know anything about KI, I came here for the city and the experience first... now I think that this is a very good university to study.

Concerning administrative tasks, my university in Grenoble helped me to choose my program because I was lost between all the possibilities that I had with courses and clinical rotations. Otherwise, I think KI has a very efficient organization : I received a letter 6 months before my arrival  with a lot of informations about life in Sweden, accomodation (very useful with KI housing), the pick-up service... Each time that I sent a mail to the coordinator, she answered to me quickly and with useful informations.

Before departure, I was required to do a MRSA test in France, and another one in Sweden. I don't remember any other health procedure to realize before coming.

 

My semester in Stockholm has been amazing and very interesting personaly and professionaly !!

First, I made very good friends from differents nationalities : Australian, German, English, Catalan, Swiss, Soudanese... I really hope to see them again next year ! I have discovered new ways of thinking, traditions, cultures ; new food as well because we used to cook for the others some specialities from our country ! This has been an intense experience because we were all there for 6 months or 1 year, living together all the time, but knowing that we would have to say goodbye soon... I would go for a second Erasmus without hesitation if I had the choice !


Secondly, I love Stockholm. I really feel good in this city. I really liked the fact that this is a capital with all the cultural events that go with this, but without crowded subway and with nature. I enjoyed a lot walking in the forest or along the water, just thinking, and admiring the city... What I like too, is all the differents neighborhood : the old town with Gamla Stan, young and hipster part with Södermalm and its small red houses on its coasts, beautiful buildings of Östermalm and walking along the harbor until Djugarden, Kungsträgarden with cherry flowers...
Moreover, I like Swedish mentality (at least the impression that I had from this). Swedish people seem to enjoy more simple things of life and to let some space to it : nature (and ecology), family, balance between work and personnal life. I have the feeling that they kept traditions like Midsummer, and maybe this makes people more united, because they still share a common culture. I also think they are more open-minded ( but maybe this is the capital effect).

Professionally, the mentality is different from France as well. They ask general knowledge to Swedish students, when we have a lot of precise things to learn in France : I think that a compromise between both would be a good solution. Otherwise, doctors are more educationnal and there is less hierarchy with nurses for example. I think that this is beneficial for a good work. I also felt like they had more time for personnal life, which can be difficult in France as a doctor ( but I noticed that there were more doctors in every ward compared to Grenoble). On my opinion, this balance between work and personal time is very important.

Finally, I've been travelling a lot during this semester with my friends and it was awesome ! Lapland, Bohuslän, Gotland, Talinn, Norway, and Copenhagen ... It was the perfect occasion to take time to visit all those places !

Thank you KI and Sweden for giving us such a warm welcome !!! I will come back for sure.

I went to one course of swedish but the teacher was speaking fast and all in swedish, so I didn't learn anything during those 2.30 hours. I didn't come back because I prefered going to other activities, even if learning swedish would have been very useful for my clinical rotation because a lot of conversation were in swedish !

If the course had been really made for beginners, I would have stayed because I'm keen on learning new languages. But this wasn't the main goal of my stay here, and I would have needed to work a lot, and on my book. That wasn't the point...

But I still think that it's a very good idea to offer swedish courses !! It can be very pleasant and useful but it needs to be suitable for beginners.

I had just a few courses because my program was only made of clinical rotation. They were interesting, with less details than french courses but that's good : in France, we need to learn a lot of precise things, and sometimes we forget the main one.

What I've really appreciated was the relation between professors (doctors in that case) and students. They wanted to know each of us, and took fika with us to speak about sport, our countries, activities... This is something that we don't see in France : the doctor is kind of superior. I like this Swedish attitude and I think we dear asking more questions in that case because we don't feel stupid.

In the hospital, it was the same relation with the doctors : they were more educationnal than in France (even surgeons were very nice and explained me how do make a suture or made courses just for another student and I ). I think that this is a best atmosphere to learn and to be happy in our studies.

The relation with the patient is slighly different as well : I have the feeling that doctors in Sweden explain more things to the patient, or at least with simple words for the patient to understand.

Moreover, I had the impression that in Sweden, personal or familial life is important and I've seen doctors leaving early to take their children to school : I've never seen that in France in one year. I think that it's really important to keep a balance between work time and personnal time and that this is more possible in Sweden.