I had emailed the pick-up service at Karolinska ahead of time so I knew someone was meeting was going to help me get to my housing. I took the airport coach from the Arlanda airport to Central Station where I met the student from the pick-up service. Once there, he helped me purchase a SL card and also a sim card for my phone. From there, he helped me get to my room and also kindly pointed out the closest bus stations and supermarkets. I am really thankful for the pick-up service and am very glad that I had someone
I applied for housing through the University Accommodation Center and was thankfully able to secure housing. It is my understanding that there were a lot of international student during this semester so I was unfortunately unable to get my first or second housing choices which would have been Pax or Strix and ended up in Varberg. I was very happy with my room and the area surrounding the building. The other students in my hallway were from all over the world (Italy, Germany, China, Switzerland, etc) so it was wonderful to be able to talk to them and learn more about their culture and country. My only problem with housing was that it was really far away from the Campus in Solna and it took an hour to get to and from campus.
Again, since I was only here for 4 weeks I was not able to attend any of the activities with global friends. I did make some good friends in my floor and we went out to dinner occasionally or just hung out in the dining area in our floor. The area surrounding my building is beautiful so I enjoyed going on walks everyday. I also really enjoyed walking around Stockholm city, specially Gamla Stan and Slussen and just taking in the sights. I went to a few museums and did other touristy things.
My university has an exchange program with Karolinska that I found out about when I was a first year medical student. I am interested in global health and in Pathology and since Karolinska has a great reputation in both of these fields, I decided to pursue the exchange program. I had to first apply and go through an interview process at my home institution and I was selected to be one of the two exchange students for 2015-16. Then I applied to Karolinska directly and was accepted.
DVPX01 : Research oriented project, 4 w
I did a four-week research elective while in Sweden. The thing about doing a research elective is that you have to find your mentor and that can be difficult to do. I am going into Pathology and ideally would have liked to do an elective in Pathology or at least work with a mentor in the field. Unfortunately I had a really hard time trying to arrange something like that so I had find a different way. I ended up finding a mentor in Ob-Gyn who is interested in cervical cancer screening (my area of interest) and arranged an elective with her. In hindsight, I am really glad I got to work with my mentor because she was genuinely interested in helping me make the most out of my elective. I met with her when I first got to Stockholm and we went over some of the projects she was currently working on and what I could do to help out. I spent the majority of my rotation doing literature review, which meant that I had a very flexible schedule and I really appreciated it since I lived so far away from the main campus. My mentor knew about my interest in Pathology so she arranged for me to follow Pathologist both at the Solna and Huddinge hospital. I also spent some time in clinic and in the OR with her.
Overall, I had a great 4 weeks in Sweden. I got to work with a mentor and learn a lot from her her. I also really enjoyed living in a beautiful city like Stockholm and taking in everything it has to offer. I met some great people from all over the world and it was fun talking to them and learning more about their culture. I am glad I got the opportunity to come here for 4 weeks.
Fiskaren i Costa da Caparica
I did a research elective that consisted primarily of literature review so unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good idea of the Swedish study environment. My mentor was very interested in my learning and did her best to help me find resources that I needed. I had very limited patient contact but the ones I did meet were very friendly and open to having a student observe.