moving hogs

One of the things I have learned, or rather observed while in London is that Londoners are similar to herds of cattle or hogs, especially in the tube stations.

First there are shoot type gates are what you must enter through to get on to the tube also. So huge crowds of people must file down into sometimes only 3 open gates, sort of like in our finisher building when we are trying to get all of them out of the pen through one tiny gate sometimes into small hallways, like the ally way.

While some of the tube stations are larger and there is room for the big crowds, others are defiantly not. One prime example of this is the station at Goodge Street, which is where we get off for our classes. It could be because of the time we go but it is very crowded. When the tube stops everyone must go towards 4 lifts (elevators, these must be used because other wise it’s like 132 stairs, which are not fun to do, we tried it our first day not knowing).

It is seriously like a herd of livestock going towards shoots to be sorted. When we pick the lift we want to take we are then told to move all the way to the front and squeeze together so as many people as possible can fit. Just like trying to get that one last sow on the hog cart. You know there’s enough room if you can just get them all to squeeze together a little bit more. So we are now all facing the same direction and can’t move. The lift takes us up and we exit in a less than orderly fashion through more shoot type gates.

It is also like a hog cart on the actual train during rush hour. The doors open and some people get off as others try to get on, sometimes at the same time even though you are supposed to let those coming off go first. We have this happen all the time when moving hogs, that one just has to get off and won’t stay on while another one is getting on and they end up getting stuck in door or the door being closed on them. (The getting stuck part doesn’t really happen on the tubes; although I am terrified of getting stuck…they don’t close all the way though if something is in the way.)

So when we are finally on the tube we are told to move towards the centre using all available space. Squeezing together so as many people as possible can fit (see above for the hog reference :) ). You are crammed in this little carriage with people you don’t know the slightest thing about. It’s a fun time. I also some times get squished near the door and have to lean because not all of the trains are accommodating to six foot people near the edges. (I don’t know what similarities that has with livestock but it’s still a good point I think. Haha.)

So that is briefly why Londoners are like livestock. There are other reasons why I think Londoners are like livestock and I’m sure I’ll remember some later and probably give you another run down of it sometime.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought today was going to be a day that would make me miss Randy even more than normal being in one of the most beautiful cities on Valentine's day but it really just seemed like another day. One of my friend's roommates came from Wales for the weekend, and 3 of our other normal friends were out of town. So our "family", as we like to call it, was noticeably smaller. Amy, Val, her roommate, and I decided we wanted to try to go to a show tonight but it being Valentine's day and all most of the shows were full and the ones that we could have gotten tickets too we didn't know what they were. So we decided to go to a movie instead. We picked "He's just not that into you". We thought it would be fitting. It was a really good movie. but anyways.

This week was good. Classes went well on Monday. A bunch were late to class because our closest tube station was shut down for a few minutes because someone "falling" before a train. We left after this group though and were able to make it to class with out problems. I guess sometimes it's okay to be late!

Monday night we also went to a play for theatre class. The Pitman Painters, was about coal miners who started taking an art class and were really good at painting. I really like this play. I thought it was one of the better ones we have seen so far.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was back at West Middlesex hospital for my internship. I was in the Ear, Nose and Throat clinic in the afternoon on tuesday. and while this was very interesting I don't think I want to specialize in this area. I don't think I could look at the same things all day everyday even if you never see 2 of the same cases. I did learn very interesting things though and if you want to know more you can ask.

On Wednesday I went to a Breaking Bad News session for Med students and Nurses. This was presented very well and I think I got some tips I may be able to use in the future. After that I got to see thier skills lab. Becuase West Mid is a teaching hospital they train Med students who are in there 3rd year. (they have a different way of doing medschool). I think I probably looked like a kid in a candy store! I was soo amazed by everything even though I'm sure med schools have all of this same stuff I just have never seen it up close. Models for litterally everything, all of them can be changed to act like certain things. It was soo cool. but the best part was that I got to take blood! On the plastic practice arms but still! I was so excited you have no idea! It was surprisingly easy to do so but I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy on a real person. But I'm up for trying on you when I get back! :)

I also got to see iStan or Austin. This is there practice patient. iStan is a robot who can be programed to have virtually any disease or condition or diagnosis so that Med patients can practice on him. They can run tests and aminister drugs and iStan will react accordingly. He blinks and sweats and bleeds and urinates. He was so cool and not even that many employees get to see him because they just got him a little while ago and are still figureing him out! I'm sure I looked rediculous because I was grinning ear to ear because it was soo cool!

