During the summer 2016 I traveled for exchange to Izmir, Turkey. From two options of hospitals- Dokuz Eylul and Ege, I chose Dokuz Eylul, what was perfect choice. I spent 3weeks in Plastic Surgery (the first week was Bayram, holiday after Ramadan) and then i decided to stay longer in Izmir, also in hospital, so together i practised in hospital for 4weeks. Departmant of Plastic surgery was really great and I can recommend it. The doctors spoke english, were friendly, helpful and patient. They tried to explain me all proceeds which they did, described diseases, also anamnesis, showed defects on X-ray, CT or MR pictures. They described whole operations proces and next treatment too. During the operations they also asked some question. They let me be a part of the team and i was in steril clothes and assisted- changing bandages, scrubbing, holding instruments and also I did stitches. I also joined microsurgery. Generally, in hospital were friendly doctors and we could join also other departments, like ORL, ophtalmology, gynecology, etc. Proffesors in Plastic Surgery were perfect too, they were like family and then also on operations rooms was always good atmosphere. Because of the population in Izmir I could observe lots of untypical diagnosis, genetic defects which are in our books written as rare.
During the day in hospital we got one meal- usually it was soup or salad and main meal, also fruit or cake. Food was quite delicious and healthy also. Every day we met in dinning room with other students and ate together, what was also nice habit.
Unfortunetely, our dorms were so far from hospital, one way took 1hour and 20 minutes, so we travel quite lot every day. Also the quality of accomodation was poor- two bunk beds, 4 small iron cupports, table and small fridge in room 6x2m. Showers, bathrooms and toilets were common for whole floor. And toilets were squat tolites, turkish toilets.
Also security system was strange. They controled us 3times. In building on our dorms were secirity ladies, which didnt speak english at all and always wanted something, so we had to comunicate with translator in phones. We had to asked for permission to stay longer outside every day, otherwise we had to arrive until 11pm (then they changed it at 10pm) and signed the papers, that we came. But to the end, it was not so bad, because we left to hopsital in early morning and came back late night, usually we stayed in city centre directly.
What about options of traveling, Izmir was great destination, because there is so many interesting places where to go for one day trip or weekend trip too. We traveled as much as we can. We visited Pamukkale, Efesus, summer destination Cesme etc. We also traveled to different beaches around the Izmir. With local LEOs- Kaya and Selin, we spent amazing boat trip in Cesme where was party on the boat, we stopped on islands and swam. Also they managed for us some meetings like National drink and food party, city tour or dinner together.
We had also opportunities to join trips to Olympos and Cappadocia with TurkMSIC, what was really perfect and well organised. We met there also students from other turkish cities- Ankara, Istanbul. So every weekend we met all of us on different place and enjoined time together. We visisted sightseeings and special places during the day and the evening we went to party together. In Cappadocia we had „turkish night“ with traditional meals, drinks, music and dances.
Every day, in Izmir or around Izmir and Turkey, we visited new places. Every day was speacial and gave us new knowledge, experiences and friends. We tasted also all typical traditional meals. We could better understand the culture, traditions and turkish comunity because we where part of it. Absolutely it was the best and unforgetable experience.
