Grüezi!

HELsinki

2008-05-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Since I´m back at "home" and nothing interesting is going to happen in my life (just joking..), I think I´m going to end this blogger adventure at this point! I´m starting to work next monday at Tammisaari hospital, only 8weeks to go of the practical year thing. I have already signed up for the final exams in october- november, so life after Tammisaari for the most is going to contain loads of studying. And, please, don´t ask me if I´m going to specialize and in particular in which subject!

One story to go. For the final exams I had to hand in about 30 certifications (nope, no computers) about taken courses, electives, exams etc. Not to forget the famous birth certification ("Geburtsurkunde"). Well, I ordered it from the finnish register office and got it in english. Which, I suppose should not have been a problem since english is an internationally well known and understood language. But no. The germans wanted to have this list of names, addresses, birth dates etc. in german. And the translation costed me 35,70 Euros!!! Who needs this crap? Don´t they believe that I have been born? This is so german and I am so happy to get rid of that byrocracy!

Why did I actually give Berlin a chance?

2008-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Or better, german medicine. Some examples:

On my first day I was told to be the one to mix and set the iv-infusions. Since I had never done it before (nurses do that in Scandinavia and Switzerland, and also in Germany, when the med students aren´t there= in the evenings, at night), I naturally asked a nurse for help. But since I´m a med student, she directly said and very unfriendly: " It´s not my job to show you, you have to ask the doctors for advices!". So, I said I can´t, can you show me and I assume the nurse understood that I´m a total beginner. Well, when something goes wrong (no matter what), of course we med students are the ones to be blaimed, and not friendly, very impolitely! Yep, no wonder things go wrong, if they don´t advice the new people.

I was asked to take blood samples, hemoglobin and crp, for which I needed two (!!!) tubes. I took these two and of course it went all wrong. "Usually we also take coagulation, because blaah blaah blaah" I explained that I had been asked to take those two. And the midwife explained me at least three more times that I should have taken three tubes. As if I was stupid?

After a cesarian section I was asked to go out of the operation room and tell the midwifes to prepare some pills for the patient when she´s out of the operation. Just when I was telling the message, the other doctor came running out of the operation and screamed at me, that the thing has to be done immediately! Again, am I stupid or what? I do actually understand the difference between prepare and prepare immediately, it just has to be said!

Something more advanced and for the colleagues. To the policlinic came an elder patient who was planned to get operated next day. She had some basic illnesses, high blood pressure, copd and propably something with the heart too, medications for these diseases. First of all the doctor wasn´t sure, if she should order chest x-ray or ecg, which in this patients case were definetly needed to be done before any operation. But the best thing was, that she did not order something as essential as creatinin (kidney test, which is at least at internal medicine a so standard blood test for almost anyone, young and elder), to save money!!! Instead of that she ordered a few (at least for me) totally unnecessary samples to be taken! I tried to explain it to the doctor, but again, who listenes to the students?

Six days to go...

Munich

2008-04-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

I spent the last weekend in Munich, we had a SLSLO meeting (finnish medical students in Germany) in the south. It was a short visit including 12hours of sitting on the train, but it was worth it! It´s always good to get out for a few days, kind of vacation feeling... Munich seems to be nice, it has a snobbish reputation, but I did not get the impression, compared with Zurich, it´s nothing. It´s not too big (which Berlin is) and it also has loads of activities to offer. In the center is a large park "Englischer Garten", we went there of course for a beer (did some walking too)! The Biergarten season had already begun a week earlier in Berlin, only that the weather the second time was more of an enjoyment. And what I appreciate the most... the closeness to the alps!!! Oh man, I was again so enjoying the views, maybe I should go to Switzerland for work for a few years?!?

Well, for now I´m coming to Finland, in 2-3 weeks depending on if I get the last week off or not. I got a tiny appartment in Ruoholahti and am so looking forward to my own home in the central Helsinki, finally!

Sushi a'la Turkey

2008-04-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Berlin is very multicultural. It´s very common for f ex turkish people to run an italian restaurant. What I did not have experienced before was Sushi by turks. This small restaurant is just around the corner of my home. I was a bit hesitating at the entrance as I saw this turkish sushi cook, since I was looking for a great sushi meal. Prejudices were wrong and the snack was delicious! And the cook entertained me the whole time... If I had wanted or not.

Hier wird nicht gegessen sondern gearbeitet

2008-04-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

A thing called lunch is unknown at the operative section of this hospital. They don´t take a break at all, there are always some ten minutes between the operations and time for a bread and a glass of water, but that´s about it. I am warmly remembering the operations at Lohja, where the operator asked his/her team (!) around lunch time at the end of an operation, if it now was a good time for a lunch break? The operations don´t end around 2-3pm like in Finland, they continue until 4pm (or later if emergencies) and the day for these doctors has definetly started at 7am or earlier! At this point many of you my friends would (again) say: " I don´t think I would want to be operated by someone, who has eaten almost nothing the whole day!".

