What a day!

So today we experienced our first day in a hospital in India, CMC- Vellore! Our day started out as an adventure as all 7 of us packed into 2 rickshaws to head to the Bank, only to find out the Bank did not have anyone to cash our travelers checks, apparently a common occurrence in Vellore. We then walked across the street to the Main CMC Campus. One word to describe it- beautiful! Set between mountains amongst lots of green trees, plants and flowers we found the Principal's Office (and no, we were not in trouble!). Mrs. Sheila was there to greet us warmly and welcome us to Vellore. After filling out a little paperwork and receiving our ID badges, we ventured outside to catch our bus to the hospital, about 7km away.

What a ride it was! I have never taken a city bus, and today was an experience. It was like a big Blue bus on Michigan's campus times 5. There were so many people! We had to ask the money collector where to get off while we were shouting to find each other on the crowded bus.

Upon arriving at the hospital, we had to part ways. I can only explain my first day, though everyone has plenty of stories to share, and we still have 2 weeks to go! I was assigned to the MICU- Medical Intensive Care Unit along with Yinan. We did not end up meeting with the doctors until 2:30pm so in the meantime we checkout the hospital library, met a new friend in the computer lab, and ate lunch at the canteen. The experience was great but made me realize how much I have forgotten from this year! They were throwing out acronyms, diseases, tests and treatments and my brain was working double time just to catch up. I wrote down so many things to look up so when I return tomorrow, I can understand the patients cases better!

I'm off to meet with the others for dinner, we will try and post pictures of Vellore later tonight!

Shivani