Things were a bit easier at the hospital yesterday and I thought that maybe I was a fast learner, but then today a different consultant showed up and decided to ask me all sorts of weird and wonderful, and very specific, questions about papers published in the USA, protocols that I´d never heard of, etc. It was really frustrating because I knew what he was talking about when he was teaching the four younger medical students who were accompanying him, and I even knew the answers to things he was asking the junior doctors, but every time he spoke to me [View Full Entry]

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Travelling is all about learning new things, and the first thing I learnt this morning is that it is unwise to decide to wash your hair in the shower BEFORE checking that the hot tap isn´t just there for show. It would have been warmer to bathe in a mountain stream in the middle of the night, which I may have to try if things don´t heat up a bit by tomorrow. But anyway, today was my first at the hospital. For the first week I´m in the General Medicine Women´s ward. There are 16 beds, half of which were donated [View Full Entry]

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I´ve arrived in Cusco at last! And I´m liking it so far - wonderful views of the mountains as we flew in from Lima, very friendly and helpful woman at the airport who called my Cusco family to tell them I´d arrived early and to send someone to pick me up - she even waited outside with me to make sure I was picked up by the right person! The house I´m staying in is above the orthodonists, on a street that links to the main street in Cusco. So far, I´ve only met the mother, Maria Elena, who seems nice, [View Full Entry]

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So, I´ve taken the first step on my elective adventure by leaving London. To be fair, it wasn´t a huge step - I´m in a hotel in Madrid, where I´m staying the night. Fly to Lima tomorrow and Cusco the next day, but thought I´d try out this whole blog thing now, while I´ve got free internet access in the hotel (which also boasts amazing showers that have jets of water 'massaging´you from the walls). Sorry if I didn´t get to see everyone to say bye before I left - life got crazy busy for a while there! I hope you´ll [View Full Entry]

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