For the sake of completeness I wanna mention that I was in Kraków this month. Wonderful city, with an Old Town that easily beats Warsaw’s counterpart.
Being the cheapstake that I am I will only mention secondary sources. Reading is not compulsory, but might come in handy when we met and I demand a surprise multiple choice exam to be filled out!
The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) blog entry - FOLLOW ME
Artikelserien-Übersicht "Direful moments of our past"
Direful moments of our past PART 1: One fatal night at Mönchengladbach
The timestamp on this photograph says, that this photo was taken in 2002. I cannot clearly remember but if this picture was taken 7 years ago I was looking damn good these days except for my hair.
WELL LET’S STAY TO THE HISTORICAL FACTS
Sandra, Me, Simon and Alex decided at one point of our bored and underclass-hero life (I think that I still went to school 10th grade or something as Simon and Sandra did…Alex was part of the working class I don’t know) that we needed to stay one night @Mönchengladbach. Well we started at 7o’clock PM with some sprinkled whine.
Well I only can recall in my mind that we went to one location and we were very drunk (less training, less money a very good combination. Todays it’d be much more €€€ to get actually wasted) And we did all of this via the Public Transportation system (Bus).
Well we all started drinking together at the same time. And you always have one guy in this interest groups who tends to “distend” the term of getting wasted and in many occasions it was Simon as you can see in this beautiful picture.
As you can see, this all ended up on the floor with Simon getting kicked in the nuts…AS I SAW THIS PICTURE I remembered one special event
NEW YEARS EVE 2006 It started like this
went over to THIS AND THIS
AND FINALLY ENDED UP ON THE FLOOR
I will write another segment about this event in my underclass hero life but lets get back to this young age drinking meeting.
We went to bed, I had to sleep on the couch in the living room and Alex fucking Dog went around like a maniac and I seriously thought about renewal of animal rights
Simon was moaning till 5 o’clock and this made the try to sleep not much easier
At some time in the morning, Simon came to the basement, did a big fart and told me “Well…what happened yesterday?”
Then we watched “100 years of history” at my all-time-favourite TV Channel Phoenix for about….6 hours
Then we decided to BBQ and play “The Settlers of Catan” a game which is beyond my talent and knowledge about any sorts of analog games.
1st lesson learned: Never bank on other peoples logistics
2nd lesson learned: Never bank on your own logistics if you don’t have any!
3rd lesson learned: Try to spot the “floor-guy” in your drinking interest group
Stephan
["If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear!"]
It is over a month in the post-London era, which to be honest did not occur to me until recently thanks to the fresh and pleasantly busy start in Warsaw. Being the full time student again, with all its party and travelling duties, I hardly had the occasion to become too nostalgic about the splendid times on the island. The last impressions of London are in my eyes veray charmingly bri-ish… in the last week I must have been every evening in the pub, except for the Monday maybe. Because it was so much fun I even had two leaving drinks with my colleagues from the office. The last field action was a final visit to the unconventional grounds of Brick Lane in the company of Maria, a comrade-in-arms during the combat of living the interns’ life. In an effort to be a bit different like everybody around us we finished Tesco lollipops that had to be consumed before my departure. That was where I noticed with amazement that the ability to finish ice cream appears to be in reverse proportion to body mass as she, being a petit girl, must have finished at least seven lollipos, while I had maybe three. One of the sticks went to a bloke who wandered around, asking people for 50 poud for a flight to Jamaica. “I don’t have the money, but you can have some ice cream” and boy was he happy. Some chit-chat and then we saw him walking up and down the street again, sucking the lollipop while asking others for 50 quid.
After the last night out I headed home to pack my things, skipping on sleep. I had to go out at 8o’clock in the morning anyways… the strategy worked out perfectly with some 13kg hand luggage strapped on my bag containing the laptop and all my books . The lack of an appropriate amount of sleep made the jump from London to Warsaw appear to be one cloudy something, even increasing the strange feeling of “Hey, a couple of hours ago you were eating lollipos and talking to Jamaicans in Brick Lane and now you are at the apartment of your grandparents in Poland”. And in fact, here I am now, living the sweet students’ life again… and it’s good to be honest ^^.