Back in Berlin

2008-03-27T08:49:00.001-07:00

Things are fine, it´s very nice to be here again and in particular for just a "visit"! The flat and my roommate are cool, the location is fabulous! I´ve always wanted to live in Prenzlauer Berg and now finally I´m kind of in the middle and I´m not anymore the one who always has to get somewhere for a coffee or beer because many of the awesome bars are just around the corner! As you see, this is one of the most important facts when choosing the place to live... No, but I´m very satisfied!

The internship is ok, I basicly didn´t have any expectations, I wanted to be prepared for evrything possible and I suppose the attitude is not bad at all, since now things can actually only turn out better than expected! The people are very nice (which is not typical for Berlin) and the doctors try to show me as much as they have time for, which isn´t much. I´m propably going to be assisting the operations for most of the time. And I doubt that I will be allowed to do stuff, f.ex. sew. But, still I´m going to see loads of things and the doctors explain a lot! And, the day for me ends between 2-4 pm and I have every week a day for studying, so I actually work just 4 days a week!!! This is something I soooo appreciate after Switzerland! My standard assignments are naturally the taking of blood samples, setting infusions and iv needles. This is stuff which nurses do in Scandinavia and Switzerland, it was about 3-4 years ago that I for the last time took blood samples or set iv needles , but I managed it well today! I suppose it´s like biking... you´ll never forget it.

Short update

2008-03-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

No Malaysia, I haven´t got, not even until today, the official offer letter. So I suppose it was more clever to cancel the flight. Crappy situation to arrive after x hours flight on the other side of the world and find out not to have an elective posting. It would have ment eight extra weeks of internships, no final exams in october but in april 2009... I´ll much rather wait for life after graduation and save my Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for later!

Nice!

2008-03-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I have finally recovered from the farewell party on tuesday, I will never drink alcohol again. I don´t know how it ended like this, the evening itself was very funny! Well, I did not manage to go to work on wednesday, but since it was my optional week at the rheumatology and my job was to listen and watch, I suppose it wasn´t that terrible.

So, now that I have recovered and emptied my room in Lucerne, I was able to plan some more and was at first thinking of going to Geneve, but the weather forecast was bad and instead I drove to Nice! After last weekends driving in Italy I said, I would never ever want to drive in Italy again. But the way to Nice went trough Northern Italy. Well, I (or rather the car) survived again without any damages. The route was beautiful!!! Hills, the ocean and these coulourful small villages, and palms! Palm trees are mediators of holiday feeling! I had a short break at one of these cute villages, "Celle Liguri", sun and 20°c! I arrived after ca. 530km in Nice, had to loo for the hostel for ages, as almost always, why can´t they put big signs outside the hostels?

Now I´m sitting exhausted on the hostel bed and going to propably fall asleep in a few minutes...

Changes all over again

2008-03-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

I´ve been wanting to go to Malaysia for an elective, for eight weeks after easter holidays. Well, this came all on short notice, a friend of mine was in KL in the autumn and was kind of exited about it (not just about travelling, also the elective was great). So what happens, Maija wants to go too. I have been applying for KL since jan-feb, at first it seemed very impossible and I so to say already gave up. I organised everything with Berlin during the last weeks, got my flat two days ago and what happens, "pa dam" yesterday morning I had a message in my mailbox: "We have approved your application". Who would say no?!? I´m just waiting for the final blessing of my home uni in Berlin. I've already booked the flights, for easter sunday... it would be awesome!!! Although, I was already really looking forward to goin to Berlin again. But still, Malaysia would sooo rock!!!

Fondue chinoise

2008-03-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

Mmmm... I don't like cheese fondue, but this was delicious! It was ski day of the clinic last wednesday, skiing wasn't that spectacular, besides my awesome crash in the fresh powder snow, when I was supposed to show my colleagues, how well the fins control every kind of winter sports...

In the evening we had this great dinner at a steamship at Lake Lucerne. To the fondue we had chicken, pork, beef, different vegetables and sauces, rice, fries... And ice cream with chocolate sauce as dessert! Of course a nice wine to the meal, too! And for this nice evening is to thank the department of internal medicine in Lucern!!!

No mega party this time, I suppose I wasn't the only one, who was totally tired after a day outside in the fresh air... Syndrome of oxygen intoxication.

Change of plans

2008-03-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to stay for the whole summer in Switzerland. At first the idea was to go to Malaysia on short notice, but this plan doesn't seem to come true. Well, the eight last weeks of the third block are reserved for Finland, in Tammisaari. There I'm starting to work 19th may. But what about the eight weeks before that and after easter?

I tried to get something on short notice in Switzerland, but I changed my mind, again. I haven't heard too much good things about gynecology in Switzerland, we students aren't allowed to do that much and therefore I don't want to take care of the crap stuff and stay until evening hours at the hospital (for the minimal money the interns get here, ok, it's definetly better than nothing, but still... 450e monthly for 50-60hours per week...). So, plan c... is Berlin! Ok, I'm not going to get a penny for the work there and I propably have to take f.ex. blood samples. So what, I'm also all over again a student, who doesn't have any responsibilities and is allowed to go home as soon as my work is done! I might even have some study days during the weeks, so I actually might get to some reading too...

