Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Università Degli Studi di Firenze
Study programme: Medicine
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Spring semester 2016/2017

Arrival and registration

The pickup service was very good, and so was the health centre.
The first SIM card I got was not working since it was expired: that was quite bothering, in the first days.

Acommendation

The accomodation I got from KI housing was very spacious and comfortable, but pretty far from the city and the hospitals where I was working; more of, the neighbourhood was not very nice to live in.
The KI housing service is excellent, but I think they could have given us better information about the accomodation's location.
The cost was OK, but the cleaning service (especially of the kitchen) was not so good.

Leisure time and social activities

I participated in a lot of social activities, just a few of them were organized by the student associations, but I did not have the chance to make Swedish friends. 
The information about events is very good and effective, and the variety of activities was amazing.

Pre-departure

I chose to go on exchange to try a grow up as a person and as a student. I wanted to live on my own, to get to know new people and to learn new things about medicine, far from my home and routine.
I chose KI because I was expecting a good internship from what I had read on the internet and heard from other people who had been there before. 
The information from KI was good and complete, while my University had some organisational problems (it was not clear what my internship program should have been, my application was sent very late).
I was required to have a MRSA test.

Courses during the exchange period

ELA005 : Internal Medicine 1
In this medical rotation, the only not-surgical I had, I saw and learnt a lot. I found it annoying to change supervisor every other day, so that I always had to introduce myself to doctors who did not even know they had to tutor me, but they were all very nice to me and taught me a lot. The overall organization (with the seminars) was good, and the secretary Annika was helpful and kind. A heartfelt "thank you" to the staff of the cath-lab of the hospital (Sodersjukhuset), where I spent most of my internship time, and some of my spare time.
ELAXX6 : Surgery 1
The working environment of the hospital (DS) is very welcoming, and so were all the surgeons I met, especially our supervisor Staffan and my tutor Jannica, I was invited to assist in many operations and in the day/night shifts in the ER, which was very interesting
2EE082 : Clinical rotation, Orthopedic Surgery
The activity in the ER was pretty boring, and we were not scheduled to be in the outpatient clinic nor in the ward, so I spent most of the time in the OR. Also because I am not so trained in this subject, I would have preferred to get more theoretical lessons
2EE097 : Clinical Rotation - Urology
This rotation was very interesting, also because KS and HS deal with a high numer of complex cases, and I had the chance to see and learn a lot, even though the internship was really focused on the OR.

Summary

The general impression is very good, based mainly on the kindness of the people I met in the hospital and on the interesting things I did there.

I think two things should be improved:
  • the integration with the swedish students; also, I somehow felt less considered than them, as if they were prioritized in the interesting activities: the best example of this is that the exchange students do not have access to TakeCare, which in my opinion is very stupid and compromises the pleasure of the experience;
  • the language problem: a few exchange student, for different personal reasons, could speak Swedish, and they were treated in a very different manner from the other exchange students, which is the worst thing that happened in this 4-month internship.

Language and Culture

I took a Swedish course held by BBi communication: it was very good and well-taught.

I take this space for a more general topic that I strongly care about.
I think the supervisors and the coordinators should either recommend that the incoming students learn some Swedish before they start (even though the English-speking level in stockholm is very high) or, alternatively, organize for them clinical activities that can be completely attended in English.
Before my departure, I used to think I had no use in learning Swedish because I was specifically supposed to have an internship in English; but as soon as I started my internship I realized that I was missing a big part of the internship due to the language.

Studies in general

I am very happy about my study period at KI.
The Swedish study environment is very good for students, because the teachers do not stress at all on competition and tend to treat every student the same. 
The relation with the supervisors is perfect, it is the one I have always been waiting for: it is great to be treated as a peer by every other person in the hospital, just like we are colleagues.
The patients and in general the people I met were (almost) always very nice to me.
The theoretical studies are less considered, but the clinical practice is given more importance than in Italy.