I arrived february 15th with lots of bags and a guitar. The girls from global friends met me at central station and took me right to my door in the student building. It was freezing cold and the girls were great in helping me with my bags. I quickly settled in and went straight out to refamiliarise myself with stockholm as it was a long time sincre i was last here.

I was worried at first that i may not get student accomodation due to high demand. I was delighted to find out i got a room at jagargatan, right near all the great bars and shops in sodermalm, and with such a great view over arstavik and arstaskog.

There were lots of social events at KI while i was here. I didnt make it to all of them but the ones i did make it to were great and it was so good to meet other students and hear how they were enjoying sweden. My social life in sweden has been very busy overall. I made some really good friends while i have been here and caught up with some old friends from stockholm as well.

I first heard that we could go on exchange programme while in first year so when the forms came out in 2nd year i was one of the first to fill one out and apply. One of the reasons i am studying nursing is the fact that it is a profession which enables you to travel the world and work in different settings. It was a real bonus to travel while undertaking this course.

My time here in sweden has been incredible. Everything i hoped it would be and more. The people i have met, the places i have seen will leave a lasting impression i think. I enjoyed being a student at karolinska and i feel i have learned a lot. I would recommend it to other students back home. I am so happy that i applied for this exchange and everything worked out as it did.

I had learned some swedish in the past and so was really hoping to improve my spoken swedish while here. The beginners course would be to easy i thought so my coordinator suggested i take an online test and apply for a more advanced course. I did this and attended a swedish course for 5 weeks. It  was a little harder at the start but i soon settled in and really enjoyed it. I think i learned more swedish though by listening and talking with staff and patients while i was working on the wards.

My placement on the wards while in sweden has been fantastic. The perceptors and teachers were very helpful. I had plenty of time for both theory and practice and also learned a lot more swedish from both staff and patients. The library was really good too and there was lots of available information on each ward both on intranet and in literature. It was also good to meet other nursing students from sweden and talk with them about differences and similarities between nursing in sweden and ireland.