And during the hours I'm going to be so pissed of by the german medicine I can dream about Tammisaari, the indenpendent working with loads of responsibilities and the luxurious (!!!) salary compared to any countries south of Northern Europe!

Bad news

2008-02-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

This day was a regular day until lunch. Some interns told me that I was needed at the
surgical ER. A finnish patient was in the ”schock” room and I was needed for translation. Only a few minutes later the telephone of my resident was ringing, someone form the ER was looking for me. A young man had had an accident during skiing in Engelberg and they didn´t have any information about him, only a cell, in finnish. The patient was already in the operation and I had to call the parents to inform them about the accident and injuries. This wasn´t nice. It was very difficult on the phone and the mother was of course totally schocked. I was supposed to tell her that his son had a severe accident but HE IS STABILE. Imagine the situation and try to guess if my ”your son is under stabile conditions, is now beeing operatde and will afterwards be moved to the ICU (intensive care unit)” was calming the mother at all. No, it wasn´t.

Grey´s anatomy

2008-02-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

Talking about Dr. House, I also have to mention the rival. Carneval time was amazing! During the period I found out some things about some colleagues. Well, I missed the last part of the carneval fever because of the night shifts at the ER. I was kind of isolated from the rest of the interns, went for the free week to Helsinki and now, I´m back. Oh boy, I also missed two more parties during the time in Finland. No relationships in hospital Lucerne? Yeah right!

1. I already knew, that a girl intern had been dating a senior doctor and during my time away they had been on several dates.. The girl is now away, don´t know anything about their future, yet...
2. Another girl intern had an one night stand with a resident. Well, this didn´t work out that well at all, for the girl.
3. This happened at a party last saturday. A former german girl intern was at the party too, so a friend of mine had asked casually about what was going on in her life now a days besides that she was studying for the final exam in Germany. The girl answered: ” I´m the girl friend of Mr. X!”, who happens to be the guy from story two and had only a week earlier had the thing with the other intern...

Some of you my friends have asked me, if the everyday life in the ”real” hospitals is like in ER or Grey´s Anatomy. Are you now satisfied?!? ;-)

Dr. House

2008-02-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's true. It has come that far, last night we had only two patients (which is like nothing for two docs and an intern). So we watched Dr. House. Wicked. Doctors on a REAL ER watch the SURREAL ACTIVITY on dvd. Well, tonight we've actually had something to do, but now (3 am) I'm finished with my three patients and might start watching Dr. House.

We in fact have our own "Dr. House" in Lucerne. He is a senior, about 35years old and reminds us of a primal person. His appearance is always a bit sloppy. His talk sounds like swiss german in chech. Try to imagine. And he is definetly not a role model what comes to his social skills. Once he ran straight into a room to a maybe 40year old female patient and asked her, if she had been fucking lately ("Haben sie gefickt?")? I mean, it sounded very hilarious, when a colleague told the story, but imagine you being live in the situation? Very awkward.

Ski stand

2008-02-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

In the land of skiers and boarders there are even ski stands at the hospital (also in bars)... Or is it considered for umbrellas?!?

... and two more!

2008-02-06T16:06:00.001-08:00

More photos on Facebook!

Some carneval pics...

2008-02-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Night animals

2008-02-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

So, the night rotation has begun. It's 02.30 and I have to be here until 07. I'm bored right now, don't have anything to do. Waiting for some semi sick patients to come. Oh, and it still is carneval. The first underaged for this night has landed on the ER. He had fallen into the river, had lost the balance during peeing. Great, what a story to tell afterwards...!

Härzlech willkomme a de Lozärner Fasnacht!

2008-01-30T06:26:00.000-08:00

The carneval ("Fasnacht") begins tomorrow! We're planning to go to the market place to check out the "Urknall" at 5 am! I don't really know what the "Urknall" means or what to expect, but that is when the carneval period officially begins. I hope the action is worth it, since 5 am is really early... And everyone, naturally, has to work afterwards, I have to work the whole weekend at the ER. But until now it's been nice, interesting and not too hectic. I hope this carneval event is not like the finnish equals with massive alcoholism and in consequence of that, a crowded ER...

The absolute highlight of today were cinnamon rolls! A colleague had baked loads of them after an original scandinavian recipe, very delicious!!!

Well prepared for 14 days at the ER after a weekend with beer, sun, snow and fresh air

2008-01-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to go downtown just for a couple of beers on friday, it ended up after six or seven. It would not have been a problem, if we had not had planned to go skiing early on saturday. It was so hard to get out of the bed in the morning. The others went to Engelberg, I wanted to go to somewhere with more snow and decided to go to Laax. Originally I and another girl intern had planned to go for the whole weekend to Laax, she happens to now a guy, who runs a hostel in a small town near Laax. Unfortunately she got sick.

