Georgia's Elective Diary: Part 6 (Maltese Musings, and experiences abounding)

I've just started my third week here in Malta and realised its a wee bit quiet on the blog front from me lately. I've started an update a couple of times during boring ward rounds, or sitting on the bus on the way home from the hospital, but so much seems to have happened in my 18 days here in Malta that I'm not really sure how to coherently put it into prose. However, with the current torrential rain and lightning storms outside, I will try and give a brief rundown of my time here so far. 

I arrived in Malta on a Friday afternoon, having suddenly realised at Paris airport that I had no idea what my arrival arrangements were, where I was staying or whether the "pick up" from the airport would eventuate. I was grateful to find Malta airport had free wifi and anxiously checked my emails as I waited for my luggage. Surely someone would be there to pick me up? 

Luckily for me, as I walked out of customs, there was an old man with a sign for me, and my fears were alleviated. Driving through the streets of Malta was interesting, with the locals seeming to have decided that the road code isn't important, and therefore things like giving way at roundabouts or driving in your lane not really obeyed. Someone said to me the other day, the difference between Malta and another countries driving is that in any other country, a sober driver would go straight whereas a drunk driver would be swerving all over the place, but here in Malta it is reversed, with sober drivers swerving to avoid potholes, dips in the road and other cars, but the drunk drivers don't remember to do that. 

I arrived at my accommodation, which was again an experience. The elderl lady who answered the door ushered me into a lift no larger than a shoebox, with instructions to go to the fourth floor and let myself in, she would follow. It was there that I met the first of my flat mates and must have appeared very bewildered as I just stood there kind of stunned at the sequence of events over the last couple of hours. 

My flat, while a few steps away from the image I had in my head (no heating, stovetop will very likely burn the place down one day, pillows are about 20 years old... You get the picture) is lovely, as my flat mates come from all over the world: Germany, Scotland and South Korea, and we have made our short term house into a real homely feel. 

Hospital wise, and things are again, a lesson in expecting the unexpected! Ward rounds, clinics, and even some conversations between the members of the team are conducted in Maltese, and often not translated, making it into a real guessing game as to what the patient has wrong with them. I've become quite adept at picking up the one or two medical words mentioned during the course of the interview and inferring the rest fro any gestures or watching the examination. There seems to be no sense of urgency among the hospital staff, with my surgical ward rounds generally starting between 8.30 and 9, but being as late as 10am some days. Surgery days are no different with the operations often not starting til 9.30 or 10. However the case load is generally low and many days we are free before 11 or 12. This leaves plenty of time for activities and adventures in the afternoon!  Can't say I'm learning as much medicine as I did in Adelaide though, and I'm very grateful to that placement for a more medical focused elective experience. 

We've had a variety of fun afternoon activities, from visiting many of the islands tourist attractions, wandering through the narrow streets of Valletta or Sliema, and of course the occasional shopping experience!! We've also been on longer day trips, such as to Gozo, the northern island of the Maltese archipelago, as well as to the quaint seaside town of Marsaxlokk or the historical capital of Mdina. Great sights, and many pictures to follow on my return! 

Nights have been great, with cocktails at the local outdoor bar, or dinner at one of the many fantastic Mediterranean or Italian restaurants in Sliema. 

I'll write more soon, and give some more info on the delights Malta has to offer :)