Placement
Monday morning was my first day at my placement in the university hospital Mölndal (just outside of Gothenburg). I was given a placement in the cardiology/acute ward. Although I had already been informed about the unit by one of my supervisors I still didn’t know what exactly to expect.
The first days of the week were focused on getting to know the unit's routine and the staff's role. When observing the communication between nurses and patients I was surprised about the amount of Swedish I could actually understand. This was possible thanks to the strong resemblance Swedish has to Dutch and German. Most of the patients on my ward also speak or at least understand English but I will definitely try to learn as much Swedish as possible during my stay.
Towards the end of the week I got to know the ward, staff and patients better. The fact that ECG's don't look like Chinese to me anymore is also a huge step in the right direction. I’ve also learned about quite some differences in health care between Sweden and Belgium that I’d like to explore more. This first week made look forward to the upcoming weeks and experiences that await me.
Free time
Since I mainly had day shifts my first week, my free time on work days was in the morning. I am not at all a morning person so it took me some effort to work for school. Nonetheless I cannot complain about the amount of work I got done and will continue so, trying to strive for more as weeks goes on. During the weekend I got a visit from Belgium and went out to really discover Gothenburg for the first time. Unfortunately the moody weather held us back to do some of the trips planned like visiting the surrounding islands. Going to the attraction park Liseberg seemed to be doomed too at first but the skies must have sensed my sadness as it cleared up just in time to still wonder the park for quite some hours. I must say I did not expecting the heavy rides and the amount of fun I had. Liseberg took my by surprise and honestly was the best attraction park I’ve been in so far.
Now I hope to continue discovering more of this city's charming beauty and people.