Exchange Barkino, Iliam /17

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1 Exchange Report BASIC INFORMATION General information Surname First name Barkino Iliam Exchange Barkino, Iliam /17 If nothing is showing in the drop-down list above you cannot proceed with the application. This error is most likely caused by logging in with the wrong address. Exchange country Singapore Exchange city Duration of the stay Academic year 2016/17 Start semester/term Autumn Semester 2016/17 Duration in semesters/terms 2 Your exchange in brief Level of studies at the exchange university Postgraduate / Master What subject area/s did you study during your exchange? Try and describe your studies in terms of the majors and minors offered at Uppsala. If this is not sufficient there is an additional field called "other" with non-uu specific subject areas. Subject area Other Your studies at Uppsala What are you studying at Uppsala University? How many years of study had you completed before going on exchange? Engineering Physics 4 STUDIES Studies/Semester description Tell us about your studies on your exchange. If you are stuck for ideas you can for exemple write about: The differences between Uppsala University and the exchange. What were the teachers like? What courses would you recommend (or not) for future exchange students? The relationship between teachers and students. The academic level and quality of your courses. Access to computers. Examinations... The text field will expand to allow you to write as much as you like Generally, the courses at NTU was easier than the courses at Uppsala (for the engineering/physics/math departments). There are a few differences though. At NTU, one has 4-6 courses at the same time. The courses are also at the same time and place every week, so my schedule was pretty much exactly the same every week. This means

2 that students can choose courses so that they are free on certain days, so a tip is to not have courses on fridays/mondays so that you can travel abroad for weekends. The first semester, my week ended on Thursday morning and the second weekend on Wednesday afternoon, so that allowed for a lot of activities during the weekends. So during the first two weeks, one can add and drop courses. This can be pretty chaotic (at least it was for me) and when I got an from a student asking about advice I just sent a long mail about how the course system work. It is pretty long and in Swedish, so I'll just copy paste it here. If you don't understand it, you can google translate it. Hope it can be helpful. De första två veckorna i terminen är så kallade add/drop-period. Då kan man lägga till och ta bort kurser som man vill. Hur det går till beror på om du är antagen som undergraduate eller postgraduate student. Om du är undergraduate exchange student: Kurserna slutar på 1xxx, 2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx. Du söker kurser via en speciell portal som finns länkad på exchange portal. Där ser du schemat för kurserna och när tentorna går så att det inte blir krock i schemat. Om det är undergradkurser som du inte blivit antagen till kan det bero på att de tror att du inte är kvalificerad, att det krockar, att den inte är tillgänglig för utbytesstudenter eller att den är full. För kvalifikationsproblem kan du gå direkt till ansvarig professor för kursen och berätta att du är behörig för att du läst förebyggande kurser i Sverige och så ber du hen skicka dig ett mejl som bekräftelse på att du är behörig. Mejlet vidarebefodrar du till administrationsansvarig på den fakulteten (t.ex. School of mechanic and aerosoace engineering, school of electrical engineering etc), så får du tillstånd att söka kursen. Om det är en krock och det inte går i systemet så pratar du med professorn som har kursen och frågar om det är okej att du missar momentet varje vecka (föreläsningar går oftast bra att missa, betygsgrundande seminarier/tutorials kan va svåra att få godkännande för en krock). Även här ska du få bekräftelse på mejl som du vidarebefodrar till admin. Om kursen inte är tillgänglig för utbytesstudenter kanske det går om du tjatar på föreläsaren lite men det är väldigt svårt. Slutligen kan det vara så att kursen är full, men det brukar va fullt första dagarna tills folk droppat de kurser de inte vill ha (singaporianerna brukar söka 8-10 kurser och sen droppa hälften). Skulle det va fullt kan du gå på kurserna ändå, visa framfötterna första två veckorna och hoppas på att de gör undantag att ta in en till i kursen, men det är inte säkert att det funkar. Om du är postgraduate exchange student: Kurserna har INTE fyra siffror mellan på slutet. Måste du läsa minst 2 kurser på postgrad-nivå. Du kan läsa undergradkurser också men bara om det finns platser kvar. Är inte säker på hur det va för att söka postgradkurser men har för mig att man mejlade till admin där för att komma in på kursen, alternativt att de hade en annan portal. Kommer du inte in på kurser (oavsett undergrad eller postgrad) när du är postgraduate student så gör du på samma sätt som när du är undergraduate student. I regel gäller det att snacka lite med professorn, visa att du är intresserad och be om hjälp att få tillstånd. Du kan även gå direkt till admin för fakulteten och be om att bli registrerad och förklara direkt till dem. De flesta är tillmötesgående, om kursen behövs för din examen i Uppsala (t.ex. ska ersätta obligatorisk kurs i din uppsalautbildning) så säg bara att du måste ha kursen för att få examen, att din utbildning i Uppsala kräver det osv. Kolla med din studievägledare i Uppsala om hen kan hjälpa dig med intyg också om det skulle behövas. En bra grej att tänka på är att i Singapore läser de mer spetsat mot ett område och deras undergraduate är i många fall fyra å långr. Det kan alltså finnas kurser som är på 3xxx eller 4xxx nivå (dvs år 3 eller 4) men som motsvarar masternivå i Uppsala. Under mitt år läste jag 2 kurser på postgraduatenivå och 7 kurser på undergraduatenivå, trots att det var under min master inom teknisk fysik. Kolla med din studierektor/programmansvarige i Uppsla ifall du är osäker på om en kurs är okej eller inte. Studievägledare kan ofta också hjälpa till där med. Om du registreras som undergraduate exchange student men vill läsa kurser på postgraduatenivå vet jag inte hur man går till väga, men jag skulle gissa på att det går att lösa om du går direkt till ansvarig professor och visar intresse och att du har vad som krävs för att klara av kursen. Se till att få en skriftlig bekräftelse på mejl bara,

