I decided early that I wanted to go on an exchange, to see how things
work at other universities but also for the chance to travel and meet new people.
Choosing where to go was not quite as easy. The list of universities to choose
from, provided by KI, was a good guide as well as the universities homepages-
to see what kind of research they are performing at the universities of
interest. I looked a lot at universities in countries I wanted to visit, what
universities there was to study at this location and what they were researching
rather than any ranking lists for universities. I also had a lot of help from
the international coordinator at KI. Eventually I ended up in London and
Imperial College (IC). To find a suitable project turned out to harder
than I expected, mainly because the international coordinator at IC was away
during the time I was looking for a supervisor. Instead I had a lot of help
from students who had previously been to IC and from the KI coordinator.  

The few advices I have for you are basic:

- GO! Exchanges are great for so many reasons.
- Start looking for projects as soon as possible, it might take some time.

I arrived to London about two weeks before the course started at KI, at the
request from my supervisor and started to get familiar with the college and lab
immediately. Since I was to work with animals I had to do a health control and protective
clothing fitting at the university before I could start properly. The reception
from the lab was great and they showed me around the campus and gave advice but I do not think that IC had
any welcome events for exchange student at this time.

I used my Swedish bank account and card the entire stay and it was fine,
just tell your bank that you are going abroad so that they do not block your
card, you can usually do it on their webpage. For transfering money to an
English bank, to pay rent and other bills, I used transferwise. They charge you
some little percentage of your transfer and works really well and fast. 

Living and traveling

Living in London was expensive, rents and travel costs are higher than in Stockholm. The Erasmus scholarship covered the added cost for rent in mycase. Too keep the rent at a minimum you can live in the outer zones of London but then you have to pay more for traveling, check out traffic for London’s homepage for traveling card (oyster card) prices in the different zones. I lived in zone 2 and travelled about 40 min to the university, so I for me it was cheapest to buy a monthly oyster card, if you live close to the university you can save money and instead have a top up card when you pay only for the distance you travel (still more expensive than Stockholm.). To get the students discount for oyster cards you have to apply to traffic for London, it takes about a week so do it as soon as possible! I considered buying a bicycle while in London but soon realized that the traffic was not at all accustomed for bikers and more aggressive than the traffic in Stockholm, not to mention- on the wrong side! 

Eating

Food at supermarkets are approximately the same price in England and Sweden, except that Quorn (vegetarian) is much cheaper in England and a good way to save some money on food. There are a lot of farmers markets in London that you can visit to buy locally produced food and drink to reasonable costs. Eating out in restaurants in London often comes with a 12.5% service charge; make sure to look for it in on the recite so you don’t tip twice. 

Sights

One of the best things about England is that most of the museums and sights are free of charge. However, some of the more popular exhibitions at the museums are not, but students often get a discount. 

I got my accommodation via Facebook, there are a bunch of groups for Swedish
people in London to help each other with everything from accommodation to cheapest
pubs in your area. Join these groups, they are a lot of help, just search for “London
svenskar” or “Svenskar I London” on Facebook and request to join!

I rented a room together with another student in a flatshare of four in
Camden town. Flatshares are common in London and a good way to save money and
meet new friends. Contracts can look very different depending if you rent from
the landlord or by the guest and often require a deposit of 4-8 weeks rent. There
is a lot of scam on housing in London so be careful, contact landlords, speak
to flatmates and, if possible, see the room first. I did none of these and it
turned out fine but I would not recommend it. Also check what furnished
actually means, in my case it meant a bed and a kitchen table with chairs, no
kitchen equipment to speak of. Fortunately, there are several IKEAs in London.

Many universities have housing for the students and the international
coordinator probably knows how to organize housing for exchange students.

When you move to London you should be prepared that the standards are
not what we are used to in Sweden, you will pay more for less. Carpets are very
common and the rooms are often in quite bad shape. You often pay for heating
and it is quite expensive. 

When looking for a room or flat look for a washing machine,
they are often located in the kitchen, the option is using a launderette and
they are usually busy and theft is not unheard of. Otherwise London is an amazing
city to live in and the people are kind and friendly. 

Studying in London was not entirely unlike in Sweden, I had a lot of
help from my supervisor and other colleagues but also did a lot of reading and
searching by myself. At first I worked quite close with my supervisor and with
other people in the lab introducing the methods and protocols. Later I planned
and performed my experiments on my own or participated as much as possible when
it came to working with animal models. 

I was surprised how involved the professors were in the actual lab work,
I did not expect them in the lab at all they were and we had lab meetings every
week to catch up and discuss theories and problems.


Overall the atmosphere in the lab and at the university was friendly and
welcoming. Both supervisors and professors were helpful and gave instructions
and advice, about lab work but also sights and events in London.

Since the course at KI have been in English since the second year, and
several lectures before that, there were not really any difficulties. The
people in the lab were used to working with people with other native languages
and occasionally there were several other languages spoken in the lab like Spanish,
French and Mandarin. Not being a native English speaker was not a problem and if
I did not understand it was easy to ask anyone around.

The one thing I remember confusing is that the British people in the lab
have stopped saying “past” when telling the time. “Half past eight” became “half
eight”, which for Swedish speakers is an hour earlier and I had to think twice
at first. 

I do not think there were any activities arranged for the exchange students
in particular, might be there was a bar for exchanges students but I never went
there. There was a union where all students and employees could meet for food
and drink and one “senior pub” for graduates at the south Kensington campus. I
think these pubs are the best way to meet other students and I often came there
with some people from the lab. Otherwise I meet a lot of students in the gym
but not at any activities arranged by the university.

IC has several gyms with spinning and fitness classes, swimming and basketball
facilities a bouldering wall and squash courts which were free for students. Although
crowded the facilities were really good and located in connection to the university
campuses.

Since London is such a large city there is not much of a “student life”
to speak of outside of the university but a lot of sights and attractions have
student discounts.  

I am really glad I went on an exchange and I hope I can go again during
the masters. There was a lot to organize and arrange before and to get accustomed to when
there but I learnt a lot, about myself, medicine and how science actually work.
I got to experience studying in a major city like London and meet countless
nice and interesting persons. I believe that international cooperation is extremely
important in any field of science and the exchange gave me the opportunity to be
a part of this and experience studying abroad.  It was a great opportunity to get some insight
in research of different levels and meet other scientist with different background
and aims. I learnt to practise science from skilled researchers and got a good impression
about what you can do after graduation.