The plan worked out more than well, again perfect weather conditions and enough snow (not that much as two weeks earlier in Laax, loads of fresh powder and great free riding, but still so much more than f.ex. in Engelberg). And I did not even have to ride alone, I met a german doc at a ski lift we took up together! Imagine, she works in Ilanz near Laax, lives in the next village to Laax, Falera, has a ski lift right outside of her front door and payed as a local ONLY 260 Fr (150Eur) for a season ticket!!! Amazing! And she is starting to work in Lucerne in December... Unbeliavable how small the world is... And , she happens to know the former tenant of my first flat in Berlin (he also works in Switzerland). Naturally, I also ran accidently to the guys from the hostel..

On sunday I went to Hasliberg, it´s only 45 min away from Lucerne. I thought it would be a small skiing centre, but actually it was quite large. And very sunny! Not a bad destination at all... I really like boarding, but sometimes it´s just so troublesome with the gently sloping areas, bindings off and on. I´m really thinking about starting to ski too, furthermore it´s nicer to ride skis with other skiers and I still would definetly continue snowboarding with boarders. I´d like to try going on snow tours, that´s what many of the colleagues and locals do. They climb up a mountain with skis and then ride back in the untouched deep snow. And have the nature and silence all just for them. Sometimes I just can´t stand the crowded resorts and slopes, free riding in powder snow is just so amazing! Sounds like I might need some new challenges...

Dirty thursday

2008-01-25T04:46:00.000-08:00

The easiest week until now is almost over. Next monday I'm going to start a 14 day rotation at the ER, first seven days, then seven nights. Lucky as I am, the carneval (the biggest happening of central Switzerland) is during my ER placement. Oh boy, it might get tough. I hope I'll be able to see at least something of the carneval action, since I have never experienced it before!

We had an after christmas dinner of the department of internal medicine on wednesday. First the dinner at a typical swiss "Gasthaus", food wasn't anything special, but wine was excellent. Which was the reason I had to drink so much... The evening was great, there were many of us interns, residents and of course some of the seniors and the chiefs! It was loads of fun, the "adults" went home after the dinner, we "kids" (= interns and residents, two younger seniors) continued to Bar 58, which already was closing that time, which means, it might have been sometime after midnight. We went further to Roadhouse, a bar and club at the central railway station. Long evening and night, loads of wine, guess what that stands for. But (!), I did not steal any shoes or brake my cell phone nor camera...

Thursday at work was not good. First of all I overslept two hours and missed the morning meeting. Well, that wasn't that dramatic. The day just felt sooo long after only a few hours of sleep... But I think wednesday was worth the misery yesterday !

Mount Rigi

2008-01-22T02:48:00.000-08:00

Isch guet gsi

2008-01-22T02:17:00.000-08:00

Last week was hard, it was my last week in the department of general internal medicine. I´m glad to be in a new section, I got along very well with my resident and the other staff, but still, it´s nice to be out. This week I´m going to spend at a department with patients coming only to specific operations(f.ex. coronary angiography, chemotherapy). Tempo is a bit quicker, but it´s also much more distinct than the department before. The atmosphere is nice, I have again a great resident, and not surprisingly, again a german guy! The other female interns are quite jealous because I get all the cool guys as my supervising doctors...

The weekend was filled with sun, snow and good company! We have quite a good gang of interns, went out together on friday, checked out first a for us new club ”Adagio” and ended very soon at the place we went the friday before (”Black sheep”). Saturday and sunday skiing and boarding together in Engelberg. That actually is not one of my favorites at all, but since most of the interns have season cards for Engelberg, I rather joined them this time than went somewhere else alone (I also had a season card of a girl who was on call, so it was economic for me too). On sunday I tried skiing for the first time in maybe ten years, it went well and was very good, but still... Snowboarding is better! Next weekend propably to Laax!

After all... I Might be living in a fairy tale...

2008-01-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

This week was quite chilly at work, got out earlier every evening. And since everyone has gotten use to their job and long days, people aren´t that tired anymore in the evenings. No more just living for the weekends, there actually is some social life during week nights too! On monday we went to the movies, saw a german movie which was very very funny, but totally meaningless! On tuesday we went to have few beers, it was again great and the local beer "Eichhof" is good too, which is naturally very important...

Well, then on wednesday I had to stay at home and sleep, since I had been out two nights in a row until midnight... Hehe.

On thursday I got out really early because I have to go to work on saturday, but just for a few hours. I was lucky, then weather was beautiful today, warm and sunny! I finally got to take some photos of Lucerne, did a long walk and sat on a park bench just enjoying the sun and the views. Lucerne really is one of the most beautiful places I have been to! I can not imagine many more overwhelming views than mountains at a lake at sunny clear weather! (Unluckily I was not able to upload the awesome pics...)

