Thoughts on my first year in Applied Ethology and Animal Biology

Hi everyone! I’m super happy to be back after a nice and long summer break and to take you all with me on my upcoming adventures and challenges. For those who don’t know me, I’m Milou and I’m currently in my second year of the master’s program Applied Ethology and Animal Biology here at LiU. Since many of you just started with this master’s, I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts about the first year of the program.

First of all, congratulations on everyone that got in and you’re probably in Pelle’s course right now which is a great introduction. The program is really international which makes it super easy to make friends and meet different people from various cultures! I was a bit scared before starting since I have a background in veterinary medicine, so I didn’t have much knowledge of biology. However, a lot of students in this program have a different background so it’s very doable to catch up on your biology knowledge! As I mentioned before, the first course is a great introduction to the field of animal behavior and you will learn a lot, while also some cool practical things.

All the courses consist of a lot of groupwork and projects, usually with pretty large groups so you really learn how to work together with a lot of people. The courses were a bit of a change for me, because I was used to studying really hard for exams, but this is not really the case in this master’s program. The focus will be much more on understanding the lectures instead of reproducing facts. For me the program was really doable and quite relaxed, which made sure that I had a lot of time to explore Linkoping and other parts of Sweden.

The most exciting part of the first year of this master program was the Zoo Biology course which you will have in January! In this course you will spend a lot of time at Kolmarden Zoo, a big wildlife park in Sweden. You will get lectures from people all over the world and create an even better bond with your classmates! I also managed to find a great thesis opportunity because of all the lectures given in thiscourse, it gives you great connections and opportunities!

For me the course in behavioral neurobiology was one of the courses I didn’t enjoy as much, mostly because the topic is not really my main interest and then it’s hard to bring up motivation. Also, the genetics course is quite challenging, but for me it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the challenging parts. Don’t forget that no program is perfect and you will always find things or have topics that are of less interest to you!

I hope all the new students are having a great time and are enjoying everything this program and Sweden has to offer! Don’t hesitate to write to me if you have any questions or things you would like to know about this program, always happy to help 😊.

Have an amazing day and talk to you soon!
// Milou

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