That night we went to a comedy club. I don't remember her name but she was on Last Comic Standing one time. She was pretty funny but we didn't get all of the jokes because we didn't know certain people or other London things. It was still fun though.

Well this is getting long again. and I'm pretty sure Thursday and Friday weren't exciting enough to bore you any longer and it is getting late. So i should call it a night anyway!
Hope the snow is treating you all well! :) I believe it is supposed to get into the 50's here later this week. (touch wood) [that's their way of saying Knock on wood].
Alright well goodnight/day/afternoon! I hope you all are doing well. Miss you all!

Two places at once

Friday the 6th we took a boat trip to Greenwich, which is still a part of London but more of a small village community. It was nice to get out of downtown London again. From the boat we were able to see a lot of London. It was cold and rainy so we mostly stayed inside the boat but we still went on top of the boat for some pictures.
When we first got there we all went to where the Prime Meridian is, on top of a huge hill. There were really lovely views of the city even though it was a typical foggy day. We were able to stand on both hemispheres while there and see where actual time is set. There was a museum of a bunch of different things to to with time and the history of clocks as well.

After lunch at a little mexican place we went to the National Maritime Muesum. Mostly because we were freezing and it would be warmer there and because Randy wanted me to. There were a lot of boats in it. haha. We just walked around the bottom level, we weren't all that excited about the boats! We also went to the Queen's house which is right next door. We all had pretty high expectations for it but it turned out to be a bunch of really big paintings. We did get followed around though. They have a spiral stair case there called the Tulip staircase. There's a picture of it in my albums, even though we weren't supposed to take pictures!

It was a fun day but I think we would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so cold and rainy. This week is going well. I will update about it later! :)
have a jolly good day!

Monday 2/2 thru Thrusday 5/2

Well as most of you know already last week started off with a familiar sight for those of us from Iowa. Snow covered streets and sidewalks. London, however, is not very familiar with this sight at all. In fact this was the most snow they have had in about 18 years. All the Londoners were fascinated with it and excited about it, while most of us thought that we would have been able to escape the snow. We only became excited about it when we found out that our classes for the morning were canceled. Due to the snow most of the tube system, the busses and taxi's were shut down. They have pretty much no snow removal services so all of the sidewalks and streets were covered in snow which then turned to ice. It all was gone later on in the week though so that was nice that it doesn't stick around as long as it does in Iowa!

We were able to make it to the Play that night, Duet for One. It was very very different from the musical we saw the week before. It was only 2 actors playing the role of a Violinist who got MS and her psychiatrist. Some parts got long but it was very good.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to make it to my internship with out too much of problems with the trains being delayed and I almost got on the wrong one but I got it sorted out! I observed in the Pre-assessment clinic and sat in on a nurse's aids course. Which would be similar to the CNA or PCT courses I took. It was interesting. I knew most of what they were talking about but it was still very good to see their perspective and what they thought about it.

We also booked our flight to Rome for our spring break trip. They were relatively cheap. We still need to find hostels to stay at. Right now the plan is to spend a few days in Rome and then go somewhere from there. We don't really know for sure though.
We also found train tickets for 8 pounds to Oxford so we are going there the last weekend in February. I am excited to see where Harry Potter was filmed and all of the stuff that goes along with that. It should be a good time to get out of London again.

York Weekend

This weekend we traveled to York as a whole group. We left around 8:45 for a 5 hour bus ride to York. It was really nice to get out of the city for awhile even though I do love it here. I like my wide open spaces too.

York has old city walls encasing the actual city which is only a mile by a mile. There is so much inside though so it seems much bigger. When we first got there we took a bus tour of the city. (although it is small it is still a city because the European definition of a city is that it contains a minster.) It was fun to see all the different places but I think most of us wanted to get off of the bus, not sit for an extra hour.
We saw the chocolate factory that makes over 17 tons of chocolate an hour. At least I'm pretty sure that's how much it was :) It was some huge amount.
After we finally got off the bus we dropped our stuff off in our lovely bed and breakfast and went to explore. We started off by walking on the wall. The tour guide made it sound like it was going to be a huge drop off the wall if you did fall but it really wasn't that big of one.

