Student blogs

Who am I?

Hola! My name is Andrea Aviles, I’m from Puerto Rico an island in the Caribbean, but I’m currently living in Stockholm. If I had to describe myself with three words I would say:  thoughtful, creative, and social. I like to travel,  to go to the beach, meet new people, and learn new things.

What is my background?

I have worked since I was sixteen years old as a sales professional in retail stores. In my work experience, I was involved in the business field despite my education being focused on Science. Two different worlds were trying to coexist. I remember finishing my bachelor in Biology and thinking, “what’s next?” Once,  I was determined to continue my studies in Medicine (in Puerto Rico as the United States, Medicine requires a Bachelor in Natural Sciences). As I started shadowing doctors, I realized that I was more interested in medical innovation rather than medicine itself.

Why Sweden?

In the middle of my crisis of not having a plan, I sought help from Google. I remember typing: “What to do with a Biology Degree?” and after reading about Medicine, Law, and Research, I found an interesting program called: Bioentrepreneurship. I was eager to know more about this program that was not offered in Puerto Rico and only exists in six institutions worldwide. I did research on different universities and found that education-wise, Karolinska Institutet was the perfect fit for me, so I decided to sacrifice the tropical weather and came to Sweden.  I’m still getting acquainted with the greyness and the cold, and the random rainy days. Fika is my consolation, I promise it makes everything better!

Follow my adventure as DA:

I’m a Digital Ambassador (DA) on the KI YouTube channel. I want KI students to be involved with the vlogs as much as possible so I will be interviewing students around camps. Feel free to send an email with ideas you would like to see on the vlogs. Looking forward to reading your ideas!

PS: Please, suscribe to our channel 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/user/KIStudentBlogs

Andrea Aviles

email: andrea.aviles@stud.ki.se