The impressions are rich and the possibilities vast in Warsaw to start a bit poshy/poetically. I started slightly late, or to be moe specific: I missed the introduction week of my host university, the Leon Kożminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management (LKAEM) , which resulted in the necessity of opening nearly each conversation with an “Are you also an Erasmus/exchange/non-permanent student?”. Well, the good side was that I approached all kinds of people with that questions, eventually also getting to know some of the local folks. That brings me to the first topic:
Erasmus student VS indigenous population
Whether good or bad, it can be argued, but it is a fact though that the common Erasmus (a synonym for the inner European exchange student, thanks to the Erasmus student exchange grants distributed by the European Union) sticks to other foreign students. Generally this can only be avoided by seeking destinations that are rather unpopular / unknown among exchange students, or stay long-term. Both is not the case for the typical Warsaw student. Meeting students from all around the world, especially asking those who have no family ties or are not coming from neighboring countries I hear often the following, admittedly quite cliché driven arguments:
The price -particularly for Westerners… starting from vodka, over club entrance fees, or taxi fare; The price level is not always, but often noticably lower, especially with the Złoty that has strongly weakened during the passed months.
The women - of course the guys say, but it is confirmed by my “Nations’ branding” lecturer, who mentioned surveys conducted abroad; They indicate that Poland’s image is shaped by hardly anything except the countries fame for its girls and that it once was a socialist state.
The exoticness – The latter probably triggered after decades behind the Iron Curtain, and the countries magnificent transformation into a vital, democratic market economy
The second factor, duration, also favours involvement among Erasmus students only. What is a semester? It is not even five months, after deducting holidays rather four. On the other hand there are students that know each other for years, so unsurprisingly bonds growth among the collective of guest students that mostly started together, participate in trips organised by the Erasmus Student Network or meet on Erasmus parties. On the other hand there is a marvelous spirit among guest students. Exchange students invite each other on parties in their flats, irrespective from the university, bring mates and it seems that internationality does work as a linking common denominator. Eventually it is possible to get to know local folks, whether it is a member of the Erasmus Student Network, through a friend of a friend on a party or actually on campus. Belonging to the fellas that carry a Polish name and are able to speak Polish I probably have it a bit easier. On the other hand you lose the ice-breaker bonus of trying hard to speak the local language. Nobody is grinning when I say “DZIENKUJE” in a way that resembles Borat-pronounciation. But at least I was able to gather some valuable outside view on my Polish abilities:
Some, especially the ones I only talk briefly small-talk to, actually don’t notice anything
About every second person must notice the accent, less than half of them mention it
Strangiliy, but much to my enjoyment, many are not able to allocate the origin of my accent correctly; I have been already asked the following:
Are you from Belgium/Holland? WTF? Maybe the studies in the Netherlands coloured off a bit?! Godverdomme!
Are you from England? That is a definitive YESSSSSS, gotta love the Bri-ish aaaksent!
Are you from East Poland, Białystock or something? Alright that would mean I sound a bit Russian. Potentially the one who asked just had a vodka shot too much.
With this I close the first part. Stay tuned for more scandals – Next time it’s gonna be all about the struggle with Warsaw’s Public Transport. What to expect? A breakdown of something, in average about once a week. I close with very wintery pictures of last Wednesday when my train stopped early at Dworzec Zachodni due to technical difficulties.
Today I got my final exam for beeing an SCBA - operator (ze english term for Atemschutzgeräteträger) and the three weeks of intense training were pretty demanding for everybody in my unit. But I’m now allowed and able to wear this during fire assignments:
In the first days of this training we did such drills over and over again
On our last day we had the opportunity to get into the “warm-house” which was quite hot and I burned my ass and head a little bit because it was fucking hot as we were going through this firehouse. But it was fun except the fact that I lost several liters of body fluids (my shirt was dripping as my hair was no joke !)