The views from the wall were really pretty and we went pretty much all the way around it. We walked to the minster, which is the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps. It's about 519 feet long and 249 feet wide. We got to go inside for a service called Evensong. It was really good. It was a boy and men choir singing and then some verses and prayers. I got chills during part of it but I'm not sure if it was from the song or if it was because it was really cold in it.

After that we went to dinner and then we went to a Pantomime about Dick Turpin. Who is a legendary highway man from York. The way I would describe a Pantomime is similar to a musical but the actor aren't as serious. They improvise some and some even started laughing during lines and whatever. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Saturday we left to go to Skipton for the day. Skipton is a very small town and honestly I'm not quite sure why we drove over an hour to go there. It had a market and a castle. I enjoyed watching out the window as we drove seeing sheep and wide open fields. I even saw a John Deere dealership on the way. No Dad we can't go to it when you come.
We went to a little fish and chips shop for lunch. I tried Fish. It was alright but I don't know how much I'll be eating it. It wasn't awful but defiantly not my favorite. We also tried Sticky Toffee Pudding for desert. It was pretty good. I'll eat that again before I'd eat fish again. :)

We went back to York that afternoon and had a while to explore, we went to the National Railway museum. It had a lot of trains from all different time eras in it. I found it kind of interesting to look at them, especially the Royal ones.
After we left it, we broke apart and me and 2 others went to walk around the city some. Most of the shops were closing though so we didn't get to see much. We did find a little coffee shop though.

We then had to meet to go on a Ghost walk. Not many of us wanted to be there but it was required, although a lot cut out early or didn't go. It was a freezing walk around York and a guide telling us Ghost stories. York is apparently the most haunted city in Europe. Some of the stories were interesting but I don't believe them.

We got our first real English breakfasts at the bed and breakfasts. Bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomato, and toast. It was delicious. I enjoyed it very much and wish that we had that everyday at Vandon. Yummy!

I wish I could watch the super bowl, just for the commercials tonight but it doesn't start here until 11 and we'd have to go somewhere else to watch it and it's cold here. and Snowing. But snow doesn't stay around very long nor does it snow very often here. But it is freezing today! I was telling my self that it was warmer than Iowa but apparently that wasn't the case! O well. I'm sure it will warm up here soon! At least I hope so!

First Actual Day of Internship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Middlesex_Hospital
Read it and see if you find anything interesting :) I didn't change anything either!
Anyways...

Wednesday I met the lady that will actually be watching over me while I am at West Mid Hospital. Her name is Ruth, she is head faculty of nursing in the learning and development department. I also worked with Tina Jones who works along with Ruth. We did audits, which are random checks of 5 beds. They do these every wednesday morning on different Wards. We checked that the patients Wrist Id matched the names on their paper work, checked to see if certain things were done in the paper work, and the cleanliness/safety of things around the bed. We did this in a surgical ward and in A and E (Accident and Emergency).

I learned that there was double murder that came in the night before so everyone was a little on edge about that still. The wards are divided into bays, in the one we were at the bays held 6 patients each divided only curtains. I don't think I would like this very much if I was sick but they are used to it and some patients don't like the idea of having single rooms. All of thier paperwork is still paper. Which is handy because it is all mostly right by the bed but I would think that by using computers we become a little more secure with privacy. But it is kind of a pain to log on and chart, it would be handy to just quick write something in the book.

The A&E is divided in to different sections based on the type of injury, the beds here are also all divided by curtains too, except for in critical (i think) and pediatric. While we were in the A&E I got the chance to talk to 2 medical students. It was very interesting to talk with them, mainly because I haven't really socialized with any Brits my age yet since we live in downtown Victoria. They were interested in why I was here and about the Medical program in the States, just as I was about the Medical programs here.