Missing the mountains after two days of Berlin

2008-01-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

... but I still enjoyed Berlin a lot! It was great to see some uni and other mates again! And to get out of the regular everyday surroundings for a few hours was really refreshing. The weather was terrible, even worse than "winter" here, it was so cold. And unbelievably slippery, like ice skating!

At the birthday party on saturday people were smoking on the balcony and a guy went by with his girlfirend and dog. This guy slipped properly directly under the balcony and the balcony people started to laugh at him, properly. He got really mad and aggressive (typical east german/ berliner male behaviour...) and threatened our people with all kinds of stuff, f. ex. was he planning to call some of his friends over to start a fight... Oh man, what a guy, his girlfriend was so embarrassed...

Sunday was very relaxing. I had a delicious vietnamese lunch with a good friend and afterwards I was "forced" to eat a huge piece of raspberry cake! Very satisfying sunday program! I also had to buy some Fazer chocolate from the airport... Of course not for me, for my colleagues at work ;)

Berlin

2008-01-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

Heading to my former home town Berlin in a few hours! A good old friend of mine has birthday and I definetly didn't want to miss this party! It's really nice to get out of Lucerne for a few days and go enjoy the advantages of a big city. And I so want to go eat Sushi... Macht es guet!

Back at work

2008-01-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

New Year's break was nice, chilling around and sleeping a lot! Typical Lucerne weather is cloudy and foggy, sun has been shining maybe on five days during these four weeks. On saturday weather was as perfect as it can get here, sun was shining all day long and we had a clear blue sky! So it was a perfect day to go up to Rigi, one of the highest mountains in Lake Lucerne area. It was so beautiful, incredible views! And the sunset... Unbelievable!

The next day I went snowboarding in Andermatt, it was snowing almost the whole day, I had some difficulties getting up to the village with my winter tires (no spikes) since the serpentine roads were all covered with fresh snow. But I made it without any damages! Snowboarding was ok, partly sun was shining, on the other side the sight was terrible. And the same with the snow.

I spent the last day of last year by hanging around in the city and watching crazy locals jump from a bridge to the river, I don´t know why, New Year`s swim? It must have been cold. Since I don´t have a coffee machine at my place (and haven´t even bought instant coffee because during the weeks we always get some coffee after radiology meeting from the hospital cafeteria) I desperately had to go get some coffee, from where else than Starbucks!!! Can you imagine, a town with 50 000 inhabitants has to have a Starbucks? Apparently there are so many americans visiting Lucerne, that it has to have three of them...

In the evening I and six other interns cooked Raclette! We had tons of food and I suppose everyone ate far too much, but it just was so delicious! The cheese is so good here... And we had great wine too, my family's all left overs from christmas, I got f. Ex. six bottles of very good german wine. We watched fireworks from the 18th floor, A.K.A helicopter landing space on the top of the hospital! It was huge! Tens of smaller fireworks all around Lucerne!

Es guets nöis!

2007-12-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas was nice, chilling and eating :) We had a sort of finnish christmas dinner and listened to christmas songs via YouTube(and watched Kummeli). Two beautiful days of snowboarding in Mürren, a great area, good snow and famous for a James Bond film. It has a restaurant on the top of the resort with a slight view of Mt. Blanc! We had plenty of sun and a clear blue sky, but I still don`t think I saw the mountain...

Now I`m waiting for the new years break to beginn. I have, again, 5 days off, which is awesome! I think I`ll stay in Lucerne, go snowboarding of course and spend time with the other interns. We don`t have that many plans for monday yet except Raclette, that`s for sure! The cheese is so delicious down here...

Some pics

2007-12-26T01:15:00.001-08:00

Supposed to see Mount Blanc in the backround

Mürren, made world famous by a James Bond film...

Waiting for the holidays

2007-12-20T04:57:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow to go and then I don`t have to work for five days, luxurious! And the next two weeks are also short, have to work only thu& fri, nice?! Thank god christmas holidays and new year too are in the middle of the week this year...

My mom, bro, godmom and two family friends (neighbours) are coming over to Luzern for christmas on saturday. Planning to do some sightseeing with them and definetly go snowboarding as much as possible! Cool to have my brother coming over too, so I have company when going boarding. We might go to Zurich some day too, I think it`s a place worth seeing! But this area has many sights too and a beautiful nature! A good friend of mine happens to be in the hoods with her family during christmas and we alltogether are going to meet on 26th in Lucerne.

But well, new year, I don`t have a clue what to do then. Some of the interns will be here, but most of them are going home over the holidays. I`d really like to go travelling around, since we again have 5 days off. But we`ll see, what`s going to happen, please keep me informed if you guys have some great ideas!!!

Lucerne doesn`t have a Weihnachtsmarkt anymore, they closed last weekend, so the idea of going there with colleagues before holidays failed. Luckily Lucerne does have plenty of bars, so we had a quite nice evening at a local place yesterday!

(I don`t have almost anything to do at work today, weird, it`s only 2.30 pm and I`m ready to go home, still 4 hours to go...)

