Entry 2: Some initial thoughts

/ duncanmross / Leave a comment

Arrived. 

I thought I’d just scribble down a few thoughts I’d had over the first few hours here. 

1) Long haul flights are both amazing and terrible at the same time. Having never done it before, it was quite the experience. You should’ve seen my face when arriving at my seat I was confronted with a blanket, a pillow, and a “refreshment” pack (take note (Sl)EasyJet). Even with this, hundreds of hours of entertainment and surprising good food, sitting in a cramped space for 9 hours isn’t my idea of fun. 

2) Jetlag is a real thing. I had been a sceptic. Not anymore. 

3) The locals here are extremely friendly. My supervisor at the hospital offered to collect me at the airport and drop me at my accommodation to save me having to get a taxi. 

4) Food here is extortionate. I went down to the local supermarket to stock up on a few things. I bought stuff to make a chilli, some rolls, ham, cheese, milk and cereal and it cost the equivalent of almost £30. That being said, this supermarket did stock lots of “Waitrose Essentials” for some reason (and no, it wasn’t a Waitrose supermarket…) It did also put on a free shuttle service that takes you back to your house. Nice. 

5) It’s very warm (duh, right?). I just thought I’d let you know. Went for a walk this morning between 7.30am and 9am and I already have a “farmers tan”. And yes, I did put sun cream on. 

Entry 1: The Day Before

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So as I’m sure most of you already know (as you’re on this page…), I’m doing my medical elective in Barbados! I’ll be spending most of my time in the Accident & Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, the island’s capital. I’m on the island for just short of 8 weeks, and so I’m hoping that that will be long enough to experience all of what Barbados has to offer. So long as that includes sun, sea and sand then I think I’ll be fine.

Whilst I’m there, my university requires that I undertake some sort of “project”. Mine is going to be in the form of an audit, which is currently titled: “A Descriptive Study of Fractures in Children presenting to the Accident & Emergency Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados”. Basically it involves looking through the hospital records to see how many kids broke bones, how old they were, how they broke them, how they were fixed, yadayadayada etc etc etc. To say this has been a nightmare to organise would be an understatement. I won’t bore you with the details.

So with my passport looked out, suncream bought and shorts packed, I’m leaving.

Tomorrow.