Hi,
It has been a while. But now I can say, that the Erasmus experience for me is over. The final practice, physiotherapy of children, took place in a school for disabled youngsters - Colegio de Educación Especial Ciudad de Toledo. All in all, it was a great practice. At first I was a bit scpetic, but soon realized that it was a very good experience with excellent tutoring and interesting people.
To say a few words about the the whole trip...I would say it was an adventure i its best meaning. Being in a new cultural environment, speaking in a foreign language, living away from home and being independent. All these factors were very important for me and I feel more confident and professional than ever ;D. To be completely honest, I would recommend going abroad to study or practice to everybody. All it takes is a little courage. It is definitely worth it.
I guess this is it for me in this blog. And for those who walk the same path as I did, I hope that your experience will be as immense as mine.
Your´s faithfully,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Greetings from Barcelona
Today is our 11th day in here, in Barcelona. And today was also our first school day in here. We go on the local nursing school and visit the classes, because our Spanish is not good enough to go to the hospital. In this way we can hear a lot of Spanish. In my mind it is a really good opportunity how to learn the Spanish more quickerly. And also it is very interesting to see, which the lessons are in here. Today we should have three classes, but we had only one. Our classes were canceled, because of the bad weather. Here is snowing!!! It is the first snow over the many-many years when it’s snowing in here. It is really uncommon. Firstly it wasn't like a real snow, it was something between snow and rain. In Estonia we call it "lörts". But after some minutes it really started snowing. It is really incredible. Autonoma de Universitat was evacuated. All the schools are closed There is a lot of people on the streets, who are acting like crazy ones. They are taking pictures, playing the snow ward etc. All the people are so happy, they are like young children, because I think most of them haven’t never seen the snow. And my room mates have been singing the Christmas songs all the day.
In Estonia, this is totally normal weather, but not in here. When our coordinator came and said that the classes are cancelled because of the weather, then she also said that certainly we laugh at it. We are used to with snow. :P Yes, of course we are!
Here is real panic at the moment. The public transport is stopped, trains traffic is interfered, Internet connection is gone. Everything is out of order because of snow. Tomorrow nobody don’t have classes also.
The one lesson what we had, was anatomy and physiology. It was the first year nursing student lesson and we went to there because it was in Spanish. Here are a lot of classes in Catalan, not in Spanish, because here, in Barcelona, are two official languages – Catalan and Spanish. Usually the local people can speak both of this language, but unfortunately not all of them. We try to learn only Spanish, because it is easier and more common in the word.
This is the reason why we visit a lot of different classes - some are the first year classes, some are the third year ones. It is interesting. Fortunately, there was quite easy to understand the point of the lesson, because a lot of words where similar to Estonian. As you know, all the medicine language is based on the Latin. That is really good.
We will write soon again,
Adios!
Kertu ja Maarjo
In Estonia, this is totally normal weather, but not in here. When our coordinator came and said that the classes are cancelled because of the weather, then she also said that certainly we laugh at it. We are used to with snow. :P Yes, of course we are!
Here is real panic at the moment. The public transport is stopped, trains traffic is interfered, Internet connection is gone. Everything is out of order because of snow. Tomorrow nobody don’t have classes also.
The one lesson what we had, was anatomy and physiology. It was the first year nursing student lesson and we went to there because it was in Spanish. Here are a lot of classes in Catalan, not in Spanish, because here, in Barcelona, are two official languages – Catalan and Spanish. Usually the local people can speak both of this language, but unfortunately not all of them. We try to learn only Spanish, because it is easier and more common in the word.
This is the reason why we visit a lot of different classes - some are the first year classes, some are the third year ones. It is interesting. Fortunately, there was quite easy to understand the point of the lesson, because a lot of words where similar to Estonian. As you know, all the medicine language is based on the Latin. That is really good.
We will write soon again,
Adios!
Kertu ja Maarjo
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
21 outgoing students
Soon starting from the end of February 2010 will go abroad from Tartu Health Care College 21 Erasmus students so it means here will be more offen posts about exhange students experiances.
Also we will recive 1 student from Portugal and 2 students from Latvia. All 3 will do their practice in our College practice bases.
So I strongly recommend keep your eyes on our blog. Here you can read and ask from students what you are interested in.
If you have any questions to us, Erasmus coordinators, then contact us directly by e-mail: daneljantra@nooruse.ee or piretsaag@nooruse.ee
Kind regards,
Danel and Piret
Also we will recive 1 student from Portugal and 2 students from Latvia. All 3 will do their practice in our College practice bases.
So I strongly recommend keep your eyes on our blog. Here you can read and ask from students what you are interested in.
