Meet Annika Malmgren, officially the ‘Best International Student’ of 2008/2009. Annika hails from a small town in the south of Sweden called Lundh, she speaks four languages including Czech, is an avid dancer and a pretty good student too. We caught up with her for an informal chat about winning the award, studying in Prague and life in general.
The Award
Annika, many congratulations on being awarded the best international student. You received a healthy financial reward for your endeavours, any plans on how you're going to spend the money?
Survival, buying books. My mothers paying the apartment so I don't have to spend money on that but like food and stuff like that, pay my dancing.
So no lavish holidays... new pair of shoes?
Not that much, maybe little bits for fun. I wanted to go skiing but didn't have time for that, mostly for survival.
About the award itself, do you feel that in your case it served its purpose in motivating you to do so well or that you would have achieved your grades irrespective of the award?
Yes and no. I think it's a really great motivation and it keeps me going. I want to win it again and I want to fight for it but even if it wouldn't have existed... anything I do I want to be at my best. But it definitely gives me a little extra.
Did you start out knowing you wanted to achieve this?
I don't know, maybe a little... because if there's any competition I'm in it! But of course my main goal is to become a good doctor not winning awards.
How difficult was it for you to achieve the award?
I think it's difficult for anyone, I mean there's a lot of good students here and the competition is pretty high but I think that I had a good combination of knowledge and luck with my exam questions.
Now that you've won it, do you feel any pressure to maintain your high standards and win it again next year, or is that not something you think about?
Definitely! Maybe not so much from my colleagues here but especially from family because they're like laid back now for giving me extra money for buying books... and shoes or whatever... 
Studying in the Czech Republic
The 2nd faculty has been rated the best medical faculty in the Czech Republic, what's your general opinion on the education you have received so far?
Well... It's like a mix. Some departments are excellent and... I mean to be honest I've been thinking about transferring to Sweden and therefore, I'm always comparing this to what I think that I might receive if I go back to Sweden. Some departments here are excellent and I don't want to leave this, this is something that maybe I wouldn't get in Sweden... and some departments are totally the opposite, so it's a mix, it's a mix and I think that with the surveys that they are trying to do we will try to reach some kind of equilibrium between these bad and good.
What have been your favourite and least favourite subjects?
I like Physiology a lot, we had a really good teacher for the seminars so it was a good discussion and everything was really, really good. I felt like I had a lot of knowledge leaving that course and especially entering the third year I felt really prepared.
Worst... Biochemistry..., no doubts! During the first year we had lectures with people that didn't speak English so there were just you know, clicking to get to the next slide, but second year was a little bit better but still, there was no control, they don't speak to each other, they don't know when we are going to do what and were just running around and in the final exam I was getting asked things that were not in the curriculum and I was like... Ok! So there was bad communication there. So that was probably the worst.
As a foreign student, what advantages... if any... do you think studying in LF2 gives you in comparison to your fellow students in Sweden?
I think that it's really nice to get to know people from other cultures and to really treat people in a more general way because sometimes you can get so stuck to your own way of seeing stuff and that makes you neglect things that could be important for other people. So I think that the more time you spend with people from other countries and cultures and different thinking, the more it helps you to improve as a person. I think that if you are a doctor it's not only how much knowledge you have about Pathology and stuff like that, it's also how you can meet the patient and how open the patient feels, so I think that is a great advantage here that I wouldn't get in Sweden.
Hypothetical situation
You're Dean of the medical faculty and you have an open chequebook, you can make a maximum of three changes to the medical school and they can be regarding anything you want from the cafeteria to the medical curriculum what changes, if any, would you make.
Wow... that's a really hard question!
- I would make sure that the teachers' English is on an acceptable level for teaching, e.g. by letting them pass some kind of language test.
- I would try to decrease the differences between Czech and foreign students even more, maybe by encouraging the teachers to translate their own books into English.
- I would try to make the nursing course more practical, and let the students take blood, give injections, check blood pressure etc. on a more regular basis to get an early contact and feel more comfortable with patients and the Czech language.
I actually have one more wish – to add physical education to the schedule... AND I think that having this course in groups of Czech and foreign students mixed is a fun way to learn more Czech, get to know the Czech colleagues and to make some exercise. This would also help to create a more relaxed environment in the class, and some kind of team spirit . The other faculties have PE, and I see no reason why we shouldn't.
A lot of foreign students find coming to Prague a challenging experience, what for you has been the hardest part of studying here?
The loneliness. You feel foreign in this country, even getting on the tram to get back home you feel like a kind of, I don't know UFO or something... people are speaking you don't understand what they're saying.
And the best thing about living here?
Personal experience, meeting with people that you never thought you would meet in a more like personal or individual way.
And have you met many interesting people here in Prague?
Umm... many of my classmates are interesting in their own way (laughs...)
Are you involved in any extra-curricular activities?
I am doing the freshers week for next year.
I've been involved in doing tours and stuff (before), but now I'm organising it, the whole week.
What was your own freshers experience... or did you even have one?
It was just two upper years guys showing us how to get to Anatomy and they were helping us to pick some books. I think it was very useful but I would have preferred something like we have now, but now of course there are more people putting their souls into it.
So three years into your medical degree, your half way there, knowing what you know now if you could go back in time would you do it all again?
I think so.
Quick fire
Czech food or Swedish food? – Swedish food
Beer or Wine – Wine
Red or White – Depends on the occasion
If I wasn't a Doctor I would be a... – Dancer
Favourite spot in Prague? – Dancing studio
Favourite spot in Sweden? – The amusement park of Gothenburg
Favourite Book?
I haven't been reading books for so long, god, seriously I haven't been reading for so long and I haven't been reading anything that was like, oh I wanna read it again.
You've just won 20 million Euros... stay and finish or do something else? – Finish here
Before we finish, is there anything else that you want to say?
I think that it's very important to not forget who you are just because you come here and just because you leave your parents and your home country. I think it's very important thing to find the balance between studies and your personal life, if you have any hobbies don't leave them just because you're leaving your own country. The reason why I'm doing good I think, it's because I have this, I have found my own balance between studies, and doing my hobbies and seeing my boyfriend, and doing all of these things. And I really think that it's important for other people to hear, that it's not only studying.
