Georg last days in Finland

Hello again!

Wow, this seems to be it. Almost 3 months over. At times I wished it would be over quicker, then I hoped it would carry on like this indefinitely..

So looking back on my time as an exchange I must really say I learned. Not just the language or how to do certain measurements, therapies, etc., for me the most important thing was to learn about myself, and why not even learn to learn.

Because physical therapy isn't just about here and now, you always have have one eye in the future and keep an open mind. And I believe I have achieved that:
I had some ideas and certain views on things before I came to Jyväskylä to practise. Here for my surprise, many of the ideas and theories were already in practise.

So it showed me I am on the right track. I think this is what an exchange should be like, thats what an exchange should give. Not just going to another country and doing the compulsory things, but seeing a different view on things, advancing from that, learning about yourself and setting future goals.

Best wishes,
always keep an open mind and keep learning, no matter how old you are, set goals and when you fulfill them, set the next ones,
Georg, FT II

Boa tarde!

I've been so busy, that I totally forgot to update this blog! But I'll correct the mistake now.

I've been in Lisbon for two months now and I'm really enjoying it! It's almost like summer here. Last week we had the perfect beach weather - 30 degrees! I's gotten a bit cooler by now but next week it'll be as warm again.

In Cascais, a small resort 30 km from Lisbon. Due to it's beaches, it's a great tourist attraction.

I'm doing my second internship (muscular-skeletal physiotherapy) in Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Amadora. Amadora is a small town near Lisbon (it gets me 1, 5 hours to get there every morning - I have to wake up at 6!). Amadora has the highest population density in whole Portugal. The hospital is a quite new one, the physiotherapy department was created in 1997.
The internship is really interesting. I've got an amazing supervisor, who explains a lot, sometimes he likes to challenge me by asking different questions about anatomy, physiology, various techniques etc. So I have to think a lot, so much, that sometimes even my head starts hurting. :D
There is one not so good thing though - I cannot speak Portuguese (of course I know some words and can understand some) but most of the patients cannot speak any English either - so it's rather difficult for me to communicate with them, but still, somehow we always manage. It just takes a lot more effort.
The patients are really friendly and motivated. The way of treating seems a bit more personal in Portugal than in Estonia. Mostly there are patients with different kinds of knee injuries like patella tendon ruptures, ACL ruptures, patellar fractures and luxations. There are also a lot of amputees who do their walking and strength training there. 

Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Amadora.

Keep you updated soon!

Triin 

FT II

Ciao ragazzi e ragazze!

Allora... Like we  are used to say in Italy. Now we have been in intensive care and geriatric practice almost 3 weeks. And what we can say about it? First days were really interesting and the most difficult days for us. We didn’t understand a lot of Italian. Only a very few doctors and students understood and spoke a  little bit English, but nurses couldn’t say anything in English. It made our days very difficult because we spent the most of the time with nurses but we coped with it. On the first days we just watched what and how nurses did (different procedures and compared it with how our Estonian nurses do the same procedures). Later we started to do some procedures with nurses or alone (for example skin prick-test, spirographia, measuring blood pressure, taking blood analyses, doing EKG, measuring blood sugar, inserting intravenous canul etc). It was difficult to explain to the patient what we are going to do, so the nurses or students came with us and spoke with patient. But some main phrases we learned on first days (for example how to introduce yourself, lay down for EKG, be calm, taking blood etc).  During practice we have learned Italian and teached some English and Estonian to Italians.

On free time we communicate with other Erasmus students and travel with them to the differnet Italian cities. We already have been to Manfredonia and Mattinata. We really liked Mattinata for its beauty of mountains and the sea. And we celebrated Kaupo's 24 birthday with other Erasmus students. So for now that is all. Ci vediamo! Ciao!

Hello again!

My practice is nearly over in Jyväskylä and I am going home at the end of next week. It has been really good so far. I have now been practicing in Kinkomaa hospital, where there are almost all neurological patients.

The physical therapists are very outgoing here and they are doing all they can so you could learn as much as possible during your practice. There are very good therapy conditions here. A lot of different machines such as gait trainer and different gym machines.

They also use some electricity treatment with NMES and Micro-Z. It is very nice that they have different therapy sessions for like 6 patients at one time. Through that they do dancing therapy and play lentopallo wich is like volleyball but with a balloon and sitting down. The dancing lessons are very good. Patients get very happy, they relax and just enjoy dancing and music as much as they can. I have also had the chance to work in a rehabilitation team and I spent a day in the ward working with care takerers and nurses. It is good that students have their own room in the hospital. 

And when working with patients you can do a lot by yourself but ofcourse it is good if you now finnish. So if anybody wants to come and practice in Finland, it would be really good to take some finnish courses before that so you could understand more and do your work much better. 

For the next two weeks I am going to a private centre called OIVA where there is an estonian physical therapist working. So it is really good that I can see different work places with such a short time. But I will talk about OIVA in my next and probably final post. 
Enjoy the spring!

