Guilherme Meyers, student 4. ročníku všeobecného lékařství, strávil letní stáž v nemocnici v Istanbulu. Přečtěte si jeho esej (v angličtině) a zhlédněte fotografie.
Istanbul… Oh, I miss it already! I was in Istanbul for one month, from the 1st July to the 1st August. And it wasn't enough! The SCOPE Exchange I went there to do was one of the best choices I ever made – I met incredible people from all over the world (Mexico, Germany, Spain, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Finland, Slovakia; and of course the great friends and LEOs – Local Exchange Officers, the guys that would help you around, besides taking care of paper work – from Istanbul), I was quickly integrated in that amazing multiculturalism and immensity of different languages and habits. Turkish food is great! And the tea culture was overwhelming – how can you drink hot tea when it’s almost 40 ºC outside? Never mind that, it's delicious and somehow refreshing.
I was given the chance to do my internship in Acibadem Hospital with Dr. Cengiz Campolat, also professor at Acibadem University – to whom I thank once more – in the Department of Peadiatric Oncology. With him I did everything from routine consult, investigation and OR. Doing internship with me was also a 3rd year student from Marmara University (in Istanbul), Çagri (sorry I don't have the Turkish keyboard…), and she was a valuable help to translate during the consults and to walk around the hospital – thank you! It was spectacular. The professor was always ready to explain something, or give us homework, which was actually good for this upcoming school year. Regardless, I could leave according to my schedule in order to do some tourism. As I said above, it wasn't enough. Istanbul is such a big city, with so much history (more than two thousand years of civilization there!) and culture. The other guys were joining the National Tours the Office provided during the weekends. I decided not to go, as I wanted to get to know the city better. Well, I did, but it still feels little.
There are many things I'll miss from Istanbul, and I'll name only a few here. First of all (me being from Portugal), I really enjoyed the nice warm weather, the nice people always willing to talk (although their English is not the best). They're really friendly! And in such a big city frenzy, they'll take their time to help you around. I'll specially miss taking the ferry boats – and hoping between Europe and Asia in twenty minutes – and crowded buses (I'll definitely not miss that traffic though). The late nights and how the city, truly, never sleeps, fascinates me.
And I'll really miss the talks and nights out with the other exchange students, which made it great, of course. I must thank them, as well as the LEOs that made everything go pretty smoothly. In the end, I know I will return; experience more of Istanbul and then go on discovering Turkey, and all of its wonders!
