Everything I signed up for

My experience with Projects Abroad was really incredible. I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is considering a career in medicine because it allowed me to figure out if I can handle it before I spent the thousands of dollars to attend a nursing program. It also gave me a taste of what I may want to specialize in because I experienced a variety of different environments inside the hospital. It is a very difficult process to view a surgery in the United States, so if you're interested in doing so, consider this alternative.

Essentially, each weekday morning, my roommate and I woke up, had breakfast, packed our lunches and supplies for the day, and waited to be picked up by one of the coordinators to be brought to one of the local hospitals. We would arrive, talk to the doctor who agreed to accept us for the day, and tell him or her where we wanted to go from the options given to us. In the two weeks I spent there, I was sent to pediatrics, nursing, the emergency room, and best of all, the operating room. I was able to watch three surgeries (as in, standing next to the patient, asking questions to the doctors), and it confirmed nursing as a career path for me.

If you're choosing between a medical camp at an American college or an opportunity abroad as I was, hands down choose the latter. It is not only a better experience since you are traveling the world, but it is unique and makes you stand out from the rest of the future med school applicants. This program in particular allows you to experience living with a host family, learning and practicing Spanish, traveling Argentina, and working in real hospitals with real patients. Everything that I was hoping to experience was checked off of my list before I left. I would highly recommend this program.