Maarja

Georg's adventures in Jyväskylä

Hi everybody!
The last have been very interesting so i thought pop by and tell a bit about my adventures.

First off, about 2 wks ago I took a long weekend and went to Estonia. For my luck, the weather had JUST changed and turned into a nice spring with fresh air and more sun. Though the travelling to Estonia was not as sunny.. the train that was supposed to take me to Tampere was late so I almost missed my connect train to Helsinki from there. It was quite crazy, everybody was running and though they said they'd let the other train wait for us, the train didn't wait for more than 2 minutes. And of course in Helsinki, when u're using Eckerö Line, you have to find the Länsisatama, which is quite far from the marina in the center, and since i'm quite stubborn, i didn't use a tram, but at least i got a good workout!

So anyway, my practise session in the hospital is nearing its end and i have to say it has been really something... i really feel it's a good place for me and though for some reason it's really tiring (some people say maybe its the hospital air), i wouldn't want to leave for JAMK for the final weeks... but what has to be done, has to be done, at least they have training facilities and cheaper food there. For instance, the food in the hospital costs 5,40, with a workers's discount, but at JAMK it's 2,70. And the foods are basically the same..

Anyway, its not all hard work here. Since i havent done much over the last weekend i decided to go out whatever it takes. So i took my bike and headed for a concert. For my surprise i had looked at the program wrong and hadn't done any research on the bands.. But what the heck, i was there so i was going to check it out... and i didn't have to regret my decision, there were two really good rockbands, so i'm gonna copy my favorite here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CgvNMdNTtY

Anyway, coming back from the concert the air was so fresh i decided to take a longer course to my place, a course i hadn't taken before, coz' i felt like i needed a little adventure.. but sure enough, i got home fine and loved the detour through the dark areas, covered in woods and also wild critters at times:

Anyway, i'm off and wish you all a nice spring! Go take a walk, or a "lenkki" as they call it here!
Georg

Warm greetings from Rimini!

The time is flying - one month ago, I had been in Italy for three days already. And there has been so much to do that I haven’t even noticed the fact that I haven’t had a chance to speak Estonian for a very long time. And when I call my family it feels very uncomfortable to speak in Estonian, I feel like I’m not making correct sentences and pronouncing words wrong =D

My first practice is quite near to the end. On Monday, 07.05 it will be my last day. I have really liked my practice. I had the chance to practice things that I tried in Estonia only a few times. The thing that I’m most happy for is the opportunity to put catheters almost every day. My tutor is really pleased with my techicues, so a big thank you goes to the teachers of Tartu Health Care College, who taught me all this! Also it has been a great challenge to work with patients who’s language I don’t speak. But together with my tutor (who speaks English) and the caregivers (who are Russian speaking people most of the time) we have managed. My next practice will be cardiological intensive care in Rimini Hospital. 

I have visited some little towns and villages near Rimini, because the train tickets are quite cheap, if you don’t want to go very far. With the Erasmus group we visited Cattolica, which was so beautiful! We went sightseeing, to the beach, had dinner in a pizzeria, danced a bit at a beach party and took the last train back home. Since the weather has been really good for quite a long time now, it is convenient to travel a bit, because you can never get cold =) 

 Me and my roommate Roxana (from Iran)

 All the Erasmus students from different places of the world

 The trip to Cattolica

And here you can see a lovely beach

All the best to you, arrivederci!

Maarja (Italy, Rimini)

Hey-hey!

The weather here in Rimini has been very warm and beautiful for a long time now! And sadly today I have my hospital practice until 19.30, so it will be a 10h day full of work and no beach time, but on Sunday I will relax.

The good news is that I’m not living in a hotel anymore. I am now living with 3 italian guys and 1 girl from Iran in an apartment very near to the city center. It is a safe and pretty neighbourhood. I’m really happy with it =)

I’ve also started my first practice, which is family nursing. Actually I shouldn’t be doing it in Italy, I was supposed to do it in Estonia in September. But my italian tutor had found me a place near to my flat, where I’ll be doing my practice 6 days a week, 6 hours a day. From time to time I get the opportunity to do a few more hours in one day. The next practice will be intensive care nursing and then geriatric nursing. So I will finish my practice period somewhere in the middle of July.

I’ve met a  lot of nice erasmus students here. They are always inviting me to different events, trips, out for lunch, to parties etc etc. There are students from Greece, Rumenia, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Scotland, Iran, Poland, France and Russia. All of them can speak English pretty good, except the spanish people. Besides me there’s only 3 more nursing students, I haven’t met them yet, because they are practicing in Rimini Hospital, while I’m in a nursing center that visits all the patients in their homes. So a lot of driving around in the cities, villages and in the mountains. But it is very interesting to work with patients who are all over 90 years old, who live with their caregivers and are still smiling and joking.

So next time I'll write more, I promise! I just can't sit in the room when the sun is so shiny and also work is waiting...All the best to you guys!

 Home, sweet home.

 Home, sweet home vol 2.

 All Erasmus students together.