[BOGOTA]

I'm in Bogota! After spending most of my 3rd year of medical school setting up this international rotation in Peds EM in Bogota, Colombia, I'm finally here! I don't even want to count how many awkward conversations I had with the department of education of the hospital where I'm rotating (Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota). Trying to ask them if they would take me as a student, explaining exactly the documents I needed, translating said documents to english and vice versa, and apologizing for the infinite number of requirements from my university was extremely frustrating. Also, it's somewhat annoying when your own university doesn't even believe you'll ever be able to set something up in such a "dangerous" place. Nevertheless, I'M HERE! My rotation starts tomorrow, yikes! I've been in Bogota for just a day now and I'm getting more and more excited to start. I have some hesitations that make me nervous, mainly because of my spanish. I do speak fluent spanish, but my medical spanish isn't perfect. Living in AZ i've had so much practice and I've come a long way, but for me, it's still not good enough. I know (i hope) everyone will be very helpful no matter what, but i can't help but be a little nervous!

A couple people have asked me why I decided to come to Colombia, a place I've already visited several times in my life. Why not try for India or Africa (which I WILL do in my life guaranteed) or just someplace new????? The truth is that yes, I've visited Colombia before, but this is different than just visiting. It has always been a dream of mine to do medicine in different countries and really immerse myself in the country/culture. I chose Colombia because it seemed like the most natural place to start. Although I've been here several times, I have to say that I still feel like a stranger here. There are so many subtle cultural differences that, when put together, really make it a different world. I love that. I've always said that you never really know people until you've seen them when they're sick. Granted, I'm doing peds EM, but working here for a month in a hospital is going to give me a completely different experience that I've ever had here, I know that for a fact. The intention is not to go see the "pretty" things (although I can't skip some tourist things), but I just want feel the culture from a different perspective. I also want to see how medicine is practiced in general here. Based on the cultural differences alone, it should be interesting to see the differences in the ER alone.

I went to visit the hospital today just to look around and I loved it. I'll post pictures once I get more comfortable and know when and where it's ok to use my big camera like a tourist. It's in a cool, very business oriented part of the city. I have to take a taxi to and from everyday. It's cheaper since it's not far and just easier than taking a bus or walking.

I'm still not entirely sure what to expect or how tomorrow will go. My main goals for the first day are to just make a good first impression and not look like a total idiot. I'll let you know how it goes! :)