Student Exchange Reports

Our Trip to Kuwait

From the 5th to the 21st of July we; Magda and Martyna, had some dental practice at the University of Kuwait in Kuwait.

At the beginning, Lateefa (from the Kuwait Dental Students Society) came to pick us up from the airport and then took us to the hotel. From that time until the end of our stay she was looking and taking care of us. In fact, she organized and prepared the activities that we did for the whole 2 weeks that we stayed in. Lateefa also arranged that we attend the clinic from Saturday until Wednesday. Everyday after the seminars, some of the students took us around Kuwait. That was the way how we met Dalal, Sarah and Muneera, Maryam, Aisha, Abrar and many others. They talked to us about their culture and religion, because we were really interested in it since these things are completely different for us.

The time we were spending in the clinic was great. We were really lucky that in Kuwait, there is a summer course for the students during the holiday. We met their doctors and other students. Saad - Kuwait NEO - was taking care of us every clinic day. He was arranging for us to see the procedures that we are interested in. He showed us how he works and he explained the rules of the clinic as well. He was a really good friend to us.

The clinic is very modern and the atmosphere there is great. There is a very good cooperation between the students and the doctors there, who are always ready to explain anything that the students wonder about, they even explained things for us when we were interested in something.

Kuwait as a city is also worth seeing. We visited the Kuwait Towers, The National Museum, the Aquarium, among other places. However, the most popular entertainment in Kuwait is shopping, so we visited all the malls in the city. We also tried Kuwaiti food. It was very unique, especially since we like trying new things.

We really enjoyed out time in Kuwait. For us, it was a very good experience because it is a completely different world; different culture, religion, clothes and food, but still very interesting. The people there are very friendly, so we felt very good there.

We wish everybody to have such an enjoyable adventure like we had, because everything was excellently prepared for us and we were very surprised and satisfied with the way we spent our time.

Magda and Martyna

Visiting Poland…

From the 6th of August and for 12 days, we visited Poland as part of the dental student exchange program. After arriving at Szczecin in Poland, we met Magda and Martyna whom we have already known before when they came to Kuwait a few weeks ago. From that time onwards, they basically made sure that our stay in Poland was really comfortable and fun. Through their efforts, we have seen so much about the Polish tourism and the Polish dental experience.

Unfortunately, the dental school that our Polish friends were studying in was closed during the summer course with an exception of the Orthodontic department, which basically was the department we stayed in most of the time. It was a good as we had some hands-on experience with the patients, which made a great and informative time. We also visited one of the best private dental labs in the city and got introduced to new methods and materials of prostheses fabrication. Magda and Martyina had also managed to get us to attend an implant placement surgery at a private clinic as well.

Poland as a country for tourism really surprised us. Krakow, the other city we visited in Poland, was amazing. In there, we visited the salt mines in Wieliczka (one of the oldest mines in the world) as well as many castles, museums and cathedrals. In Szczecin, we experienced the way Polish people live their everyday lives which made an interesting change of pace from the tourist life of Krakow. In Szczecin, we also saw a movie the world’s oldest movie theatre that is still showing movies since 1909!

Overall, Poland definitely exceeded our expectations; from the friendliness of the Polish, to the amazing tourist destinations in there. We sincerely hope to meet the people we have befriended there again, and we want to thank Magda and Martyna for all the time they spent trying to make us enjoy ourselves (we loved it there!) and wish them all the best luck. We really hope to visit Poland and meet you guys again soon!

Khalid and Maryam