The ups and downs of international travel

Mon 8/15

So overall I have been thoroughly enjoying my time here. I really like the other students in my program and we have been having a good time exploring Quito and the surrounding areas. I love salsa dancing and the music that is popular in this area. I have also enjoyed spanish school and have become good friends with one of the teachers.

With that being said, I must admit that things can be quite difficult here. For example, today was supposed to be my first day in the clinic. Fortunately, Robinson (another student who has already spent 6 weeks here) was in the same pediatrics rotation as I am. So, we got to the area where we thought our hospital was located. We went and asked for directions from the maternity hospital (peds is supposed to be close to this) but no one had heard of the doctor we were supposed to be shadowing and no one was able to tell us where we needed to go. Robinson decided to hike around to find it, but the hospital is on a large hill in the middle of the city so I opted to call the coordinator rather than wandering aimlessly. She helped me to find the location of the pediatric clinic (all en espanol by the way) but when we got there the receptionist hadn't heard of the doctor who we were shadowing. Apparently, everyone in the medical field in ecuador is currently on vacation so most of us are assigned to replacements. So, Robinson and I called the coordinator who spoke with someone who work at the clinic. We waited around for two hours and then called our coordinator and asked to switch clinics for the remainder of the week (so we wont have to deal with this through friday). She put us in the delivery ward for tomorrow afternoon which is great. But, it also means I have to ask rosita to provide spanish classes in the morning rather than the afternoon and hope that I find a more organized arrangement tomorrow.

I am glad I came here and for the most part it has been great but there are times (aka today) that the language barrier is overwhelming and the program does not seem as well organized as I had once believed it to be.

Oh well, lets hope that tomorrow goes better. And on the bright side I get to go to the gym before class :)