Biking through the fields of Visingsö, Sweden.

Author: Kylie Mollner | Major: Biology | Semester: Summer 2025
This summer, I spent 21 days split between Jönköping and Stockholm, and it is easy to say that my time in Sweden has changed my life for the better. I took an interest in the Health Teams Abroad in Sweden program due to the unique perspective it offered for pre-health students.
Unlike the rigorous courses that most of us on this program were used to taking, the courses we took abroad differed from the usual STEM focused classes and instead taught us more about what working in healthcare actually looks like. We had the opportunity to learn about and compare the healthcare systems between the United States and Sweden, and the differences are pretty substantial. The curriculum did not make us label things as “good” or “bad”, but rather just encouraged us to think more critically about the kind of system we are striving to work in. We
also gained an understanding about many issues that people face in healthcare that can often be overlooked. For example, one of our lectures was taught by a man named Chris, who has been in a wheelchair for several years because of an accident. He talked to us about the struggles he had faced and the assumptions that those who are not physically disabled tend to make about those who do not have the same privilege. After he spoke, our class was given multiple wheelchairs to sit in, and we followed Chris out into the city. All of the sudden, small divots in the road, curbs
that we typically viewed as small, and passing pedestrians and bicyclists that were previously a
nonissue were large obstacles to us being able to get around. While we shared a lot of laughs and
funny experiences during this, we also found ourselves talking about accessibility every time we
walked on a cobblestone street or tripped on a pothole after this experience. There are so many
things in life that you cannot understand until you experience it yourself, and this opportunity not
only opened my eyes to many of these things, but also pushed me to continue seeking out new
experiences at home in order to be a better future-doctor, and a better person overall. Another
part of this experience that was really special to me was how it bonded all 21 of the students that
were there. On campus, many of us have been in the same 300 person lectures for several
semesters, and have not only never met each other, but also have similar experiences of not
getting a lot of opportunities to connect with our classmates. This study abroad program could
not have been more different. Not only did I form lifelong friendships with my peers in Sweden,
but I also learned more from my classmates than I ever would have thought possible. Every
person had a very unique background, and getting to hear how each person developed a passion
for healthcare in such different ways was truly moving. We were brought together by our
common interests, but after getting to truly talk about all the ways we are different, I am excited
to go back to campus and continue fostering these conversations between the people I am in class
with for hours everyday. On the last day in Sweden, Dr. Glade and Jonathan Langley stood up
and told us that the experiences we had there were things we would think about for the rest of
our lives, and for the first time I left class knowing that I would be a better healthcare
professional because of it.