Seeing the World on a Shoestring Budget ... and with a Few Sandwiches

I am incredibly lucky. I could not have assembled a greater group of friends that I have met here in Sweden if I had tried ... there are the aforementioned Greeks Byron and Vangelis who are fun-loving, complain about the "cold" weather, and laugh when they don't understand something and say, "It's all Greek to me!" There is Laura from Finland who speaks a great deal of Swedish and has a sister who lives nearby; she has been the one to recommend where to get my hair cut and was my connection to a cell phone to borrow for the month. Jonathan and Nixon, my Ugandan neighbors in my international dorm, are teaching ME about American rap music and are fond of calling me grandma ... this rather appropriate title considering my relative age to everyone else here (Most students in other countries start medical school at the age of 18 or 19 and do not have to complete undergraduate training first as we do in the States.) was one I myself coined, and seemingly, it has stuck ... ! Roel and Mads have been roped into one or another of my adventures rather willingly. And all of them are very patient with my camera and the copious numbers of photos I take!

Together, we have explored the city of Stockholm ... an incredibly beautiful city full of terracotta stores and homes, enormous royal palaces, church spires, tiny gardens, and ferries navigating the waterways around the islands in nearly every direction. Like Reykjavik, everything is so clean, and bikers are everywhere, and in terms of fashion and hairstyles --- anything, and I mean ANYTHING, goes!

Here are a few of my favorites thus far ...

- Gamla Stan, where the main royal palace is located, is the old city center and the heart and lifeblood of this place. I happily got lost there one afternoon exploring the narrow, cobblestone streets and tiny shops.

- To come to Stockholm and NOT go to the Vasamuseet, a museum dedicated to a resurrected and restored ship that sunk in 1628 after only 200 or so meters into its maiden voyage, and Skansen, the world's first open-air museum, on the nearby island of Drurgarden is like going to New York City and missing the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.

- To the east of the city lie the 24,000 islands of the famous archipelago. Although my trip there last weekend was a bit rainy and drizzly, Mads and I had a great time exploring the Vaxholm fort and the nearby town and island. We had time to stop for fika ... twice.

- And with the Greeks in the lead, we've managed to find a neat pub or two, some late-night dancing, and feasted on homemade chicken and rice. I've started my free Swedish lessons (This language is HARD!) and have scouted out as many second-hand stores as I can. This weekend, I'll be heading to Drottingholm Palace and taking in the Nobelmuseet and the Stadshuset, or the city hall where the Nobel festivities take place annually.

And, rest assured, that I am finding plenty of time to "fit" work into my "sightseeing" and am learning a GREAT deal in my surgical rotation! Over the four weeks, I am spending one week in general surgery (last week), one in orthopedics (this week), and anesthesia and urology are forthcoming. I've actually had a much more enjoyable time here in surgery than I did in my own clerkship this past spring back home, as I am getting a lot of hands-on experience as first and second assist on most surgeries. Between cases, I visit with the nurses and doctors over coffee about our health care systems and medical education ... so very, very valuable. I have been surprised to witness that there are many more similarities than I was expecting, despite our vast differences in health care financing ... but more on this to come!