The view from my room!!!

2007-12-18T00:22:00.001-08:00

The season has begun!

2007-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Working on saturday morning was quite ok. I just had to go to say hello to the patients and check the papers with the nurses and then report all problems to the doctors on call. I got out around 11.30, I didn´t have any plans for the day yet and I desperately wanted to get out, so I went snowboarding in Engelberg! The season has begun! Snowboarding was great, good snow, not too may people and the best, the sun was shining! In the valley and Lucerne the weather was boring, again. Engelberg is only 30km from Lucerne, it´s great to have a car, right?

In the evening we went downtown with some colleagues, but drank just a cider. It was nice though and actually, Switzerland is not much more expensive than f. Ex Finland, a pint of cider was 9,50CHF which is about 6e, so that´s what a Strongbow costs in Helsinki too, right?

Zürich

2007-12-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

Since I had to work on saturday, I had thursday afternoon OFF! Zurich is not far from Lucerne, only 60km, so I decided to drive there, instead of sitting just at home and wondering what to do with all the free time. Zurich is beatiful, it situated at a lake, with a mountain view in the backround! This is the great thing about Switzerland! Besides these facts Zurich has a great shopping street and many small alleys, cute cafes and restaurants. It wouldn´t be terrible to have a house hillside with a view to the Zürisee and the mountains in the backround. And the city is so centrally in Europe, many cool places can be reached by car in just few hours! Allthough, working must be even harder there than in Lucerne...

A regular day has three highlights

2007-12-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

1. Coffee after the morning x-ray meeting
2. Lunch
3. The moment when I get out of the hospital, in the evening

Gettin' better, slowly...

2007-12-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

You know what guys? I´m starting to like Switzerland! The weekend was great, finally the sun was shining and the weather was bright! I and three other girls went downtown on sat, Lucerne really is cosy and beautiful, it was the first time I saw the city during daytime! We had good Glühwein at Weihnachtsmarkt, walked hours around the city. It´s not huge, but there are many cute small alleys. And the lake with the mountains in the backround, I suppose I shouldn´t be complaining!

Well, working is hard. But isn´t it scary how fast a human being is able to adjust to a new working environment? In the beginnning of the week I already wanted to quit and leave this place ASAP, but now I´m almost totally used to having no life anymore during the weeks. And what is even more worrying, I´m fine with that.

On sunday we had planned to go hiking, but since it rained, we decided to drive to the capital, Bern. This was definetly a great idea, Bern is also, very beautiful! It´s really old, a medieval city. We had an audio guide (Ipod!) for about 4 hours, it was great, we propably saw the whole old city! And the grande finale was what else than Glühwein at the local christmas market, also Raclette bread! Nice! After a totally satisfying weekend I´m prepared to have no life for the next five days and almost ready to go to work tomorrow.

Some swiss medicine

2007-12-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

To my finnish colleagues : all the new inpatients have to be examined completely, no matter what the symptoms are, EVERYTHING must be examined: skin, nails, mouth, eyes, heart, lungs, abdomen, thyreoid, lymhp nodes, arteries, neurology and of course, rectal status! Like a patient coming to a coronary angiography, I had not examined his arse, so I had to do it extra afterwards! And the highlight, I today had a patient with lumbago (discus prolaps susp) coming to internal medicine!!! Since when is that not a surgical problem... It seems that all kinds of patients are advised to internal medicine for examinations for further investigations and then we have to solve all their problems. This is so not my speciality... I want to be the surgeant who only has to cut people and someone else organizes the tiny rest of the process.

The germans

2007-12-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

And not to forget, the many germans. It seemes like most of the doctors are german, where are all the swiss people? Somehow all the german interns found (and wanted to) each other immediately on the first day. And when I asked a german guy about the nearest grocery store, he answered:” There´s an Aldi in Küssnacht am Rigi.” To you no germans, Aldi is like Lidl, even cheaper and worse, but you know the germans, stingy as... A so typical german answer to my question! The good thing about the germanisation of almost the whole universe is, that I do totally understand the language and what people are gossiping about!

Word of the day: Chaos

2007-12-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

Day 3: Chaos continued, frustration grew, allthough I already was getting used to having no life anymore, living at the hospital instead of at home (my new home was still as chaotic as the day I moved in). No parking license, car somewhere, hopefully no false parking fees, yet. Haven´t had a chance to go to the police and registration office yet, great, when? Am supposed to take care of the department all by myself tomorrow afternoon.. Yes, I have done it many times in Finland, but here, I feel like I´ve never even heard about medicine. Everything is so different.

Oh boy, when am I supposed to be able to enjoy to live in the beautiful Lucerne and Switzerland?

Living in a fairy tale.... not

2007-12-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

The first day at work was an orientation day, very succesfull! I got to know some of my new colleagues, nice! I had some introduction at the department. I felt quite frustrated, because I could not help my resident doctor, but at the same time I enjoyed the easy beginning. A new resident had also his first day, my team mate so to say, a cool guy! Got home totally tired and headached, went straight to bed.

