DIS Blog
When endings lead to new beginnings
Sophia discusses her summer session in Stockholm, her Study Tour to Dublin, and how she spent her free time. As her time abroad comes to end, she leaves us with an important takeaway message.
Hej hej from Stockholm!
With the help of a DIS provided double decker bus, a few snacks, and comatosed sleep, my friends and I had made our journey to Stockholm following the finale of our first session in Copenhagen. The bus ride was long, but was definitely worth it after we arrived and I stepped out into a new city, a new lifestyle, and with a new attitude as I knew an exciting three weeks lay ahead for me. After my experience in Copenhagen making so many new friends and memories, I had high hopes for Stockholm to do the same, and came into the start of this different time of my life with curiosity and an ambitiousness that was successfully fulfilled.
You may be asking yourself, well how do these two cities compare? And as someone who has spent some quality time with both Copenhagen and Stockholm, I think I am the perfect candidate to tell you that … they’re actually quite incomparable. That may not be the answer you were looking for, but they truly are two unique, individualistic cities that each introduced me to different lifestyles, people and cultures, that cannot be simply compartmentalized into a “which one is better.” Copenhagen was my first introduction to study abroad, and I was able to live with local roommates, but in Stockholm I felt more connected to their naturesque, fairytale landscape and was able to engage in a more intimate class setting. They offered me two unique insights into not only what life was like in different cultures, but they also each taught me different things about my life, who I was as a person and what attributes of my time abroad I wanted to continue in my life once returning home. Stockholm itself has such a joyful presence in my memory, and I am so glad that I was able to become acquainted with the city in more ways than one!
About the blogger
Hello! My name is Sophia Reynolds, and I study Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I took the courses Human Health and Disease in Copenhagen, as well as Precision Medicine in Stockholm during my time with DIS.
My blog focuses on my perspective of my life while in both of these places, touching on how I have felt that I have grown professionally and personally!
Session 2
My coursework in Stockholm has opened my eyes to a different world of medicine that I wish to continue engaging with as I move into my graduate education. Throughout the three weeks of this course, we revisited topics that I have learned throughout my undergraduate education back in Minnesota, such as the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, and the central nervous system, but we also delved deeper into the mechanisms of how each system works, diseases that are common with each body system, and how precision medicine can help optimize patient care for individuals with such diseases.
Precision medicine utilizes cumulative investigations about patient history, genetic sequencing, and bioinformatic screenings to individualize and optimize treatment for specific patients. This helps to avoid the “one-size-fits-all,” standardized treatments that seem to dominate the medical field currently, and have limited effect or adverse consequences for patients. This topic was exceptionally interesting to me as I continue my own education in the field of genetic medicine, as therapeutics that use this ideology are so pertinent to this field. Overall, I very much enjoyed learning more about these diseases and their therapies, and I found myself very invested and engaged with the material, all made even better through the instruction and relationships formed with my classmates.
Study Tour in Dublin
My class embarked on some Field Studies in between classwork and assignments in Stockholm and in Dublin on our Study Tour. We were able to visit Karolinska Institutet a couple of times while in Stockholm, which is the largest hospital system in the country, with cutting-edge research, technology, and medical care. At the hospital, we toured a research lab that focused on PMOS diagnosis and treatment, and we also toured the oncology department under the guidance of local doctors in the institute. In the oncology clinic we were able to discuss what oncology means, precision medicine in the field of oncology and take a visit to one of their radiation treatment centers.
During Study Tour we attended a lecture from a local doctor in Dublin about public health, a discussion about Rett syndrome and current research being conducted about treatments in Dublin, as well as a tour and informational session in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), where we learned about the deep, rich medical history of Ireland. These Field Studies were an informative and an interactive way to apply what we were learning in the course to real-world sciences, and also exposed my classmates and me to fields of study that could become possibilities for our future. I am so grateful that we were able to get inside views of each institute and engage with the instructors by asking questions to further our comprehension and feed our curiosity.
To enhance our clinical skills as we learned about precision medicine, our instructor guided us through some hands-on sessions such as emergency medicine response (CPR and the ABCDE method), virtual reality interaction with the digestive system, endotracheal intubation, and venipuncture. Some of these techniques I was introduced to during my first session, so it was great to revisit them, but others, such as the VR and venipuncture, I had never done before and it was incredible to experience for the first time alongside a well-versed instructor. These hands-on sessions were also a great way for my classmates and I to build communication and technical skills that we can take into our futures as we begin practicing medicine.
