What to do when you have 2,5 weeks, and give or take
800.000 items on your to-do list…. Well order your list and cross them off one by
one, keep focus and most importantly don’t stress, oh no, that’s the hard part.
I’m not sure if anyone is going to read this because
come on how interesting is it, on the other hand it could be interesting for someone
who is planning an internship abroad and off course for myself to read back.
Why go the easy way when you can go with the most
complicated way, that’s just me.
Well for starters arranging an internship abroad is
never easy, it always takes a lot more work than you would or could expect
beforehand. But in my case I didn’t choose an internship abroad offered by my
university because I wanted to go to Vancouver and no place else. So this whole
project started last summer, I was talking about it before but last summer the
first contacts were made. I had sent about a dozen emails when I got a reply,
oh yes positive as I was I thought this one was in the pocket. Well I couldn’t
be more wrong. Yes off course they want an enthusiastic young student as an
unpaid intern. Well after about 50 more emails I had a project and was set up
with the HR person for the technicalities. And that people is when the real
work starts. I found a supervisor in my home hospital, had a good and interesting meeting with him.
Just when I was actually sure this was going to happen we hit another bump.
This was the moment I realized that it takes a lot more when you set up all the
contacts yourself, because my university and hospital didn’t had an agreement
with the Vancouver hospital. Well this little problem occurred late last week
with only 3 weeks to go… I hadn’t thought of it upfront, should I? Yes but I
didn’t know… I just went with the flow. The agreement was sent to my hospital
and as it turned yesterday the hospital could only sign 7 of the 8 pages of the
agreement, they couldn’t sign for the malpractice liability; “However our University has no possibility to insure
students visiting other Universities with whom there is no formal established
exchange contract. The procedure to formalize such exchange may take a bit
longer, and has to go through the Dean’s office.” So the paperwork is
off to the Dean’s office, well it keeps me busy.
Luckily off course there is a plan B,
one should always have a plan B, I can go as an unpaid volunteer if this doesn’t
work out. But we hope it works out because that means that it would be easier
for other students of Leiden University/LUMC to go to Vancouver for an
internship, or maybe just maybe for me to go again for a clinical internship? Who
knows.
Well this issue keeps me occupied but it
isn’t the only point on my to-do list because I also have to make a few exams,
get my new drivers license, visit the bank, get my insurances all sorted out,
pack my bags, pack my apartment….. the list goes on. btw My apartment is rented!
In the meantime I still try to spend
as much time as possible with my friends.
Yesterday I actually spoke to the
Whistler mountain ski club so the ski training is all sorted out now. Well I’ll
probably relax when I’m in the plane.
