So, you're probably all wondering, Sam, why did you go to Poland? And why, of all places in Poland, did you go to Poznan? Well, all of my classmates and I were asking ourselves the same thing. However, I think I learned more in Poland than I did in Berlin, both academically and culturally.
We shadowed 4 doctors at 2 different hospitals - a gynecologist, an obstetrician, and 2 GI pediatricians. We were really able to see how poorly funded the medical program is in Poland - the facilities, while acceptable from a sanitation standpoint - were dark, overcrowded (there were some rooms with 5 children in them), and both under and overstaffed; too many nurses not doing anything while there weren't enough doctors (we barely had time to talk with one of the pediatricians because so many other doctors and nurses were consulting them). Also, Poland has loose privacy laws, and some of my other classmates in a different group got to walk into an emergency c-section as it was happening without having to fill out any paperwork. What also struck me about Poland was the fact that not everyone spoke English - I guess I'm a little spoiled here in Copenhagen. It was really a wake up call, and now, whenever I travel, I don't immediately assume people know English.
We had a lot of free time in Poland (more than in Berlin), and I bought some really cool wool socks from a Polish "mountain man" cart for the equivalent of $2, as well as some cute spring clothes. Everything was SO cheap - 3 zloty was equal to 1 USD, and for a total of 7$ I got a fantastic meal of vegetarian pierogies, a beer, and dessert: something that would cost an arm and a leg in Denmark. We also had a wonderful dinner at one of Poznan's finest restaurants, and were given lots of free alcohol. I think DIS did this purposely in preparation for our 12 hour bus ride home - they just wanted us to get moderately drunk and pass out. Unfortunately, there was an accident on a Polish or German highway and we missed our 6AM ferry to Denmark and arrived back to Copenhagen 3 hours late. I was pretty cranky (me? cranky? never!) by the time we got back, but after a shower, food, and reunion with my roomie, I felt a lot better!
The main square in Poznan - pretty reminiscent of Nyhavn in CPH!
Just my friend Nina and I sitting on the golden goats of Poznan (they love goats there. and potatoes).
The day immediately following my return from Poland, I hung out with my visiting family. They made me lunch (where I discovered that I am now in love with beets) and took me to the Viking Museum in Roskilde. The Viking Museum is pretty small, but it's really awesome! It was super informative and you were able to see excavated viking ships they found. I also learned that the Danes were pretty ruthless vikings - sacrificing slaves when their owners died, raping and ravaging other lands, drinking blood out of their dead enemies' skulls (that's where the Danish word for cheers comes from - Skål! were so They even have a place where you can dress up like a viking... and oh, did I dress up...
Skål!
After that, I had a pretty busy 10 days or so - all of my teachers decided to give exams and make due dates for the same days which was really poopy. I stayed in one night last weekend in order to write 2 papers. However, I had a bit of a break on Tuesday night was able to go out and celebrate my completion of 3 papers in 2 days (one of which was on a book I didn't read).
Next entry: Switzerland!
No comments:
Post a Comment