Being an exchange student at Biology Education Centre, Uppsala University

For me as an exchange student, Uppsala and its university were surprisingly different to what I know from home. Not only the city with its advantageous innovations, such as these take-a-number machines in shops and public places to avoid queues, the public bicycle pumps, the apple- pear- and plum trees in parks and common areas, the biogas-from-compost recycling system to provide fuel for the bus fleet, etc., but also the University.

First of all, I was positively surprised by the block system applied at UU (in my country the usual procedure is to have many courses in parallel over the semester, each for usually 2-3 hours a week, which is quite annoying, provokes overlaps and makes it impossible to get a focus) and the wide range of individual offers at the IBG (= Biology Education Centre; editors remark) (the individual projects, for example, which enables one to get a glimpse on a subject’s contents by designing a concept and to do a short work about it, or the Science Conference, where all students can talk about their scientific ideas and test their skills in speaking and presenting).

Furthermore, I want to mention the very competent treatment exchange students can expect when they are admitted to the IBG, which was a great help especially in the beginning, when everything is still new and too much for one moment to get. I would recommend asking for one of the access cards, which permits students to enter the university buildings every day- and nighttime, which is especially useful for the access to the computer labs during weekends. The common area in front of the PC labs is furthermore a recommendable place for studying during weekends.

Unfortunately, the Restaurant (which is to be found in the main building) is very expensive, so it’s more recommendable to bring one’s own meal and to heat it in one of the microwaves next to the computer labs. As an exchange student in Uppsala, it’s very likely that you will have a good time with many new experiences!

Marian Lechner 2009