I finally found a place in the hospital where I can get along with well. The Anaestesiology Department in the Operation Rooms or Post Operative Care Unit or Pain medicine clinic is so much fun and demanding for me that I want to continue in this appartment after my final exam.
I was part of my first birth actually a sectio caesarae her name is Helena and it was a very good moment for all of us.
Trouble with girls: I actually got one big fear: My girlfriends familie(s). There are several reasons for this. First of all I’m a person who is not the family guy at all. I don’t like beeing around with my own family and I don’t seem to think what happens if I got stuck with a family very far from my own which is…pretty much “INVOLVED” in everything that appears in her life. I got a phobia from girlfriends families and I tend to keep everything in distance. I took a quick think about what I want to be and I cannot imagine with all the verve I can possibly bring up ME sitting on a coffee table with a big family (of my girlfriend). This is not what I want to be but my GF has obviously no reason to accept that. She likes her family. It’s not that I hate my family (the part which I tend to speak with) but you can call me very distanced and reserved with them around. I’m getting older and with the years passing by I feel bored by the same shit that I have to listen to in every family meeting. Yes I get bored very easily…another point of trouble.’
I did my first INTUBATION and it’s pretty damn sick doing this. It is much more difficult than I thought on a real life patient.
The veni-puncture is one of my best skills I have learned in the AN-Department.
Stephan
["If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear!"]
I finally found a place in a hospital where I can do the best work withouth fucking my mind or back (Department of Anaestesiology & Pain medicine)
Beeing a Anaestesiologic Nurse is fun and it is a fucking challenge to me. I have to learn 40 drugs by heart, different procedures and I have to cannulize I.V. needles all the time
I thought that Bag-Valve-Mask ventilation for patients under sedation is an easy thing, but the part which is very difficult is getting the fucking mask sealed and shut.
Anaestesiologists are very funny and capable boys and girls who don’t have an invisible barrier between them and the nursing personell. They respect us as a part of the team.
I’m physically more capable than I thought I where(I can “carry” a 90kg firefighter with a partner and my personal breathing apparatus + some stuff around.
Stephan
["If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear!"]
There is no comparable “weird” experience to assisting during an ERCP (with a very sick and unstable patient) and an experienced internal medicine attending physician gets very nervous and you don’t
It is allthough very funny to take a look at two medical students trying to move a patient from bed to bed (1)
Anybody who can draw up 30 syringes of midozolam without cutting yourself is a true master to me. These fucking sharp container edges.
I hate stepping on needles beside examination tables who are from doctors not knowing that these bloody, contaminated items belong to the SHARP ITEM DISPENSERS who are obviously in a shiny yellow colour.
Today I took a piss on two floor nurses. I discovered an ugly ring shining brightly on a swollen and red/blue middle finger and as I tried to move it the ring was stuck. All the tricks that I know from removing rings from fingers didn’t work so we had to get the ring cutter. The patient was lying in bed all the time and judging from the colour of the finger I placed a bet that this ring was on this finger right from the beginning of his admission. I charted everything and the floor nurses who where responsible for this patient asked me if I got something wrong with my brain. My only comment was “I don’t believe that the long an painful presence of this ring was an outcome of your good nursing work”
I felt a kind of “enlightened” as a junior resident physician asked me if I was from the Intensive Care Unit. I asked her why she thought that and she said “Well first of all you are wearing blue scrubs and second your work looks like you are an ICU nurse!”
I really like “my” attending for teaching me a lot about Morbus Crohn and Colitus ulcerosa. Also I like her willingness to teach student nurses.
Today the bitch nurse I had troube with tried to piss on my leg;) I transported a patient after a gastroscopy back from the exam room to her actual unit. The response “Thank you” is not known on this shithole of unit. “Student Nurses are not allowed to transport patients after diagnostic procedures with sedatives”. Despite the fact that this is not true I said: “Well, first it was me assisting this procedure, second tell me the worst option between the patient beeing unmonitored on the floor because you don’t manage to transport him OR the actual assisting student nurse brings him down monitoring him well and safe.” The response will be a call to my chief commander nursing-course-chef.
