Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Study programme: Biomedicine
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Spring semester 2017/2018
Name: Julia Tebroke
Email address: julia.tebroke@stud.uni-goettingen.de

Arrival and registration

I arrived on a Saturday, and since I was staying with KI housing, I made use of the KI pick up service. That was really great, because someone picked up the keys for me and showed me the way from T-Centralen to my accommodation. A bit later I had a meeting with the International coordinator and got all relevant information, as well as the signatures I needed for my home university. Because I arrived in the end of the semester, I could not directly take part in any introduction days, but I was allowed to join as soon as the next semester started, which was nice to meet even more people.



Acommendation

I was very happy with KI housing.  It was super easy to apply, and I got a nice and affordable room at Pax, close to the city center and the Karolinska hospital where my lab was. The coordinators solved all my problems quickly and were very helpful when I wanted to extend my stay. I really loved to live with so many international students and had a really good time with the people on my corridor. I know though that not all corridors did as much together as mine.

Leisure time and social activities

I could not attend many events for international students from Medicinska Föreningen and Global Friends because I arrived in summer when the semester was already over, and I was working in the Lab during the day. But in general, I would say that the events provide an easy way to get to know new people and especially international students. The spectrum of the events is broad and goes from fika to talks and different parties. Most of the information about the events can be found on Facebook and was very accessible.


Pre-departure

My home university gives one student per year the chance to go on ERASMUS exchange to Stockholm and write their Bachelor Thesis at KI. Since I had never been in Sweden before this seemed like a great opportunity to me, to discover a new country and a beautiful city. I wanted to see how research is conducted in foreign laboratories, but also wanted to meet people from different backgrounds and make new friends.

When I was selected, I was very grateful, but it also made me a bit nervous to be honest. Before I went to Sweden, I had to organize so many things and find a Lab which was not always easy. Luckily, the information I got from KI was very useful and the international coordinators answered all my questions and were very helpful and understanding.



Courses during the exchange period

1EE074 : Biomedical project for exchange students
I conducted the research for my Bachelor Thesis and wrote it in a lab of the Karolinska Hospital. The quality of the research was very good. I could apply to any lab of KI, so unsurprisingly the content of the project in the lab I chose was very interesting to me. The course was a main part of my degree and was graded from my home university.

Summary

I can definitely say that I had a really great time in Stockholm and at KI. I met a lot of people from all over the world, made so many new friends, and even learned a lot for myself. Stockholm is a city with infinite possibilities and was wonderful, especially over the summer.

I can recommend it to everyone to go on exchange to KI! Ad I would love to come back rather sooner than later.


Language and Culture

I took part in one of the weekend language courses, but sadly I could only attend one of the two weekends. The course was nice, and the teacher really tried to help all the students. I attended an A2/B1 course, in which the students had varying levels of Swedish skills. This made it a bit difficult for some students to follow and too easy for others. All in all, our teacher tried her best to make it as instructive and good as possible for every student.



Studies in general

I did not take part in any courses at the university but conducted my Bachelor Thesis in a lab of the Karolinska Hospital instead. The Swedish work environment is very open, and everyone was treated equally regardless of their position in the lab. Therefore, it was easy to take part in discussions during group meetings, and it created an enjoyable, accessible atmosphere to work in. The relationship with my supervisor was also very good. She would let me take the lead in my project, but also answer all my questions and help me whenever I did not know how to proceed. At my home University the hierarchy in the work environment is stricter and, that, in my opinion, makes it sometimes difficult for students to propose their own ideas instead of just following the lead of their supervisors or the PI. The only thing that was difficult for me to deal with sometimes was the lack of genuine, direct feedback (especially negative feedback), but after a while, I understood the difference of just “good,” and “very good,” etc. in Sweden.