Reserapport - KI-student
Lärosäte: The University of New South Wales
Utbildningsprogram: Biomedicin
Utbytesprogram: INK
Termin: Vårtermin 13/14

Innan avresa

To study abroad was something I thought about early on during the biomedicine programme, however where I was going to study was much harder to decide since there were so many options. So when I was trying to decide I had to requirements; I wanted to go to a country I never visited  before and a university with good immunology or virology lab. So at last I decide to go to University of New South Wales in Sydney where I found an interesting lab, and Sydney sounded like a cool city, very far away. The first thing I did after I got the acceptance letter from KI was to email several researchers with interesting projects, best thing to do is to start with this quickly after you get the acceptance letter, because what i realised was that most of these professors or researchers are very busy and in some cases it can take a very long time until you get replies. 

After I got contact with a researcher happy to be my supervisor I applied to the university via the practicum exchange program. This process was very quick (as long as you supervisor fills in everything) and took around two weeks. All the information needed for this can be found at the web page: http://www.international.unsw.edu.au/study/research-exchange-program/practicum-exchange/

If you decide to go to Australia keep in mind that the flight tickets can be expensive especially if you buy them late. So a tip is to buy tickets as soon as possible, you can find good tickets at http://travels.kilroy.se/, they have student discounts.

Last but not least, don't forget to apply for a visa! You can either apply for a working holiday visa, which is for a year and not too expensive or a student visa (subclass 575 visa). The student visa is a bit more expensive but you save the working holiday visa for another time, since you can only apply for it once.
You apply for the visa online at: http://www.immi.gov.au/ and it's usually a quick process to get the visa accepted, less than a week. 
If you decide to apply for the student visa you need a CoE (Code of Enrolment) from UNSW to be able to apply, this you will get as soon as the enrolment process is finished.  

And then you're ready for your biggest adventure so far!

Ankomst och registrering

The semester in Australia starts later than in Europe, so to be able to finish the 20 week research project in time I decided to start the project before the semester started, this I discussed with my supervisor and he agreed on me starting the first week of February. I arrived one week ahead of my projects start date to have time to look for accomodation. 
In the end of February when the semester starts O-week (orientation week) is organised on campus, this is when you can join different societies and meet local students. 
Campus during O-week

Ekonomi

I would say that Sydney is equally as expensive as Stockholm (except for accommodation and public transport), but as a "tourist" you usually want to spend a bit more on shopping and traveling so prepare for a bit more expensive semester to what you are used to if you consider to study in Sydney. 
Accommodation is pricey and public transport as well, the NSW government has decided that international students are not eligible to student discount on public transport therefore you pay the full price on public transport. Therefore I recommend to live close to the university, since bicycling isn't very safe in Sydney, there are almost no bicycle lanes. 

Boende

The easiest way to find accommodation is on the spot. I arrived one week before the start date of my project to do some house hunting. Since I didn't want to stay in a hostel my first week, and hotel was so expensive it wasn't even on my mind, I tried to find a room to rent via airbnb.com. However I wasn't too lucky with airbnb as I was a bit late out and most places were already occupied or too expensive. But only a couple weeks before my flight to Sydney I found a room I could rent for two weeks via the Facebook group "Svenskar i Sydney". 
After a day of jetlag I was ready for house hunting in the very big city of Sydney. What I learnt was that the eastern suburbs are to prefer (better standard, closer to UNSW campus and close to the beaches). If you want to live close to campus it's best to look for accommodation in the areas Randwick and Coogee. 
I didn't do my project at UNSW campus, so it wasn't too important to live in those areas. So I ended up living in Waverley mostly because it was close to the beach and still relatively close to where I was going to be doing my project. 
I found the place via the webpage https://flatmates.com.au/, you can also look at gumtree.com.au, but be careful there are a lot of scammers on gumtree so I wouldn't recommend it. 

I lived in a shared flat with three other girls, we had two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen. In Sydney you pay rent every week, and I paid 175$/week, which is relatively cheap in Sydney. Also the standard is usually a bit lower compared to Stockholm, I was however lucky to find a newly renovated place, but still I encountered a couple of cockroaches in the kitchen (they're everywhere in Sydney!). 
Where I stayed my first week in Sydeny.

Studier allmänt

Your experience in the lab is very dependent on what kind of a group you end up in, how your supervisor is and of course if you like the topic. 
So try to read up on the group before you email the researcher to get an understanding of what they are doing and where the lab is located (all the labs are not located on the campus of UNSW) so you know that they are doing something you would be interested in and also it's easier to get the attention of the researcher if you show interest in his/hers work (check pubmed for previous papers written by the group). It is very hard to know before you arrive if the lab is "good" and whether you will like the environment, but you can always try by checking if there are some PhD students in the lab and/or honor students (students doing a research year after their bachelors). 
I was in a HIV lab at Kirby Institute, it was a very good lab with several students, which was very fun since I didn't spend much time at campus. The work load was similar to what I was used to at KI, of course it's your responsibility to do the work and start writing the thesis in time (almost directly), I spent at least 8h/day at the lab but was free almost every weekend.

Kurser under utbytet

Kurser motsvarande termin 6 på KI
I didn't read any courses at UNSW, see the previous section for information about doing a research project.  

Språk och kultur

Australian english can be hard to follow in the beginning since many people talk very fast but you get in to it quickly. What I thought about Australians was that most people were very friendly and open and it was easy to make new friends. 
It wasn't much of a culture shock between Stockholm and Sydney, and I felt pretty much home after only a couple of weeks. 

If you want to sound Australian you only need to add "heaps" to your vocabulary. 

Fritid och sociala aktivteter

During O-week you could attend several activites arranged on campus and join societies. However most societies have their meetings on campus during day time, this made it pretty hard for me to attend since my lab group was located in Darlinghurst (inner city). 
I spent most of my spare time with my lab friends, the weekly fridays pubs among other activites as the PhD trip that I was invited to even though I wasn't a PhD student. I also became good friends with my room mates who were not students, we had dinners together, went to the beach, did weekend trips and enjoyed the city. 
I also joined the gym Fitness First and went to classes as yoga, spinning and bodypump. Fitness First in Bondi junction has a really nice view of the city btw.


Sydney Opera House during Vivid light festival

Sammanfattning

I'm really glad I got to experience the wonderful city, Sydney. I think I grew as person just by being "forced" to do everything by myself, as flying across the world, finding a place to live and learning to find my way in a big city as Sydney. Also the fantastic people I met during my time made this experience unforgettable.
Doing this research project also taught me a lot of how to work in a lab som basic methods and writing a scientific article. Also being so far away from home I learnt how to ask people for help, which is very important both in the lab but also just to get around in the city and everyday life.