3 som du kan vidarebefodra till administrationsansvarig när de kräver det (för de kommer begära någon form av bevis på det som sagts, ganska mycket byråkrati i Singaopre). ORIENTATION AND RECEPTION Orientation and reception Tell us about how it was to arrive and settle in. I stayed with some family friends before I moved in to my housing but I know that a lot of people stayed in hostels in an area called Little India. The reception from the University was quite thin, but there is a private company called Singapore UNI which arranges events such as parties and trips to Malacca for exchange students. The management of the trips were sometimes so-so, but the parties were a good way to meet exchange students from NTU but also from NUS and SMU. I would recommend to join facebook groups for exchange students and check out canteen 2 at the NTU campus during the evening to meet other exchange students (easier to go there if you stay on campus). ACCOMMODATION Your accommodation: I shared an apartment with two french exchange students at NTU. We had three bedrooms (two single and one master with ensuite bathroom), one common bathroom, kitchen and living room/dining area. The apartment complex had a shared swimming pool and a tiny gym. We paid 2700SGD/month for that + cost of internet, electricity, cleaning of air condition etc. So the total cost of accommodation for me was about 6000 SEK/month. The people staying on campus had way lower costs ( SEK/month?) but usually had to share a room with someone. I applied for campus housing but didn't get it. I heard that they will guarantee on-campus housing for all exchange students that apply for it, starting from the fall semester If you don't get on campus housing or don't want to stay there, you can contact a housing agent to find a big apartment to rent and share it with other exchange students. Or join all Facebook groups concerning housing in Singapore or being an exchange student in Singapore and look for adds where people need someone to share their apartment. I found my housing through an add in a Facebook group, so I sent a DM to one of the french guys who posted it and that was about it. YOUR FINANCES Your finances: I had full CSN loan and allowance with "merkostnadslån", so a total of SEK/month- ish. Apart from that, I had saved up money from previous part-time jobs and summer jobs, which came very handy when exploring Southeast Asia. I didn't work in Singapore (think it is illegal for exchange students). I recommend exchange students to apply for various scholarships anywhere they can find it (i.e. Uppsala University, nations, specific faculties, unions such as "Sveriges Ingenjörer", etc.) I didn't apply for any and regret it, because it is nice being able to travel abroad a bit when one is in that region of the world. Also, it is relatively cheap to eat lunch/dinner in food courts or hawker centers on and off campus. Costs around SGD 3-6 (between 20 and 40 SEK). So I did not cook food once during the whole exchange year, simply because it was not worth it.

4 FREE TIME Your free time: NTU have some student clubs such as wine society, risk management group or equivalent (they actually have clubs for most interests) and they have stands where they market themselves during the first weeks of the semester. I didn't participate in any of them, but rather went to Clarke Quay (bar/club district) or canteen 2 on campus to meet other people. Wednesdays (or for a few clubs Thursdays) is ladies night, and it is pretty good atmosphere there with good DJ's. Ladies get free entry and beverage tickets, men get either free entry or pay entry and get beverage tickets. I went abroad during recess week in the fall/spring and the winter holidays as well as a few weekends. Traveling and exploring the area is highly recommended. NTU also have good facilities for working out, with swimming pools, squash, badminton, tennis, football and basketball courts as well as a running track. All of these are free of use for exchange students. They also have two gyms, which were free of charge for exchange students when studied there but they were considering taking charge for one of them for the future. YOUR EXCHANGE ON THE WHOLE Your exchange: Finally, why do you think a future student should go on exchange? It was the best year of my life. I made many friends, developed on a personal level, visited beautiful countries, experienced various asian cultures and all that comes with it and just enjoyed being alive. I don't even think I have to answer this question, given what I have provided previous to this. Honestly, what is the real reason you're hesitating? You know deep down that it is not a problem you cannot overcome or manage, whatever reason it is. You know you want to go on exchange, so go and have the time of your life. DOCUMENT UPLOAD Photos(1) Photo (.jpg) Please tell us a little bit about this picture file_597b3c9899bcf-018.jpg This is from the recess week during the fall semester (höstlov), when me and my friends travelled to Indonesia. We woke up at 03:00 to hike up to the viewpoint and watch the sunrise over Mount Bromo. Photos(2) Photo (.jpg) Please tell us a little bit about this picture file_597b3ea194b9d-076.jpg This from inside NTU. Approval I approve of my pictures being published 3. and used in Uppsala University s marketing of international exchanges DATA HANDLING

5 I hereby certify that I understand the how the information I submit will be used, and authorise the International Office to use my personal data/information contained in this application in accordance with the information above. Yes SUBMIT REPORT Do you also approve the publishing of your exchange report on Uppsala University's website? Yes

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