In addition to the theoretical coursework itself, my classmates and I were able to engage with a couple of projects during our time in the class as well. Our first project was a series of surveys that we conducted both in Stockholm and in Dublin, as well as on our week-long Study Tour. We were tasked with comparing the healthcare systems in these two cities based on conversations we had with local residents and what we had previously been taught about in class. Not only was this assignment very informative, but it was also very socially engaging. We were given a unique opportunity to talk to the locals about their own opinions about personal issues that I likely wouldn’t have had with them otherwise.
Even though this assignment specifically asked for one thing, I feel like I came out the other side with such a holistic view of healthcare abroad, ultimately enhancing what I had learned about Denmark’s healthcare system previously as well. Having this knowledge about different healthcare systems, and being able to hear from a public voice of what works and what doesn’t, allows me to be more inquisitive about my own healthcare back in the United States and implement strategies for myself moving forward with my career to help improve our system in any way that I can!
Although this project was the main priority of our journey to Ireland, my classmates and I were still able to have some fun around the city as well. There was plenty of opportunity to explore Dublin, eat some good food, and spend some quality time with each other. We were even lucky enough to have another class embark on this journey with us, so we were able to play some cards at the airport before our departure, eat some meals together, and even go hiking together as a big group to Howth Cliff, which was beautiful to say the least.
As a class, we were able to visit the Guinness Storehouse, we gorged ourselves on traditional high tea treats and drinks, and we celebrated all of our accomplishments together with a final wrap-up lunch! The culmination of these experiences outside of learning has enriched my experience for the better, and I am forever grateful for the people I got to share them with!
In my free time
Now, I’ve been reflecting a lot about my time in class, and even though that was a large part of my time here in Stockholm, I still had plenty of time to explore the city outside of class, make friends, and enjoy the sun! I may be biased, but I think I lived on THE perfect island in Stockholm for exploring. I lived on Södermalm which is an island located just under a couple of very tourist hot spots, but the island itself also had tons of local restaurants, cafes, bars, thrift shops, and parks where I could spend some time with friends or alone, exploring.
One of the first days in Stockholm, my friends and I went to Cafe Vurma which is this quaint little bakery on the edge of the island with a beautiful view of the water. It had superb food and coffee, and was a great place to begin my introduction to Stockholm. From the island, everything that you could ever want to see is within walking distance or easily accessible with the metro system! Gamla Stan and Djurgården house some of the most popular attractions such as the Royal Palace, the Nobel Prize Museum, the Vasa Museum, and a beautiful park to spend an evening walking around in.
This session I lived with just one other DIS student, but no locals which I was a little bummed about at first since I had made such fond memories with my local roommates in Copenhagen. However, this offered me an opportunity to build a much stronger relationship with my roommate and the other students, one that I felt I might’ve lacked a little while in Copenhagen. I had built amazing connections with individuals from Copenhagen, but this time around I felt those relationships had strengthened in such different, yet meaningful ways.
We shared many more intimate outings, many reminiscent movie nights, so many laughs, and plenty of fikas together. I was able to spend my mornings exploring the city by myself, or getting brunch with friends, and then return home a roundabout way with classmates, all to come back, eat dinner with others or enjoy a sunset walk along the waterfront.
We’d often meet local residents out on the town, and some of these interactions have been my favorite as it was a different way to interact with local culture outside of seeing the physical attributes that Stockholm has to offer. These individuals helped me to learn about how life is so diverse, how it is never the same, yet everyone finds a way to remain fulfilled with their accomplishments. I am so grateful that my time abroad has allowed me to see the world in such a different perspective, which was why saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.
Wrapping up my time abroad
“When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
I am sure you have heard this quote many times throughout your life, as have I, but they’ve never really been as influential to me as they are now. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to say goodbye to the past six weeks of my life until I was in my friend’s apartment the night before leaving, bawling my eyes out alongside some of the best people I have known. I have built such an undeniable love and appreciation for those I’ve met abroad, and still cannot fathom that our time together was to end so abruptly.
But something about our parting felt unfinished, rather it didn’t feel like an end. No, instead it felt like a new beginning. The beginning of a new stage of life, one where yes, my friends and I are no longer together everyday, but one where we return to our respective lives with such gratitude, appreciation and love for the shared experiences and excitement for when we do return to one another again. I know for me personally that I will take with me everything that I have learned from each and every one of them and allow myself to stay curious, to continue building connections, and to appreciate all forms of life and opportunity that is out there.
I have grown significantly as an individual, one whose identity and values have changed, one who craves the unknown, and one who cherishes the differences that make the world such a remarkable place. I acknowledge that I am still growing as an individual both personally and professionally, but I am not scared of upholding a pristine image of myself that I once strived to do, and I acknowledge that everyone else is out there growing with me. What I can do is promise to myself that what I do uphold is my newfound admirations, values, and identity as I move forward through my life and my career. I am forever grateful for my study abroad experience, and wouldn’t change it for the world!