Because I have lived in England for a coupe of months a few years ago, I have got a feeling of how the culture, people and work life is like in this country. I have always wished to be in touch with the English culture because I find it very unique and interesting. 

KI has been quite informative in regards to the exchange studies and offered many useful links and sources as well as contact persons at King's College. On the other hand, King's College has been very helpful and encouraging as I was offered a number of interesting projects.

I was surprised when I got to know that there was an introductory course the week before the start of the project. Unfortunately, I had an ongoing course simultaneously and an important examination during that week which is why I chose to contact King's College and ask them to arrange another date for registration. Of course, King's College was very positive and understanding as they allowed me to meet up one week later for registration. 

 

Public transport within London is a major issue and I believe that it costs quite much as compared to Stockholm. Of course, London is considerably bigger than Stockholm which is why there are different zones in London and you pay more as you increase the zones in your travel card. You could choose to travel either by bus only or by both bus and train, but you have to know that including the train means a double cost. Otherwise, I would say that the standard cost in London is quite the same as in Stockholm or a bit less in some aspects. I would recommend to create an English account so that you could transfer a big sum into it and so that you could pay your bills without any extra costs. I also think that you can create an account at ICA and you can use it abroad  with no additional costs.

London is well-known for its high-cost accommodations being sometimes as high as triple as much as the standard accommodation cost in Stockholm. In addition, it is not very easy to find an accommodation with the qualities that a Swedish citizen normally requires. I recommend that one tries to overcome this obstacle with a quick trip to London a while before the project starts in order to find an appropriate place. The university offers an accommodation once only! It is up to you whether to accept or not.

I had my project at the New Hunts House, Department of Developmental Neuroscience. I had a very interesting project as well as a very kind supervisor. My supervisor was always available and helpful as she gave me the opportunity to work alone and without putting too much load on me. My project was very intensive and required both practical and theoretical understanding to achieve acceptable results. I would say that there is no way to compare the education system in Sweden at KI with the English system. That is primarily due to the different nature of the project in relation to the typical education at KI which focuses on theoretical skills.

I have always been so keen to learn the Brittish accent in order to understand it and attempt to copy it. Therefore, I thought that this would be achieved by direct contact with the English culture. I do not think that I had any big issues in terms of communication in the English society. For me, it was very common to hear many different accents and dialects in one place such as in the lab or in the office which awesome. In London, you get to see many different nationalities on the street and you also deal with people from multiple backgrounds which is fantastic and you would not observe that in Stockholm. I am not aware of any language courses taking place at King's College. London has many tourist attractions as is known by everybody and I do not think that it takes longer than a couple of minutes to get a map with all the attractions on it (from the net, for instance). I believe that the English culture is very interesting and one would find the English society quite open-minded and peaceful.  

I am aware that there are many social activities taking place at King's College. There is a nice gym and training facility in the university area and it is equipped with some nice machines too. Those who went to the department of developmental neuroscience had the chance to go out and play football for a couple of hours every Tuesday. I know that there is an association at King's College which arranges various activities which is quite much the same as Medicinska Föreningen here at KI. I was not really engaged in any of these activities since I have had other activities outside the university. I found the students that I came in contact with very kind and the great thing was the fact that they all had different nationalities and various traditions. We had the opportunity to share our traditions and experiences with each other which was very instructive. London is a big city but it is also crowded and tight, with persistent traffic jams and high pollution levels. I found it rather amusing to be in a big city like London since I have no such experience from Stockholm. I would not fear to be alone in the English society since the people are very friendly and gentle. As a student working on the bachelor thesis, things get tougher during the last month of your project so I recommend to focus on the project at that time and let go of any other activities that could potentially affect your performance. 

I consider my experience abroad very useful and helpful and I believe that i have learned many things during this period of time, things that I might have never learned if I had stayed i Sweden. It is a rather challenging experience in its first weeks but one should know that a man gets stronger when facing tougher situations.