If you have any questions to us, Erasmus coordinators, then contact us directly by e-mail: daneljantra@nooruse.ee or piretsaag@nooruse.ee
Kind regards,
Danel and Piret
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Final strech in Toledo
Hola!
OK, by now I have finished two of the three practices here. My last post was before the second one started. Since then, quite a lot of things have happened. I started flying back here on 8 of January. Everything was normal until the plane was delayed and as a result of that, I was standing in the Intercambiador Plaza Eliptica, a bus station in Madrid, at 22.02 having just missed the last bus to Toledo by two minutes. Great. So I phoned my flatmate in Toledo, that maybe he could pick me up in Madrid. He said alright and told me that he would arrive at about midnight. After having waited for about an hour, my phone rang. It was a man, telling me that he was the brother of my flatmate and that he lived in Madrid and fortunately, one of his roommates is out for the night and there a place for me. So I waited a little longer and finally we met in subway and went to his place. The night turned out to be a party with him and his two mates. In the morning I took the bus to Toledo. All in all, another crazy adventure.
Speaking about the second practice, massage, I suppose it was alright. Although, it was not a "massage practice" per se. During the first week, I got about two massages a day, each lasting about 15 minutes. Some of the time I spent doing nothing and mostly it was like the physical treatments practice we have in Estonia - ultrasound, magnetic therapy, TENS etc. During the next weeks, the number of massages increased and, all in all, turned out to be an OK practice.
The final practice is physiotherapy of children, in Colegio de Educación Especial, which is located a little bit out of town. Hopefully, it will also be a good experience.
What concerns the weather, it is becoming more and more beautiful. The last week has been only blue skies and bucketloads of sunshine. The temperature is not that idyllic yet, about 15-16-17 during the day, but, to my mind, it´s getting warmer every day. Ok, now it´s probably time to wrap it up. I guess that the next post will be my last, having finished all the practices in the end of February.
Regards,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
OK, by now I have finished two of the three practices here. My last post was before the second one started. Since then, quite a lot of things have happened. I started flying back here on 8 of January. Everything was normal until the plane was delayed and as a result of that, I was standing in the Intercambiador Plaza Eliptica, a bus station in Madrid, at 22.02 having just missed the last bus to Toledo by two minutes. Great. So I phoned my flatmate in Toledo, that maybe he could pick me up in Madrid. He said alright and told me that he would arrive at about midnight. After having waited for about an hour, my phone rang. It was a man, telling me that he was the brother of my flatmate and that he lived in Madrid and fortunately, one of his roommates is out for the night and there a place for me. So I waited a little longer and finally we met in subway and went to his place. The night turned out to be a party with him and his two mates. In the morning I took the bus to Toledo. All in all, another crazy adventure.
Speaking about the second practice, massage, I suppose it was alright. Although, it was not a "massage practice" per se. During the first week, I got about two massages a day, each lasting about 15 minutes. Some of the time I spent doing nothing and mostly it was like the physical treatments practice we have in Estonia - ultrasound, magnetic therapy, TENS etc. During the next weeks, the number of massages increased and, all in all, turned out to be an OK practice.
The final practice is physiotherapy of children, in Colegio de Educación Especial, which is located a little bit out of town. Hopefully, it will also be a good experience.
What concerns the weather, it is becoming more and more beautiful. The last week has been only blue skies and bucketloads of sunshine. The temperature is not that idyllic yet, about 15-16-17 during the day, but, to my mind, it´s getting warmer every day. Ok, now it´s probably time to wrap it up. I guess that the next post will be my last, having finished all the practices in the end of February.
Regards,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
Thursday, January 7, 2010
One down, two to go in Toledo
OK, it has been a while. Since my last post I have finished the neurological physiotherapy practice in Hospital Nacional de Paraplejicos. It ended just before christmas. Fortunately, I was able to come home for the holidays, actually I still am home. Tomorrow, though, it's the time go back. By all calculations, I should be tomorrow at 11 PM in Toledo again.
The new practice starts on Monday. For the next three weeks or so, I should do massage. To be honest, I have no idea whether the tutors there can speak English or not. Either way, It will be a new and exciting adventure. Probably, I'll make a new post next week, then I'll know more about the massaage practice.
Have a pleasant new year,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
The new practice starts on Monday. For the next three weeks or so, I should do massage. To be honest, I have no idea whether the tutors there can speak English or not. Either way, It will be a new and exciting adventure. Probably, I'll make a new post next week, then I'll know more about the massaage practice.
Have a pleasant new year,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Portuguese News
Hello again,
First of all, Happy New Year!!!
