My trip to Mendoza_Argentina
Marcus Sorensen (Medicine)

Nat, the programme manager in Argentina had managed to arrange a placement for me in the Plastic Surgery and Burns department at the teaching hospital a short bus ride from the Work the World house. My Castilian Spanish and I would arrive every morning by 8am for the ward rounds, and try to squeeze some meaning out of the fast and furious, beautiful and quite Italian-sounding Mendoza Spanish - peppered with lots of hand gestures, grandstanding and melodrama (although that part may not be all that different to a UK surgery ward!).

I had the opportunity to firstly observe and then assist in a wide range of reconstructive surgeries, particularly on burns patients, but also on more unusual cases such as one elderly gentleman with Fournier's syndrome. I also saw advanced stages of the very rare pyoderma gangrenosum, open tibia fractures, Cushing's disease complications, and endless warm humanity in the friends and families of the patients on the wards.

The team of doctors who adopted me at the hospital were a wonderful and colourful cast, worthy of their own sitcom without a doubt. As a first year medical student in at the deep end, I needed to be shown the ropes, and that's exactly what they did, with great understanding, trust and warmth all the way through. Their command of English was minimal, and I was pleased to notice that my understanding of their outrageous humour, subtle politics and all-round camaraderie in Argentinian Spanish grew better and better through the weeks.

During the weekends, I became known as the slightly nutty adventurer, setting off on paragliding, high-wire canopy and kayaking excursions, roping housemates into the adrenaline rushes where possible. I was very glad to have invested in a scratch-, drop- and waterproof camera as a last-minute purchase at Heathrow airport before the 32-hour journey to Mendoza, as I tested out every single one of those claims and have some enviable photo albums to show for it!

Nat was great at organizing entertainment for the housemates as well, taking us out into town to check out the night life and even introducing us to her own social circle. During the afternoons after an intense morning at the hospital, I sometimes piggybacked on some of the intensive Spanish class activities, including private tango lessons and a trip to a local vineyard. Other times, I would sit and soak up the winter sun with a book in the yard behind the house.

When it was time to fly home after three weeks, I was already thinking about when my schedule would allow me to return to Mendoza and its warm people - a home away from home where my Spanish was changed to match the Argentinean rhythm and melody. In my suitcase (which did finally show up after 3 days and a lot of sartorial improvising), I packed once-in-a-lifetime memories, gifts from new-found friends, and an Argentinean football shirt bought in tribute to this most welcoming of places.