Wednesday, 21 September 2011

It’s been about 3 ½ months since my last update – time definitely flies when you’re having fun!

When I last wrote I had just moved my boxes into the new house that I am sharing with Abby, Sahira and Fiona. Then 2 days later I jetted off to Austria for 9 weeks. As part of my studies we need to complete a medical elective anywhere we wish, so I did 4 weeks in an Orthopaedic department in Neunkirchen hospital and 3 weeks with a GP in Gloggnitz. These are close to my parent’s house so I was able to stay there in comfy surroundings and commute daily.

Despite my initial misgivings at doing orthopaedics (I’m not a huge fan of surgery), I absolutely loved my time in the hospital. The staff were friendly and I was roped in to assist in the day to day activities in theatre, the wards and also the emergency department. It was such fun, despite having to get up just after 5am every morning in order to be awake and at hospital for the 7am starts, but then I finished at 3pm and had time to visit my gran or run errands in the afternoon. And I was allowed to try out many new things, including stitching, which made my day!

The GP time was quieter for me in that he doesn’t usually have students with him and is the only GP in his very small, but very busy, practice. I was allowed to sit in on all his consultations, and my hours with him were 7:30am until 1pm. And Tuesdays were days off. So very relaxed for me!

I also braved driving on the opposite side of the road during my time in Austria. It was rather nerve wracking for the first 3 days, but I only had one incident of getting in the passenger side – after a shopping trip – and then made as if I was searching for something in the glove compartment because everyone was staring at me in the parking lot! :)

And on weekends there was always something happening somewhere, and I must have attended at least 5 festivals during my stay in Austria. I also managed to visit many friends and family members, and during the last 2 weeks Geoff flew out to Austria and we enjoyed seeing a lot of the touristy places together.

 Tante Christl, Geoff and I at the Laurenzikirtag in Katzelsdorf

Then mid-August we flew back to the UK, arriving at Heathrow from where we caught a train to Mandy’s where we spent the night. Mandy had been babysitting my new 2^nd-hand car (who I have named Gertrude) for me while I had been away.  We then travelled up towards the North over the next few days, stopping for some sightseeing in Cambridge, Lincoln (where we stayed overnight) and Scarborough along the way.

The rest of August was spent unpacking all my stuff in my new room and I also went sightseeing to a few National Trust places (which is so much easier now that I have a car!)

And I started back for my final year of medicine at the beginning of September. I am only in hospitals this year (in a region called Wear) and am already finishing my first rotation at South Tyneside hospital (in Obstetrics and Gynaecology) this Friday. It’s very busy so far, with early starts and long days, plus the studying at the end of every day! But not long until my final exams (which are in June 2012) and then all this hard work will have paid off.