We haven’t written for a while because during the rest of the month of November and December there were many things happening. We started our self-study project that we have to deliver and present in the end of Erasmus, we continued our practices, we participated in Baltic Seminar "ERASMUS student placements in Baltic countries: enhancing cooperation between universities and enterprises" Vol.2.” at Tallinn’s University, made some trips, spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Tallinn and moved to Tartu.
Our self-study project was started after lots of research in Tallinn’s library, books of East Tallinn Central Hospital (ETCH) and conversation with our teachers in Portugal, having already some good advances.
We had an invitation to participate in Baltic Seminar organized by Tallinn’s University to make a presentation about our experiences in Erasmus. We were very nervous, but it went pretty well!
As you probably noticed by our previous posts we like to travel, so in November and December we made more trips.
The first one was a weekend in Riga, where we walked through the city, stayed in an amazing hostel (City Lounge Hostel) with a crazy and funny owner and knew a great disco (Essencial), where we had 2 awesome nights with many Erasmus students.
The second trip we did was called “Sea Battle” and was a reunion in a cruise with Erasmus students from Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and Finland, where we did the trip from Tallinn to Stockholm. All the trip was a huge party because we met many people from different countries and visited Stockholm, a wonderful and beautiful city that we would love to return.
The final but not the least trip was to Lapland where we stayed at Rovaniemi and had the chance to make a safari at Ranua Wildlife Park, meet Santa Claus, correctly, Father Christmas and watched a great exhibition about the changes in the artic circle.
Christmas this year was entirely different for us because we are used to spend it in our hometown with our families , but this time we spent in Estonia between friends and Dri’s sister (Ines), who came to visit her. Ines came a few days before Christmas with a great surprise…portuguese typical food for Christmas, then we showed her Tallinn, including of course the Christmas Market, where we tasted the Hot Wine and the ginger biscuits. Our Christmas dinner was spent with 2 portuguese friends and Ines. We cooked codfish and octopus, 2 Christmas dishes in Portugal, exchanged gifts at midnight, as we always do back at home, and then went to an Italian party to celebrate Christmas Eve. We can’t forget to say that it was the only Christmas with SNOW that we had… UAAAU :D
New Year’s Eve was the best event ever because we went to Vabaduse Valjak ( a square in Tallinn) to see the firework and it was snowing a lot at midnight. As we always do in Portugal we ate the 12 raisins at midnight, asked our wishes together celebrating with a 3L bottle of champagne and singing. Then Dri asked some people a sleigh ride through Vabaduse Valjak, it was really funny because after that they spoke with us in portuguese. After we walk to some friends house and saw people laying down on the snow, so we decided to share their experience and throwed ourselves to the snow without even thinking in the – 8 degrees! Lol
At ETCH the practical training continued with changes of Radiology Service, from CT and MRI to Radiography in the beginning of December. After 4 weeks in Radiography we finished our practices in Tallinn and had to move to Tartu, so we can have mammography practical training in Tartu University Clinic.
Now we are in Tartu since sunday and we will be here until the end of January to complete the practical training and present our self-study project. We hope to have a lovely time here, but we are already missing Tallinn and all the Erasmus students there.
Tervisecks!
Dri and Mimi
First of all, Happy New Year!!!
We haven’t written for a while because during the rest of the month of November and December there were many things happening. We started our self-study project that we have to deliver and present in the end of Erasmus, we continued our practices, we participated in Baltic Seminar "ERASMUS student placements in Baltic countries: enhancing cooperation between universities and enterprises" Vol.2.” at Tallinn’s University, made some trips, spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Tallinn and moved to Tartu.
Our self-study project was started after lots of research in Tallinn’s library, books of East Tallinn Central Hospital (ETCH) and conversation with our teachers in Portugal, having already some good advances.
We had an invitation to participate in Baltic Seminar organized by Tallinn’s University to make a presentation about our experiences in Erasmus. We were very nervous, but it went pretty well!
As you probably noticed by our previous posts we like to travel, so in November and December we made more trips.
The first one was a weekend in Riga, where we walked through the city, stayed in an amazing hostel (City Lounge Hostel) with a crazy and funny owner and knew a great disco (Essencial), where we had 2 awesome nights with many Erasmus students.
The second trip we did was called “Sea Battle” and was a reunion in a cruise with Erasmus students from Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and Finland, where we did the trip from Tallinn to Stockholm. All the trip was a huge party because we met many people from different countries and visited Stockholm, a wonderful and beautiful city that we would love to return.
The final but not the least trip was to Lapland where we stayed at Rovaniemi and had the chance to make a safari at Ranua Wildlife Park, meet Santa Claus, correctly, Father Christmas and watched a great exhibition about the changes in the artic circle.