I’m really looking forward on driving Emergency Medical Service for one day again!
Stephan
["If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear!"]
Also the desperate look in their faces after me doing it all alone [↩]
I’m currently expressing my art of nursing in the department of endoscopy. Well it’s not endoscopy at all, it is the department of ECG, the Echocardiogram, the TEE, the Lung-Function and the Internal Medicine Workforce in my hospital.
Well internal medicine is not exactly my best field. I have to admit that I always was and always will be a surgical nurse. But my employee does not ask me about my specialty and I with my registration which is not much more than a year in sight I have to be fit in every field of medicine.(1)
Internal Medicine is a huge field…in germany a resident physician in internal medicine HAS to specialize to become a full member of the doctors lounge. Internal medicine specializes in
1. Cardiology (Disorders of heart and blood vessels)
2. Endocrinology (Disorders and diseases of endocrine system and hormones)
3. Gastroenterology (digestive and stomach-diarrhea like diseases)
4. Hematology (Blood and blood forming organs)
5. Nephrology (The Kidnes sir)
6. Pulmology (The breathing field of the lungs)
7 .Rheumatology
8. Sleep medicine
9. Allergy/Immunology
10. Internal Medicine Intensive and Critical Care Medicine
11. (Infectious diseases)
Well in my hospital we specialize in Gastroenterology, some basic cardiology and Infectious diseases. Gastroenterology is very complex and it starts right in the teeth line and ends in the anal sphincter.
Well the endoscopy unit is a diagnostic department. The nursing staff there is mostly there to assist the physicians in diagnostic procedurs. It is the gastroscopy (inserting a tube with a camera in the stomach), the bronchoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera inside the lung) and a coloscopy (inserting a tube with a camera inside the ass).
We actually do more things but these things are much more in common. Sometimes we act as the Intermediate Care Unit (Something between a normal ward and an intensive care unit) for the wards. My tasks mostly have been assisting in the various diagnostic procedures which is very complex and you have to know a lot about the physiology and anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract to actually be able to assist the physician. You handle around with many medications, especially sedatives like propofol or midozolam and you have instable patients for the procedures.
Here are some reflections about this:
1) I never had such a highly trained and skilled team of nurses. Their knowledge is just amazing, they are all fit in the procedures and everybody is willing to actually train student nurses.
2) In my work as a nurse I never worked THAT close with physicians but know I have to work with the attending physicians all the time. They are demanding, they ask me in the middle of a stressfull procedure “So Mr. can you tell me where we are exactly in the colon?”, they expect much knowledge and they delegate a lot of things I usually don’t do (Especially I.V. Medications or giving sedatives). With all the assisting thing, you always have to keep the patient in focus which is under your supervision. You are a little Anaestesiologist and it is your task to stabilize the patient.
3) Anatomy and the human body is such a fascinating thing to me…and it will stay like this forever
4) I have my own unit, the recovery room which is used for outpatients who come to us for a endoscopic procedure. I can say that I’m the leader of the recovery unit and I manage the patient discharge. I have a great ammout of freedom from the team and I proved that I actually can handle many critical situations and know my limits. Very great.
5) Because I wear blue scrubs now (See photo below), I felt that the respect I was given rised up from 10% to at least 50% with just changing the colour of my workclothes. They are two departments which wear these scrubs. Intensive Care Unit and Endoscopy, both consider themselve as the elite of the hospital and I’m a part of it!
Stephan
["If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear!"]
Though I have to admit, that Obstrietics and Gyn…omg [↩]
March 31st, 2009 von 
Daniel 
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. The lack of an appropriate amount of sleep made the jump from London to Warsaw appear to be one cloudy something, even increasing the strange feeling of “Hey, a couple of hours ago you were eating lollipos and talking to Jamaicans in Brick Lane and now you are at the apartment of your grandparents in Poland”. And in fact, here I am now, living the sweet students’ life again… and it’s good to be honest ^^.
