Starting Third Year

With the summer break behind me, it's time to get ready to start Year 3 of medical school. The first two years of med school were mainly classroom-based studying. This and next year will consist of clinical rotations. Each rotation runs for eight weeks, with one week off between rotations. This year's five rotations are: rural, surgery, mental health, GP, and medicine.

At the end of last year when I found out that international students were allowed to spend a whole year at a rural location, I jumped at the chance and got a spot at Hervey Bay. I wanted to spend a year at a rural hospital for two reasons: one, to see how medicine is practiced in regional/rural areas; two, to see if I like living in a rural area. I want to stay in Australia afterI finish med school. As an international student, chances are that I will be allocated a spot in a rural area. It would be much better to find out now whether this rural thing is for me.

Hervey Bay (pronounced "Hahvee Bay"), situated 300 kilometers north of Brisbane, is a town of 50,000 people. Anyone who has been to Frazer Island would have stayed in Hervey Bay. It's a spread-out, laid back town that makes the pace in Brisbane seem hectic. The population, as I was told, consists mostly of "newly weds and nearly deads," with a healthy proportion of backpackers thrown in for good measure.

Compared to capital cities like Brisbane where an efficient public transport system makes it effortless to get around without a car, public transport in rural areas is sorely lacking and a car is definitely a requirement. So after my housemates and I moved out of our house, I looked and found a car. It's a little Daihatsu Charade with a three-cylinder engine. I am sure there are ride-on lawn mowers in the States that have bigger engines than this car. But at the same price as a return flight from Brisbane to New York, it's a steal.

The med school will give me free accommodation for the whole year. I will be living in a house with other third-years. Yesterday I drove my new (well, new to me) car with some of my stuff up the coast to Hervey Bay. It almost felt like freshman year in college when I moved into the dorms.

We had an orientation session this morning. Doctors from different departments came to give little talks. From the way they talked to us, it felt like they were already recruiting us to stay and work here. At the end, I almost wanted to jump up and start working. Okay, not quite, but I am sold. Hey, Australia, how about a permanent resident visa, huh?

I am taking off for Brisbane tomorrow. Even though Hervey Bay will be my home for this year, I won't be living here until March. My first rotation, which starts next week, is rural rotation. I don't really know what to expect, but I know I will be sent to two small towns, Dalby and Chinchilla, in outback Queensland. But first I will spend one prep week in Toowoomba. After living out of a suitcase for two months, I will move to Hervey Bay for the rest of the year.