Erasmus in the "city of sunshine"

THE ARRIVAL

It was a near-horrible first day in Budapest. The elevators didn't work. I met nice people, but my 18kg-bag didn't seem to help. 

The transit from Ferihegy railway station to Szeged was a hot and damp 2-hour journey. It took about 5 minutes to finally cramp myself between three other adults in one of the claustrophobic coaches. I landed my sweaty body on a seat that had housed more than a thousand sweaty skins as mine. It felt good to finally sit.

So I'm now in Szeged, and first things first, it felt like no one lived in the city. It had an eerie vibe. The tram stop just by the station had only three senior citizens waiting apart from the passengers that had just arrived. Maybe something was not right; but I read on about seven different blogs that Szeged was the last stop, so I couldn't have been in the wrong place. I convinced myself to be calm.

After one stop, I saw the light. It was simple. Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I love the medieval buildings. The cars drove slowly. Or maybe because the road was narrow.

The City Centre

As I walked through Somogyi street, I felt among. Nobody stared at me. It was almost the first time
in 355 days that I wasn't receiving long and monotonous stares.

The chewy and cheesy Langos

Szeged is the third largest city in the country; and while you may be able to see the whole city in a day, there is one place you should not miss to visit if you are there. That is Mars Teri Piac. Apart from the irresistibly fresh fruits you'll find in the open market, there is a shop that makes the best Langos in the city.

Langos (pronounced lan-gosh) is a traditional Hungarian street food made from flat, fried dough that is chewy like Nigerian puff-puff, creamy, cheesy, and best eaten hot! Avoid the variants with excess embellishment, and settle for the simplest variant that is just the dough, garlic, and cheese (the cream is optional, but you'll fall in love if added).

What is most peculiar to Szeged? Statues. There are so many statues that I quit snapping pictures of them at some point.

My favourite, because it depicts the reaction I have on half of the time.

THE EXPERIENCE

It has been what, a year and half or two since I hugged my mom, and now with Erasmus presenting itself to me, I had no choice but to compromise the hugs and kisses to develop my hands-on skills, or even still, improve my CV. I was ready to bear it all.

Two months seemed like a long time, but it flew by so quickly.

The main university building

From the moment I submitted the application form to getting my Visa approved, never has applying to visit a country as a Nigerian felt so smooth. I breezed through every step like a badass!

Surgery is art. I even wrote a mediocre draft once while I watched a cholecsytectomy (surgical removal of the gall bladder).

I was assigned to one of the senior consultants in GS, and I'll be strictly honest, I was more of a burden than an asset. Nevertheless I had to be welcomed. And he tried. He really tried.

My supervisor also happens to be the only pancreas specialist in the department, so he was responsible for the surgeries whose names I can't pronounce twice without hurting my tongue.
Once I was in the OR with him while he performed a pancreaticoduodonectomy. I'm only trying to sound sophisticated with that name. Just call it a Whipple procedure😜

That is a student (me) paying attention to the ongoing operation😣

It was a massive operation, and while we were 3 hours into the surgery, my body decided it couldn't take it anymore. I fled the OR. It also happened a second time.

While most of what I did in the OR was watch people being cut open, listen to monitors beep, mesmerize at the swiftness of my supervisor's fingers while he made sutures, it was a good way to reevaluate the choices I'd made.
Am I ready for the nightmarish world of a surgeon? Can I blend a second life into it if I choose to be stubborn with my dream? Will my mom, who wants me to be married before 30 be okay if I tell her that I'd have to study for 5 more years after med school before I can finally hold the scalpel?
Nevertheless, I love the smell of the OR. The coordination. The organisation. The adrenaline rush. The vasovagal response. The artistry.

Art?

Then came my rounds in Internal Medicine. I was posted to the Cardiology department. Again, my supervisor was not just the head of the department, he was the head of the Erasmus department of the university. Man's got lots going on for him, yet he may be the best thing that happened to me in the second half of my stay in Szeged. His doctor-student relationship was fascinating! Definitely I had issues grasping what the nurses discussed, he made sure that I understood even the wildest jokes that had cracked everyone up, except me. So I usually had the last laugh.

Like I said earlier, I had lots of reevaluation to do. Internal Medicine answered some of my concerns. I also realised one more thing while I was in this department. I love to connect dots, and that is exactly what Internal Med lets you do. Fix, or get lost in the puzzle.

There are mornings when I'm only able to wake up after throwing water over my face, and there are mornings when I sleep in, and wake up with a headache.
What contributed to my every Monday fever was the weekend. No, not what you're thinking. I don't do clubs, but I do catch flights.

My Erasmus journey would not be complete without mentioning my B-grade trips- literally and figuratively- Budapest, Bratislava, Brussels, all on a "price (low-high)"  Airbnb search. I plan on writing about my experiences in these three cities, only if my lazy brain will succumb.

I could exhaust myself from narrating the heterogeneous two months I spent in Szeged, but to cap it eventually, I'm not ungrateful for the opportunity, because I have learned. And for the first time in my adult life, I really felt like an adult.

Waking up every morning, rushing to the hospital, missing my mom's calls, coming back home with an exhausted body to an empty fridge, binging on shows till sleep takes over, and looking forward to Friday. It was a necessary prep before the real adulting hits, and I do not regret it.

So many loopholes that can fit an airplane in this ongoing story. So many unanswered questions. There will be mistakes. But I will learn from them. And I will be a phoenix and rise from the ashes of those errors.

And when I think of Szeged, I want to remember my first unofficial paycheck as a doctor. Till another time, my beautiful city of statues and sunshine🌞

It's been one hectic year in uni, and a lazy year for the blog community. Thank you. dear reader, for still sticking around despite the inactivity. I do not take you for granted.

Till a next time when the writing gods swirl their magic wand over my head, drink lots of water and stay healthy!