Mobility specification

Country:United Kingdom

Institution:University of Cambridge

City:Cambridge

Program:Erasmus+ traineeship

Activity type:Traineeship

Academic year:2023/2024

MU faculty/department:Faculty of Medicine / Dept. of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology / University Hospital Brno

Study level abroad:Doctoral

✅Check the boxes

How would you categorize your internship?Medicine

💼How-to: Interning abroad

How did you discover this internship opportunity?Recommendation from acquaintances

Can you describe the role you held during your internship?Basically a junior researcher working on my own DNA sequencing project while getting technical and educational support from the lab's senior staff.

What specific responsibilities and tasks did you do during your internship?Wetlab and bioinformatics work, planning experiments (got much support in this regard from postdocs in the lab) and evaluating results, taking part in weekly lab meetings to contribute ideas to others' projects.

Did your tasks align with the pre-defined conditions?yes

Did the internship meet your expectations?yes

Did you apply any theory you learned at university during the internship?yes

If yes, can you provide a specific example?Some basic theoretical knowledge of DNA sequencing methods was an absolute prerequisite for this project to make sense at all

How well did you manage to communicate in a foreign language?perfectly

Did the institution have any special requirements?Specific language skills

Do you have tips on how to make a great impression on the institution?Just show that you're interested in what you're doing, people there love discussing ideas, no one is shy to ask if they don't know something and no one will despise you if you ask something you don't know, on the contrary :)

How competitive was the selection process? Did you have to go through an application procedure?Surprisingly not that much, I only discussed the project with the head of the lab and as they were interested and it aligned with what they work on day-to-day, it was a good fit so they accepted me.

Why would you recommend students do an internship?To see what is the same everywhere and what differs from place to place - because sometimes we get so used to how things go where we spend our academic time that we forget to question.
Also, it's something of a cliche, but you meet wonderful new people, gain much new knowledge and understanding, and the world becomes a smaller place :)

💰And how to fund it?

What were your average monthly expenses during the internship?35000 CZK/month

Did the institution provide accommodation?no

If not, how did you find it?Through a Facebook group - watch out, there's another Cambridge in the US where Harvard resides :)

Did you have any unexpected expenses during the internship?no

Do you have any tips on how to save money during the internship?A bike, groceries from Lidl...

🗺 Learn the ropes in a new city

How difficult was it for you to adjust to life abroad?no problem at all

How well did you manage to communicate in English?perfectly

How does public transport work in the city?I've seen better

And what about transport outside the city?neutral

Where to find connections? How to buy a ticket?There are several train and bus companies that operate across GB, and they offer differing ticket prices based on the time of day and occupancy, so it's good to watch the prices or buy early, and explore different options. Through the city, you'd do best to find a cheap bike and use it as much as possible, as public transport is not very dense or convenient

Did you deal with any health issues during your stay?no

🤠Help create the perfect bucket list

What is a must-see in the city?The colleges, the cathedral, the mathematical bridge, the whole city center... But it's a small city, you'd do well to take advantage of its proximity to London and Oxford to go check out those.

What are the must-visit trip destinations?As I said, London, Oxford, maybe wherever in the southern England - Cliffs of Dover, Bristol, Stonehenge (though there's really bad train connections there).

Share your best experience:The academic atmosphere of the city - eating duck with Nobel prize winners in a candle-lit room.

💅A nugget of wisdom to make the life easier

Did you need to handle a visa?no

How did you get to the place?Plane
Train
Bus

Is there anything to watch out for before the trip?You'd do best to fly to some London airport, preferably Luton or Stansted, and take a train from there, both the flights and the trains are pretty cheap.

Can you pay by card?everywhere

What not to forget when packing?Rainproof clothes.

🥳Summary

Whew, what a ride! 😮‍💨 Thanks so much for taking the time to complete our survey and for sharing your unique experience. Just one last thing. 🙏 How would you summarize your trip in one or two sentences?Wet and expensive, but well worth it :) just go there for the people, not the food, or else you'll be disappointed.