The ”older” resident was supposed to help out the new guy at the beginning, but she was sick on te second day. Not good, at all, since we both were new and did not have a clue! And above all, the chief was coming over to see the patients this day! Our senior doctor already was totally stressed out, the chief is tense. Well, luckily the chief was prepared to meet unprepared younger colleagues and everything went fine.

I also started to realise, how different the system is in Switzerland compared to Finland. Not delighting at all. The good difference to Germany is, that I don´t have to take blood samples or set infusions. But the system in Switzerland doesn´t seem to differ that much, since the doctors have to sort the papers and carry urgent blood samples to the lab themselves. Aren´t there any secretaries? The way of working is very uneffective. Furthermore old fashioned not to forget the hierarchy. Every morning there is a radiology meeting about the photos taken the day before and the inters have to introduce the patients in front of maybe 40 specialist doctors! Guess how quickly my heart is beating in situations like this?!? I miss Lohja hospital sooo much!!!

One thing I forgot about Africa

2007-12-06T22:42:00.001-08:00

Funny language or funny way to pronounce english. Moffat our safari driver said : ”Laino!” Everyone looked eagerly after a lion lying on the grass. Somehow no one found a lion and after a while came out, that we were supposed to observe the Rrrrrhinos. And the many other misunderstandings : ” See the Clocodile in the livel, neal the glas and the tlee? Butches and bats meaning bushes and birds.” I was nicknamed as the plofessional photoglaphel. And my brother was the ”Young man”,who often was asked,: ” Do you smell the food? Are u sleeping? ”

Trip to suisse (wed 28.11.- sun 2.12.)

2007-12-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

Might sound terrible, but actually it was just fine! A long journey naturally, by car, in the rain and dark, but it wasn´t that bad! On wed I took the ferry from Turku to Stockholm, drove on thu through Sweden (550km) and Denmark (200km) to Lübeck to visit friend! We had a nice Glühwein at a finnish stand at the Weihnachtsmarkt, then ate an awesome sushi dinner. I had been dreaming of sushi since Amsterdam airport on the way back from Africa...

On fri we drove to Berlin also called Big B, to hang out in my old hometown, it was nice to visit the place, but I was also glad to be able to continue the journey. I bought Onitsuka Tiger shoes, those are the most comfortable sneakers I´ve ever had!!! And we had a delicious lunch at Mr. Vongs´! After about four hours of driving we reached Marburg an der Lahn (by Frankfurt).

The weekend was cool, a cute city, great company, loads of food and booze, and the most, for free! Thanks to the sponsors of finnish med students in Germany ;) On sun I had the last part to drive, I took another friend with me to Freiburg (what a cute german city, again!). We had a good Döner (kebab), thank god, since I had been dreaming of a Döner since sat night... Surprise! After a few hours drive I already had found my way to the beautiful Lucerne!

Bye Africa, hello Switzerland!

2007-11-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

From Zanzibar back to Nairobi, we spent the last day at Karen Blixens museum and at a jewellery factory in Nairobi. Back "home" around midnight( 24.11.), a short visit to a birthday party and to bed :)

The next challenge is called Switzerland! This journey beginns tomorrow, until then ahead just packing and moving my stuff to my moms place. And a little going away (again) dinner tonight with my girls :) Tomorrow I´ll take the evening ferry from Turku to Stockholm. The next day I´ll drive through Sweden, ferry to Denmark and futher to Germany, around evening I´ll hopefully reach Lübeck, where I´ll stay the night at a friends place. On friday then to Berlin and from there in the afternoon for the weekend to Marburg/ near Frankfurt am Main. The association of finnish med students in Germany is gathering in Marburg this weekend, great to see these friends again, also partying ahead! On sunday, the last part of the road trip to Lucerne! To work on monday, 7.45- 18.30, aaargh.. Quite a difference to Lohja hospital and even less paid! But, I hope the alps and nice locals compensate the shock ;)

Hakuna matata on Zanzibar!

2007-11-27T05:04:00.001-08:00

A paradise, at least what comes to the beach resort we stayed at on the east coast :) Otherwise the island was quite dirty, it seemed to be more corrupted than Kenya and the people were much more pushing. But well, it did not bother! The stay in Zanzibar was really relaxing, the sun was shining all the time, the water was warm! I went diving five times, first a short refreshment, which really was necessary! Diving was perfect, clear sight, many colourful fishes, turtles, beautiful coral reefs! We went down to 18-20 m, there were few more experienced divers in the group, they went down to 30 m, but for me it was definetly exiting enough in 18 m! I lost my snorkel on the last trip, I didn´t know it belonged to one of the instructors, awkward.. Besides the snorkel I also lost a reef shoe, just one... But still, can´t wait to go diving again ;) Year off after uni wouldn´t sound bad.. ;) Food at the resort was great, african+ indian style+ fish( barracuda, red snapper, calamari), also bbq one evening! Always plenty of food, every time I ate far too much and regretted ;)

Dolphin tour was also great, we saw plenty of dolphins and swimmed with them, I almost touched one :) We spent the last day in the capital of Zanzibar (the island belongs to Tanzania), in Stone town on the west coast. Again the hotel was luxurious, I could have stayed much longer.. Africans really are soccer fans, actual results were written on a board in the street, in the middle of the town, the day after: Portugal- Finland 0-0. The food was great, again, we ate at a local fish restaurant: lobster, prawns, calamari... Delicious!

