My name is Annika Wolf a German 5th year medical student from Munich. I did an exchange in Guatemala on May 2017. I rotated in 2 different hospitals Hospital General de Enfermedades IGSS and Hospital de Accidentes 7-19 doing Emergency Medicine in the department of Surgery. It is a great experience and you will learn and see a lot, and please don’t be afraid of Guatemala, it is an amazing country.
Before I got to Guatemala I was in contact with the Neo for some organisational stuf fand further questiones and also texted with my host sister who also picked me up upon arrival. I lived with a very friendly host family, I had a private room and it was a normal house that had everything. They drove me to the hospital every morning because the daughter was a medical student toom and they found a way to bring me there every morning, sometimes I took a bus in the afternoon.The house was in a kind of gated commmunity and was very safe, the community had all the shops you needed closeby.
The family and I always ate together and they provided all the food. I could have gone out and bought food at some stores too. The meals are cheaper than in germany but if you go to the big chains in malls or something it is almost the same price. Well the regional products are of course way cheaper and the rest is not comparable but that is also the nice thing about this kind of exchange.
In my opinion the hospital was medium sized to big and I didn´t count the people they attend, a lot of people. There were classrooms and also classes for the students almost every day. Activities were both observational and practical. I mostly followed the students around, and they showed me everything. There is a lot of contact with patients and you have to talk to them in spanish. Depending on the tutor, there is more or less teaching,it was all in spanish even though I guess they could have made it in english too, I never asked. I definitely learned a few things and improved some practical skills.
I was the only exchange student that month. I met with people from the comittee 2-3 times and did a few acticities with the family I stayed at. I travelled around a bit before and after the internship so I got to know the country there and during the month stayed in the city. There are many amazing places to visit in the country, it takes time to get there but it’s worth it so just go and explore it’ll be nice any way.
The cost of living is cheaper than in my country but there are some weird things like shampoo that cost more sometime ( but who cares…) I guess party´s and transportation was the most expensive but you can also pay a lot for food if you want. I had a credit card and cash. Works out fine.
Do an exchange it is amaizing!
