Let the good times roll...

"It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences" - Audre Lorde

I have to agree with Audre Lorde's words, though I wouldn't break out the Dom Perignon just yet. I've done my first two weeks of the internship, and I live to tell about it.

My first day was scary as hell (initially I wanted to insert a curse word, but since I know that my mom is reading this, I won't!). It was just a couple of minutes to 7 am, when I entered the staff room, dressed in my extremely and almost permanently dazzling white shirt and navy blue trousers (yeah, I'm practically a Brit now). There were three other people in the room with me, by the looks of it, two of them were healthcare assistants and the third one was a nurse, a male nurse to boot. Nobody said anything to me, not even responed to my "good morning", which I had belted out, when I entered. It was almost like they didn't acknowledge my presence, so safe to say, I was pretty much ignored for a half hour or so. Then one female nurse turned her attention to me and literally asked me, who I belonged to?! Hm, had I looked like a stray dog? Well, I got the opportunity to select my own master, so I just settled with the one, who'd just semi-insulted me. She is now my mentor or pet owner, which ever floats either of our boats. She is -despite the oh-so bad first impression- actually very nice and so fabulously Scottish...

I need to get back on track, back to the quote. So there are a lot of differences in the approaches to nursing. Let's start with the settings, my ward consists of three bays, which have room for six patients (it's kind of lying, when I say "have room for", because the truth is, there's not much room. Let me just say that if my junk in the trunk was any bigger, I'd get stuck a lot!) There's one side room, which is preferably reserved for isolated patients due to infections. Then there's a desk in the middle of the ward, where there are two computers (they have definitely seen better days!) and to your right you find a table attached to  sink, a tiny refrigerator and a drug cupboard (psssh! It's here all the good stuff is stored!), to your left are all the patient journals. It looks like something from another century, which all makes sense, because apparently the digital age hasn't reached the English hospital wards yet, since EVERYTHING is written by hand. Your first thought must be - "crapola, that's a lot of work", and you wouldn't be wrong, most times the writing isn't illegible, heck I reckon Sanscript is easier to decipher! So at times I have to decline to give drugs to some patients, because I simply cannot read the bloody drug chart! 

This prompt me to tell my mentor about our system and handling of drugs, she didn't seem that impressed by it, almost like she couldn't be bothered, but she did tell me that the reason, they didn't use computers for this, was that it was too expensive! Wow! Too expensive...at the expense of what could be a patient's life!

So everything is basically cramped up as much as possible. The bays are identical, each patient has a bed, a night stand, where the medicine is kept (I know, awful, eh?), a chair and a tiny TV, and to top it of, they also have their own curtain, so they can have some privacy. Needless to say that you cannot achieve much privacy behind a curtain, everything you're told by the doctor on rounds is heard by five other patients, sometimes relatives, nurses and students - way to uphold the patient/doctor confidentiality! 

All in all, they way they handle the medicine and drugs is just an accident waiting to happen...

...a story from real life...

I was to inject a patient with Clexane in the abdomen, I asked for an alcohol swab to clear of the injection spot, to which the nurse replied, that they didn't do that anymore. Incredulously I sighed and said that I had been taught to do that before doing anything that involved needles, she said that she was taught the same procedure, but it wasn't practiced like that anymore. I reluctantly injected the patient with Clexane and told the nurse that next time I will be using the alcohol swabs.

So it's safe to say that I do recognize the differences, however, I'm finding it difficult to accept these differences, and I'm not sure that I'll end up accepting them, but I'll try. I do know, that if I end up breaking out the Dom Perignon, it would be for completely other reasons than celebrating those differences!

-xoxo-

My new home

Welcome to the glamorous life of an exchange student.

Kitchen - at least the microwave is new.

A sink in my room - now that's handy.

The room we dare not speak of, nor enter for that matter.

The loo - if you look closely, you can see the stolen goods.

The bathroom.

The hallway. 

The kitchen in all its glam.

My desk - without a chair.

The tiniest closet ever.

The nightstand.

The not so cozy bed.

The view from my prison cell.

Part of the stolen goods.

The infamous sofa.

The living room.

The living room view.

My first blog post in all its glory.

My first update from this adventure.

Let's see, it's been a week, so far I've managed to cut a dish towel into pieces that can be used as dishcloths (shh! don't tell anyone!), almost got caught for stealing daffodils (so not worth jail time!), cut into an electric wire in order to make it fit my adapter, and the list goes on...

My reasons for choosing to study abroad are countless. I wanted to be on my own in foreign country, I wanted to experience student life as an exchange student, I wanted to learn about a different culture, I wanted to practice my English...as I said countless. After being here a week these reasons still stand, despite being met by a horrific apartment that I'm supposed to call "home", even though I think that the multiple bugs already call it "home".

The tiny apartment that is my home now is really something else entirely. Imagine Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and add a blue sofa covered in suspiscious looking white stains (don't blush, you totally know what I mean!), a carpet looking like something died on it and then evolution did its thing and the abhorrent smell, then you have a pretty clear picture of my new home.
I live across the hospital, where my placement will be. So as far as location in extention to the placement, it's very great. The area I live in houses only hospital staff, so there are plenty of nurses, doctors, porters, etc. around. But I'm -apart from Sarah- the only exchange student, and I have yet to meet someone near my own age range. Apparently Eastbourne is the place for retirement, so I've seen tons of elderly people, maybe even more elderly people in one week than I've ever seen in Denmark. 

But let me just say that I was lucky to get this far. Upon arriving at Gatwick Airport I had to fill out some documentation about my stay here, because of my lack of a European passport. So I was met by this scary-looking dude, who started quizzing me about my stay here, my reasons for coming here and my life back home. Suffice to say that this 3rd degree, or what actually felt like the Spanish Inquisition, got me quite nervous. I mean, the dude could've given me a break, considering he was a foreigner himself - isn't there some sort of code, Foreigners Unite? Anywho, after sweating buckets I got the clear and I was in.

...here are two feel-good-stories about how Sarah and I apparently left our IQ's at home...

Our first breakfast consisted of eggs and the driest bread known to man (I've never felt the need for more saliva, before eating that particular loaf of bread!) We were very excited...that was until we found out that there wasn't any salt or pepper. I cannot begin to say what we were possibly thinking, while we stood in the aisle of Sainsbury's (our new favourite grocery shop!), why would we buy eggs and not buy salt and pepper...that meal made me feel like I was in prison and given the scenary of my new home, it was a definite prison vibe!

In an attempt to make our new home more homely, we decided to buy candles, scented candles none the less,  when we got home, we put the candles on the table and then we just took a minute to stare and acknowledge our  brilliance, until it hit us, that we didn't have any matches or even a lighter...should've taken up smoking! 

Got yourself a good laugh on our behalf? Maybe even pitied us a bit and took comfort in our misery? Yeah, I figured you would, heck I would too!

I start my internship tomorrow, at a surgical ward that deals with general surgery. I'm very stoked to see how it will turn out. The shifts are 12 hours long, that's going to be challenging in more ways than one...hopefully I'll get through the day in one piece!

On a final note, a week in and I don't regret coming here, despite all of the above, but I would recommend going and studying in a bigger city, or you just might end up snatching a sugar daddy!

-xoxo-