Name: Kristian Svendsen

Course: Masters in Pharmacy

Place of study: University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Age: 23 years

Where I’m from: Mehamn, Finnmark

Likes: squirrels, care bears, penguins, friends, the usual!

Dislikes: computers when they break down, loud people, cars.

Other interests: music, books

Fears/Phobias: that the squirrels in “Charlie and the chocolate factory” will come and take me.

HELLO!

Hello, I’m Kristian. I’m currently writing my maSter thesis in Pharmacy, here in Glasgow.

WHY I CHOSE TO STUDY...

Abroad:
I have always wanted to do at least part of my studies abroad, and when I started my masters, I finally could do just that, and so here I am! You don’t get very much extra from lånekassen, but you might get money from the university as a Erasmus scholarship.

In the UK:
I had several choices of where I could do my studies, but since my German is weak, French nonexistent, and since the UK always have fascinated me, the choice wasn’t a difficult one.

At my University:
The University of Strathclyde is known to have very high quality of teaching, and when it comes to my profession, Pharmacy, I think it is one of the best in Europe. Also Scotland is more “exotic” then just studying in London. Not that London isn’t nice!

This course of study:
I study pharmaceutical care, and this makes Strathclyde a very good choice, I wanted to study something giving me a possible future in a hospital in Norway, and this I feel I can get here.

MY IMPRESSIONS

What’s university life like?
The University of Strathclyde is very international, and it takes good care of its international students. The university is in the centre of the city, and since I live on campus everything is just a short walk from home, the university, the pubs, the shopping streets.. Studying here is a bit different from at home, the workload is a little higher, and everything is ALMOST as it is at home, but not quite, it can be annoying sometimes, but you get used to it, and enjoy it as time passes.

What’s your department like?
Since I studied in Tromsø before coming here, the biggest difference is that the department here is much bigger. Lectures here include working together with other students in the lecture hall, and it made it easy to get in contact with others. My department is full of international students, and I actually met a guy from Italy here in the department, whom I met some years ago in a conference in France, the world is a small place!

What’s the town like?
Glasgow is a very nice city, it is roughly the size of Oslo (Glasgow has approximately 600000 inhabitants). Of course the weather here isn’t the best, but coming from Finnmark I can’t complain. (Also if you’re from Bergen you’ll feel right at home with the wet weather here.) People in Glasgow speak almost their own language, Glaswegian, and this can be a challenge sometimes, but most people can slow down their speech and become understandable for us Norwegians if they just know we’re not locals. The city hasn’t got many big attractions, but for shopping, football and beer it’s great! And it is only a short, £1 bus ride from Edinburgh, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. (For anyone who thinks football, shopping and beer isn’t enough.)

What’s the UK like?
UK is great, there’s some annoying things like having to have exact change on all buses or the  “wrong“ electricity and vinegar on the chips. But mostly it’s great! I want to visit the highlands in Scotland, and I want to go to the Island of Man, and of course London.  

LOOKING AHEAD

When I graduate I want to use the knowledge I have acquired here in clinical pharmacy, and use it in Norway. I also want to save the world, and have my own pet/guard squirrel.