Teresa
Teresa comes from a small town in the Alps in Italy, right by the Swiss border. She did her previous studies at Politecnico di Torino, where she achieved a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering.
Why did you choose this master's programme at KTH?
During my bachelor, I had one subject over railways, and I liked it so much. After that, I knew that I would have loved to specialise myself in the field of railways. In addition, I wanted to pursue a master's degree outside of my home country, and I found this master's programme after some research.
How do studies at KTH differ from your previous studies?
In Italy, we usually have from three to five subjects per semester. In January/February and in June/July, you have exams over all of them, without mid-terms and very few assignments during the semester. In addition, the academic year starts in October, and it ends at the end of July.
On the contrary, at KTH, the academic year starts at the end of August, and it finishes at the beginning of June. Here there are assignments all over the year, and there are "half semesters" where you attend from two to a maximum of three subjects per "half-semester", and at the end of any "half-semester", you take the exam over the two to three classes that you attended.
How is student life in Stockholm?
At KTH and Stockholm in general, you can definitely feel yourself in an international environment. You get to know a lot of people from different countries and parts of the world. The first weeks are full of events that let you know the university, the city and the Swedish culture better.
It doesn't feel like living in a city because you are surrounded by nature, and you can do activities like hiking, skiing, cross country skiing close to the city centre.
How would you describe your time at KTH so far?
There are so many events organised by chapters (Department of studies), Student Union and KTH itself. It is full of international students, and it is easy to make friends with your classmates. It is full of places where you can study or meet up with your classmates for projects.
What would you like to say to students thinking of choosing KTH for master's studies?
Studying here is a great opportunity. I never regret to have chosen KTH for my master's studies. This programme lets you study at two different universities (KTH and UIUC) and do an exchange in the US, in Illinois, which is a giant occasion to catch!
The people, professors and staff at KTH are very nice, and they always help you out with any question and doubt you have. Professors are always available for further explanations and to tell you more about how the study plan works and how life as a student at KTH is. Furthermore, the environment here is so lovely, and the campus is marvellous.
If you have any doubts about the Railway Engineering programme or KTH in general, just send me an e-mail, and I will be pleased to solve any of your doubts.