Exchange report - Student at KI
Home university: Universitat de Barcelona
Study programme: Biomedicine (Master's)
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Autumn semester 2014/2015

Pre-departure

I started thinking about going abroad during my first term at KI. Although, I had just come back from studying abroad for four years in Edinburgh and wanted to do my master degree at Karolinska and live in my home country for a while; I felt that doing at least a term abroad during my master degree would not only benefit my CV but also introduce me to different working environments and new people. So, when I actively started looking for a university and a lab, as I had to do both courses and a project in a lab, I quickly settled on Barcelona as my choice. 
The reasons for Barcelona being the university which I chose was firsty, because I had studied spanish on my spare time and it would be a great opportunity to improve my writing and speaking. Secondly, I was interested in going to a lab that used programming and more computational tools to work in biomedicine/neuroscience. And at University of Barcelona, I found a lab that investigated hearing using EEG and analysis with MATLAB. This was very important for me as I primarily wanted to improve my skills in this area. I also looked at the courses that where offered at the university to make sure that I could have some choices during the term. 

Arrival and registration

The start date of the courses that I had choosen and the start date of my lab project were slightly different, meaning that I started my project during september and all my courses started in late october/november. The normal term starts in september, so depending on the courses and one's personal schedule the courses could start at different times. 
I decided to leave for Barcelona a bit earlier than I had to for the start of my project, firstly, to get a feeling for the city and the transport and do some tourist activities before I started working and studying. 
Upon my arrival, I was offered courses in spanish and catalan but because had already done some spanish courses I chose not to participate. The catalan courses were unfortunately on evenings that did not fit my schedule so I could not attend them either, but they are definitely offered by the university. 
Before my arrival, I send many questions to the contact for KI students at University of Barcelona and I recieved many helpful tips on finding accommodation and signing up for courses. So I highly recommend keeping in contact with them. 

Economy

Due to the fact that the living costs compare to Sweden is rather low in Spain, I did not have to spend a lot of money on food, travelling etc. For transportation to and from the university I used the metro, where you could buy a card that lasted for a month and the price was comparable to what we have in Stockholm. 
There were not additional fees that had to be paid upon arrival to Barcelona and no vaccations neither. The fact that living is rather cheap, the amount of money I spent on travelling and seeing different parts of Catalonia increased of course. 

Acommendation

I found my accommodation via a website that was recommended to me by the KI contact at the University of Barcelona. I waited for a very long time before I decided on a flat, which was quite stressful. Coming from Stockholm, I thought the the housing market in Barcelona would be as difficult and that I would have to wait for a very long time to get a room and that I might have to stay far away from the city. 
But at the end of my search for a flat, I found it to be the complete opposite. I booked a room on the website a week before I arrived to Barcelona and after sending my Bank details and personal information, I had my room in three days. 
I ended up finding a room 20 minutes from the city centre with the metro and I shared it with another guy, who owned the flat. My room was somewhat smaller than my room in Sweden(20 square meters) but there was a large living room and kitchen, so it was fine. 
I chose the location of the flat to be in the middle between my lab placement in the north-western part of Barcelona and the university in the south of Barcelona city centre. This meant that my commute either way would be 30 minutes. 
Overall, I was happy with the area I lived in and it was a big plus that it was close to Sagrada familia. 

Studies in general

The courses I did were set up in a similar way to what I experienced at Karolinska. They were mainly powerpoint presentations where an expert in a field presented the background and also presented an article which we had to comment upon. The teachers were trying to encourage us to participate in the discussion and ask question and we even got extra points for participation in class. There was one course though where the teacher had a more authoritative attitude towards teaching and this was not appreaciated by me and my fellow students. But overall the relationship between the teacher and students was similar to what I experienced at Karolinska. 
Overall, the University of Barcelona is somewhat different in their campus-structure compared to Karolinska. Karolinska institute has its two major parts in Solna and Huddinge, whilst the University of Barcelona is situated on many different locations in the city centre and on the outskirts of Barcelona. As I studied subjects associated to biomedicine I had most of my lectures in the same place, although the spent some time at the University Hospital for some lectures. 

Courses during the exchange period

Courses corresponding to semester 3 at KI
The first course I had was on cancer and I was very happy with the teaching and examination format. I had had courses on cancer before, but this course went even more in deep and we were encourage to discuss. The teachers wanted us to participate in the discussions and especially comment on the articles that we were given for each lecture. The teacher were overall very supportive and I felt that I could discuss and ask questions and receive constructive answers. 

The second course I had was on metabolism. I had never had a detailed course on metabolism before and I learnt a lot. In this course, like in the cancer course, we were encouraged to participate and ask questions. I thought that the teaching style was similar to what I had experienced at KI, although sometime the english language was lacking for some of the presenters. 

The last course I had was in immunology, which is a course I had an introduction to before. Here, I must say that I was very disappointed in the teacher. He did not communicate the content or encouraged use to participate at all. I talked to the other students to see if this was the usual teaching study. They said that it was exceptionally bad and that they had not experienced something like that before. Although, I passed the course I must say that the presentations were not beneficial at all for my learning and that I mainly learnt everything by myself.

Language and Culture

As I mentioned before, I was offered language courses at the beginning of my stay but as I had done some courses in spanish before I declined. And I must say that I managed fairly well on the spanish I learnt during my studies in Stockholm. 
Barcelona compared to the rest of Spain is more international and most people speak enough english so you could communicate. Using spanish is encouraged, but I would not worry if you did not speak a lot of spanish.
Though, one thing that I noticed was that in some courses where they had specified that they would be given in english, the powerpoint presentations were actually in spanish or even catalan some times. In those situation my spanish help and also the fact that most scientific words in spanish are very similar to their english translations. 

Leisure time and social activities

Barcelona is a city full of culture and there is definitely something one should do on your spare time. I usually went on different activities to see the architecture and the parks by Gaudi. I also visited different museums and walk around the old part of Barcelona.  I was not approached by the University about different activities and I usually found them myself or asked other students. 
Barcelona is a city where you could walk for hours and experience something new. I really enjoyed discovering the city this way with fellow students. There are loads of cafes and bars where you can hang out and relax. The shopping is also nice with loads of different areas where you can buy traditional hand crafts or more modern fashions. 

Summary

After coming home from Barcelona, I really feel that I can appreciate the experience I recieved from being there for 6 months. I think learning how to get new contacts and widen your network is important for a future career. Additionally, moving to a new city or being flexible about new environments will definitely help me with my future professional role. 
It was interesting to see again how a university and student life work in another country compared to my previous experience of Karolinska and in Edinburgh. This will help me understand how different universities work under different conditions and the fact that they have to accommodate certain demands that are not always obvious.