1 more semester!

Last week I finished my 10th semester of medical school, which means I only have 1 left. It's been a long journey, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! And I'll be spending the last few months of school doing an away rotation in the US, so I'm excited. I'm trying to ignore the fact that all this means I really have to pick a specialty........

So Monday was my first day of work as a doctor. I kept almost introducing myself as a med student, and I had to stop myself. When I was dictating my charts, I had to stop myself from saying I was a med student dictating for Resident'sName. It's just me. I dictate and write the charts, and no one checks my work. Yikes!!

A few funnies from my first 2 days:

Little old lady (LOL): Oh, my son is a doctor in SwedishTownI'veNeverHeardOf.
Me: Oh, really?
LOL: Yes. And where he works, there are a lot of young immigrant doctors.
Me (young immigrant doctor): Oh...
LOL: So his patients love him. They are SO HAPPY to be able to talk to someone who speaks Swedish. It's so hard when all the doctors are immigrants.

Me: Hi, my name is Mrs.E, I'm one of the doctors here.
LOL#2: Oh. And a woman, too!
Me: Yep.
LOL#2: A doctor and a woman.
Me: Yep.
LOL#2: So what do you call yourself if you're a doctor and a woman?
Me: .......A doctor.......
LOL#2: Well, there must be another word for it. A more feminine word.
Me: No, there's no other word, just doctor!

What happens when you don't have window screens

Here in Sweden, it doesn't get very hot in the summer, at least not very often. As a result, no one has air conditioning. No one. Instead, you have to deal with opening your windows and hoping it doesn't get too hot inside.

BUT....Swedes don't seem to have discovered screens. So you open all your windows, and think "Ahh, what a nice breeze." But then, your apartment quickly gets overrun with bees, flies, and mosquitoes. Then you have to make The Choice - a hot apartment, or dealing with the bugs?!

Today I had this problem. It's 75 degrees-ish and humid. I opened all the windows, and the balcony door. Within minutes there were bugs everywhere. I went into the bathroom and saw a huge (like, 5 inches wide, and I'm not exaggerating) mosquito-looking thing. I took a picture and sent it to my husband. He didn't reply, so I called him. This is how that conversation went:

Him: Hello?
Me: Did you see the picture I sent you?!
Him: No, what picture?
Me: You need to look at it. Now.
Him: Ok....
Me: WHAT IS THAT?!
Him: It's a....I don't remember what they're called in English.
Me: It's a giant freaking mosquito is what it is!!!!!!!!
Him: It doesn't bite.
Me: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? You can't know that.
Him: The big ones don't bite.
Me: I don't believe you. Can you please come home and kill it for me?
Him: I'm at work...
Me: So?
Him: I have to go. They don't bite. Calm down. You'll be fine. I love you.
Me: Fine. Bye.

I mean, he seemed to think it was unreasonable to ask him to come home and kill it. The nerve.

First, I did what any sane person would do, I closed the door and locked it in the bathroom. But then I realized I couldn't avoid the bathroom all day, especially since I was going for a run and would need to shower.

So I manned up. I went in the bathroom with 4 sheets of paper towels bunched together (you don't want to risk getting pieces of bug guts on your hand). I stood on a chair, and took a deep breath, and squashed it.

Then I ran some water over the paper towel. You have to make sure it's dead.

Then I put the wet paper towel with the bug inside in the trash. And then I tied the bag up and took it outside. What if it comes back to life?! You can't take that risk.

The bug is gone. I closed all the windows and left the balcony door open a crack.

The moral of the story: Sweden, you need to discover SCREENS. They're like magic, you put them on your windows, and then the bugs can't come in. Please, please, can you work on this for me?