Exchange report - incoming students
Home university: Universitetet i Tromsø
Study programme: Dentistry
Exchange programme: Erasmus
Semester: Spring semester 2010/2011

Arrival and registration

The first day was filled with information and courses and I really felt that we were welcome and taken care of. Contact with student health centre was no problem. 

Acommendation

I applied for housing through UAC and was very pleased. The cost was fairly cheap and all my needs were met. 

Leisure time and social activities

The sweds were very friendly and welcoming and making friends was no problem. The were also a lot of sosial activities being arranged, but I didnt choose to participate. 

Pre-departure

I wanted to go on exchange because it´s a good opportunity to experience life in another country and meet new people. Seeing as I go dentistry I thought it would be interesting to see the differences in how things are taught at this school and considering the entire stay was for only three months I wasnt afraid of missing anything important at my own school. 
KI was chosen because of its great reputation and its helps that its located in the beautiful city of stockholm. 
The exchange information was good and I felt that my needs for information were met. 
No vaccinations besides the ones I´ve already taken at my own school were required. 


Courses during the exchange period

ETL002 : Child and Adolscent Dentistry - Odontology
Good course. Interesting with the orthodontics which is a bit different from how we do it in Norway. Pediatrics was a good course with competent teachers, but unfortunately I a had a lot of no-show patients so all in all I didnt get to do much. The courses were relevant, but Ive had a lot of childen patients already so the benefit maybe wasnt that great. ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
ETL001 : Comprehensive Care - with subject specific courses
Good course, great teachers. I got plenty of experience and Im really satisfied. The course was absoloutely relevant to my degree. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................v.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Summary

Great stay, I would have done it again. 

Language and Culture

No, my norwegian was sufficient ;) 

Studies in general

The study environment was very good, both the students and the teachers/supervisors were friendly, welcoming and the entire atmosphere was very relaxed. I had a good relationship with both teachers/supervisors, other students and my patients. I was never afraid to ask questions and the help I received was great. There are some differences between KI and my own university, first of all the way the clinics are arranged. One of the major differences are that at my university the students always have to meet up for clincs even though we dont have patients that day. A lot of time is wasted just wandering around the clinics, occasionally helping other students, but mostly just waiting for the time to pass. I really appreciated the system at KI, so much more motivating. I also like the system with different sections for the different treatment modalities, endodontics, prosthodontic etc. At my school we are divided into different groups which have their own teacher. This is good in a way because the teachers tend to remember our patients and we can have a good discussion on the treatment planning, but I also think the system at KI is good because the teachers are expert in their field and sometimes its good to have different opinions on the same patient and see how different teachers would choose to treat them. Another good thing is that the patients have a very low treatmentcost which means that they accept more treatment. I got to do a lot of prosthetic work which is very hard to do at my own university, mainly because the patients dont really save a lot of money and therefore dont want to spend several hours being treated by a student. If I were to say one negative thing it would have to be all the signatures that have to be signed, it seems a bit too much, but maybe its understandable seeing as there are so many different teachers. As a poor Erasmus student I could never really get the hang of it, and a lot of the teachers didnt know what was supposed to be signed either which maybe it even more confusing.