Christmas this year was entirely different for us because we are used to spend it in our hometown with our families , but this time we spent in Estonia between friends and Dri’s sister (Ines), who came to visit her. Ines came a few days before Christmas with a great surprise…portuguese typical food for Christmas, then we showed her Tallinn, including of course the Christmas Market, where we tasted the Hot Wine and the ginger biscuits. Our Christmas dinner was spent with 2 portuguese friends and Ines. We cooked codfish and octopus, 2 Christmas dishes in Portugal, exchanged gifts at midnight, as we always do back at home, and then went to an Italian party to celebrate Christmas Eve. We can’t forget to say that it was the only Christmas with SNOW that we had… UAAAU :D
New Year’s Eve was the best event ever because we went to Vabaduse Valjak ( a square in Tallinn) to see the firework and it was snowing a lot at midnight. As we always do in Portugal we ate the 12 raisins at midnight, asked our wishes together celebrating with a 3L bottle of champagne and singing. Then Dri asked some people a sleigh ride through Vabaduse Valjak, it was really funny because after that they spoke with us in portuguese. After we walk to some friends house and saw people laying down on the snow, so we decided to share their experience and throwed ourselves to the snow without even thinking in the – 8 degrees! Lol
At ETCH the practical training continued with changes of Radiology Service, from CT and MRI to Radiography in the beginning of December. After 4 weeks in Radiography we finished our practices in Tallinn and had to move to Tartu, so we can have mammography practical training in Tartu University Clinic.
Now we are in Tartu since sunday and we will be here until the end of January to complete the practical training and present our self-study project. We hope to have a lovely time here, but we are already missing Tallinn and all the Erasmus students there.
Tervisecks!
Dri and Mimi
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Toledo
Hi Everybody.
I am a third year physiotherapy student doing practices in Toledo, Spain. This is the first time I am writing here.
To begin with, I would like to say that Toledo is wonderful. Despite the autumnish weather and some problem with accommodation, it has still been a new and exciting adventure.
I arrived here on 19th of November. It was about 9 o´clock in the evening. I decided to take a taxi from the bus station. I had booked a hostel beforehand and when I got there, the doors were already closed. I thought that I now I would be in deep trouble. But then, after some minutes of yelling, the owner finally heard me and showed me to my room. All was well. The next day I went to see the local Erasmus coordinators and in the evening checked out some flats. One of them was OK, but the catch was that I could move in on 1st December. So I spent some days in the hostel and then most of the time left in another hostel, that was a bit cheaper. On 1st December I moved into the appartment and it has been quite good. Although, there were loads of problems with accommodation. A few times I had no idea, whether I could stay another day in the hostel or not. Another funny thing is that the sam flat where I am living now was turned down for me twice. But now, everything is OK.
Speaking about the practice, it has been very good. Currently I am working in the Hospital Nacional de Paraplejicos. So far it has been a great learning and practicing experience. I think that this is enough for the first blog post here.
All in all, Toledo is a neat town and if anyone ist thinking about coming here as well, then I would definitely recommend it, however, I would be a good idea to get a solid accommodation agreement beforehand. Anyway, I hope to make another post soon.
Best regards,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
I am a third year physiotherapy student doing practices in Toledo, Spain. This is the first time I am writing here.
To begin with, I would like to say that Toledo is wonderful. Despite the autumnish weather and some problem with accommodation, it has still been a new and exciting adventure.
I arrived here on 19th of November. It was about 9 o´clock in the evening. I decided to take a taxi from the bus station. I had booked a hostel beforehand and when I got there, the doors were already closed. I thought that I now I would be in deep trouble. But then, after some minutes of yelling, the owner finally heard me and showed me to my room. All was well. The next day I went to see the local Erasmus coordinators and in the evening checked out some flats. One of them was OK, but the catch was that I could move in on 1st December. So I spent some days in the hostel and then most of the time left in another hostel, that was a bit cheaper. On 1st December I moved into the appartment and it has been quite good. Although, there were loads of problems with accommodation. A few times I had no idea, whether I could stay another day in the hostel or not. Another funny thing is that the sam flat where I am living now was turned down for me twice. But now, everything is OK.
Speaking about the practice, it has been very good. Currently I am working in the Hospital Nacional de Paraplejicos. So far it has been a great learning and practicing experience. I think that this is enough for the first blog post here.
All in all, Toledo is a neat town and if anyone ist thinking about coming here as well, then I would definitely recommend it, however, I would be a good idea to get a solid accommodation agreement beforehand. Anyway, I hope to make another post soon.
Best regards,
Ott Vanem
FT-III
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