DAY 1
The day began with me foolishly trying to do my hair and look presentable. By the time my 20 minute bike ride was over, my hair had flipped out and I was sweating profusely. Needless to say, my plan to seduce unwary Australian male medical students was already off to a bad start. The final nail in the coffin, however, was the simple fact that I don’t work with any Australian medical students! Wtf mate?! That was one of the main draws – easy prey to fall victim to my charming American accent and sultry looks! Alas it is not to be, my friends.
Instead I met a bunch of German students (two guys, four girls) who were all very friendly. We exchanged phone numbers so that if any of us are doing anything, we can call each other. They are not working with me, however, so I’m praying that they remember to contact me… I may have to be proactive and call them.
As for the actual Dermatology service, I work with a registrar (which is apparently the Australian name for a resident who is working in their specialty) who is Lebanese and a resident (I guess what they call doctors who haven’t specialized – guess it lasts 2 years?) who is Chinese. Both speak with Australian accents and I’m pretty sure the Lebanese guy is actually from Australia. Not sure about the resident, though. I’m going to have to ask more about the training stuff tomorrow. There are also apparently two female medical students working there (a Canadian and an American) but I only met the American. I’m sad to report that they both leave at the end of this week and that means I will be the ONLY medical student on the service! My plan to make easy friends is getting foiled before I even get started!
The hours aren’t too bad… I work clinic only, and that is Monday and Friday afternoons and full days on Thursdays and Tuesdays (9:30am – 5pm). I get Wednesdays off. I also am basically a shadow of the registrar and don’t actually see patients on my own.
A few major differences I’ve already seen comparing American v Australian:
- They don’t wear white coats here (I guess they are considered unsanitary because doctors don’t wash them enough). This means it is difficult to tell the status of everyone (maybe not a bad thing)
- The Aussies seem to depend a lot more their GPs (general practitioner – or your family doctor) than they do in the States. Also they are not allowed to directly refer themselves to a specialist, their GP does that
- Z’s apparently don’t exist (e.g. organisation)
- Australians seem to love this stuff called Weet-Bix. I got fooled by the title “biscuit” and thought it would be delicious and sweet. It’s not. Basically it’s a bar of wheat stuff that you break up and eat as cereal. I’m not sure what the appeal is but I bought some anyway.
- Tea >> Coffee. In the break room there is a ton of tea you can make but no coffee. That’s cool because I like tea.
- They don't have paper towels in the bathrooms. Instead there is this endless roll of cloth that you pull down when you need a dry spot. It's a little weird but I guess more sanitary. I'll try to take a picture of it tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about.
- They have American TV shows here like House and Dexter.
- They really do say "no worries" a lot here
- I paid $3.50 for a coke. :(
The other funny thing is the conversation I have with Australians about where I’m from. It usually goes like this:
Aussie: “Where are you from?”
Me: “America.”
Aussie: “Where in America?”
Me: “Florida.”
Aussie: “Where in Florida?”
Me: contemplating how to answer this because I’m damn sure they don’t know where Pensacola is “Uhh…do you know where Tallahassee is?”
Aussie: “… No.”
Me: “Orlando?”
Aussie: “Yeah!”
Me: “I’m like 6 hours away from there.”
I’m not really sure why they want to get into the nitty gritty of where I’m from exactly, since I’m pretty sure that they don’t know where that is and probably only have a vague idea of what Florida even looks like (at least, the blank expressions on their face when I say, “Panhandle” suggest that). Still I suppose it’s nice that they try.
When I was biking home, I got lost and started to freak out that I would never find where I was supposed to go. Luckily I made it home alive, or I guess you wouldn’t be reading this right now. /Cool story bro.
Useful links:
Weet-Bix in all its glory: http://www.weetbix.com.au/
3 comments:
Kelli, Kelli, Kelli.
If you are talking about the roll of cloth you dry your hands on in the bathroom, they have them here, but most places quit using them because they were considered less sanitary than paper towels. The commercial is very cute - too bad I don't know who either one of those guys is!!
That sucks about biking to work everyday lol. When you gonna hit up the beach or drink your first aussie beer?
Lol! I can totally relate to most of those differences! ESP the trying to explain where Pensacola is part :p
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