... continues

2007-11-27T04:25:00.001-08:00

Day 3: Safari in Nakuru, the highlight of this trip were propably three leopards, mom and two kids. Besides these many more of the animals already seen the day before, also monkey babies, learning to climb, funny, they weren´t that balanced yet ;) Posing with hundreds of flamingos, being surrounded by many buffalos... Nice!

Day 4-5: To Masai Mara National Park, again a drive of at least 6 h on bumpy roads, but somehow at least I got used to the roads and felt almost comfortable, weird if it was smooth.. Our lodge was situated in the middle of the park and the animals, no fences! This time the backyard was manned by vervet monkeys, in the evening also by zeebras and impala gazelles, in the night even an elephant had been seen! Again, incredible safaris, the definite highlight were lion babies, they were so cute :) We also saw cheetahs and many elephants more, with various aged babies!

Day 6: To Lake Naivasha, boat ride, many of my favorites, hippos :) No crocos in this lake, quite a birdlife! End of the unforgettable safari, to Zanzibar :)!!!

Jambo!

2007-11-27T02:50:00.000-08:00

Back from Africa, it was awesome! The people were very friendly and happy and we saw loads of animals on the safari :) But, from the beginning...

The journey didn´t start too well. Our flight from Helsinki to Amsterdam had 1 hour delay and at that point it seemed impossible to be able to get the next connection from Amsterdam to Nairobi, since we had 20 min time to run from a gate to another and Schipol airport is huge! Well, luckily everything turned out well, we weren´t the only ones late and after an exhausting marathon from gate C12 to F7 there were still 50 other passangers missing.. But it was crazy, the moment the plane arrived at the gate in Amsterdam, everyone stood up immediately to get their stuff form the lockers and started hurrying out of the plane. Never seen such a mess ;) The flight with Kenya airways to Nairobi was very good, great service and food(!), arrived in Nairobi 7 am.

Our safari driver Moffat was already waiting for us at the airport, the safari begun! Incredible views, Nairobi is situated on the top of a rift valley and the way to Lake Baringo went on the edge of this valley. The roads were sometimes quite good (sponsored by EU), but mostly not, so the 200km journey took 6h... After a late lunch we got in to the van again and headed to Lake Bogoria, to see some animals and geysirs. Luckily this trip wasn´t that long, since everyone was very tired after a day of travelling.

Excitement of the evening were hippos, they were having supper at our backyard, right outside of the lodges. This hotel was directly at Lake Baringo, so next morning propably these same Hippos were swimming in the lake and observing us at breakfast.

Day 2: Boat ride at Baringo, many hippos and two crocodiles, many birds, to mention a fish eagle catching a fish.
After the boat ride the trip continued towards Lake Nakuru. Afternoon safari ride, as a starter, right outside to hotel gate, two lions :) Further: zeebras, giraffes, rhinos, flamingos, buffalos, monkeys, a leopard taking a nap, gazelles, antilopes...

Heading to Africa :)

2007-11-10T01:06:00.000-08:00

So, had my last day at work at Lohja. Sad but true :( Thanks to everyone, I had a great time, hope you enjoyed the cooperation too! I´d like to get back ASAP, but sadly they do not need a summer dr next year in the anesthesiology/ ER, so my comeback will not happen next summer, yet.. Please, keep me informed about all the huge parties coming ;D

Now I have a few hours left and then I and 6 other people are heading to Nairobi via Amsterdam, tonight, yes! Awesome, especially since the weather in Finland has gotten really ugly and dark... Blaah. The best time to get out of here ;) Two weeks holiday ahead, first a week of safari and afterwards another on Zanzibar. A colleague of mine just spent two weeks in Tanzania/ Serengeti and then snorkled the other week on Zanzibar between some dolphins, unbelievable! I hope I´ll catch some animal friends too..

On the road, again...

2007-11-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hello mates!

Since it´s time to leave soon again, I thought about starting to write a blog too, to keep you guys updated! This next mission called Switzerland is beginning on november 28th. Still there´s much to come before that.. One week left to work in Finland, at Lohja hospital (which has been a great and funny place!). After that I´m heading with my family and some friends to Africa for two weeks!!! After a weeks safari in Masai Mara national park we´re flying to Zanzibar for another week. Quite exiting, I´m supposed to go scuba diving too for the first time, haven´t had a possibility yet, although the course in Umeå is already 2years behind...