They also told me an interesting story about the founder of the University of London. Apparently his head is preserved or whatever and the rival school, Kings something or something kings say that they've played football with his head. It was kind of strange so I wasn't really listening that much :S

That afternoon I helped set up with the Learning and Development award ceremony that was going on. It was for staff that had taken classes or done something to gain knowledge or help others gain knowledge. It was a short ceremony but still kind of boring for me since I knew no one. I did get flowers though because they had extras. :) they were really pretty. After that I headed home because we went to the musical Spring Awakening.

Although we left with plenty of time to get there we ended up being late and missing the first 2 songs. When we got to the tube station we had to wait for 2 tubes to go because they were completely full, people were almost in the doors so we couldn't have gotten on. The 3rd one was emptier and so we hopped on. When we got a few stops later though we didn't move for a while and the 'driver' said that she was given the wrong route so they had to get that sorted out. Then we got to Earl's court station where there's a bunch of switching lines and they told us that this train was terminating at Wimbledon, not Richmond like we needed so we had to get off and wait for a richmond train...
When the richmond one finally came it took a while to go and then a little while later it said that we had a red light or something so we had to wait a while before finally going. So anyway we made it there like 10 minutes late or so.

The play was interesting but good. You can ask me more about it if you really want to know but I think this is getting long enough so I will stop boring you.

We leave for york at 820 tomorrow morning so I will be gone all weekend.
Have a wonderful day!

My Internship

I got back a little while ago and haven't really looked to see what anyone is up to yet so I thought I would update everyone about my internship. It is at West Middlesex hospital. It is a beautiful place. In 2004 they expanded and rebuilt part of the hospital. It's also huge! So if you have problems getting around the hospital in Pella, you would be completely lost in this one, as I'm sure I will be. I didn't like wearing my name badge while I was walking around by my self today because people kept asking me where things were. I had no idea.

The West Mid hospital is part of the NHS trust. Meaning that it provides services on behalf of the National Health Service of England. When people heard I had never worked at a hospital that was part of the trust they all got this nervous look. It will be interesting to find out what that means. I am really excited to get to know the other people and figure out how it is different from the hospitals in the states. Everyone there was really excited when they heard I'm from Iowa. They are even going to do a write up about me in their paper because people who come and do work experience there are like celebrities I guess. It should be fun.

My journey today began by train, not the underground, the over ground rail system. I was very nervous but also excited. I had no idea where to go at first so I asked and then I was terrified I was on the wrong train because I didn't see my stop but it would have been right. Due to some door problems, however, the train was delayed and they chose to bypass all other stops and go directly to where the train terminated. This meant I had to get on a different train, not a big deal it was right across the platform. I then rode to my stop where I had to change trains. This was also a little terrifing because there were so many people and the station was quite large and I didn't know where I was going but I followed the crowd and read the signs on the wall as I was walking and found the right platform. The trains were very smooth so I was able to do a little reading and journaling.
I then got off and had to hop on a bus that brought me right to West Mid hospital.

I met Stephan who will be looking after me for the next 14 weeks. He's in charge of all the volunteers as well as the work experience students (that's what I am). He's also in charge of everything from the front doors to the old part. which is a pretty big area. We toured the hospital and I have no idea where anything is or who any one is, but they are all excited about me. So that's a good thing!
I also went to their library to get orientated. I'm sure this would be very handy if I was actually studying medicine now but I think I may spend some time there either on my lunch or after work. (I'm a nerd, I know, but they appear to have a very good selection of material).

I still am not positive what I'll be doing. I meet a lady named Ruth tomorrow who I think I will be working with a lot. I also think I get to observe in a lot of different areas which will be fabulous. I have already noticed a bunch of differences and am excited for all the ones to come.

While I was waiting I read a couple articles that said that they have decreased their outbreak of MRSA (also known as the superbug) because of some new policies. Such as not allowing clothing below the elbow in the clinical areas. I think this is a good idea but know that at work I would freeze if i couldn't wear long sleeves. They are also very adamit about reminding you to wash or santitize your hands with posters everywhere. Maybe I'll learn some good things and can pass the word on to our hospital! haha

I go back tomorrow bright and early, I have to be there at 8:30. So I will let you know how that goes and if I know what I'll actually be doing!
Have a wonderful day!