OH How I Love Colons

I didn’t think anyone wanted to see a picture of a colon so I just put a funny picture 🙂

Shadowing orthopedics last week was such an awesome experience. It was something I could see myself doing. Orthopedics set the bar very high for the rest of the trip and I subconsiously knew that my next two weeks shadowing would probably not be as exciting because they would consist of more time in office visits and not blood squirting out everywhere and dislocated joints; however, I kind of refused to accept that fact.

I consider myself a fairly optimistic person that usually can find the positive in any situation and make it an enjoyable time. However, I know so many people are jumping up and down when they are told they need a colonoscopy, but I struggled to find anything exciting about watching colonoscopy.

On top of this, I am also hitting the slump of my travels. I just need a break and some time to myself. Not that I don’t love the people on my trip and hanging out with them, but I have just been gone for such a long time already and need a break from always being in that “on” mode. Before this trip, I was skeptical that there would be a time that I would just want to be at home and sit and do nothing (because if you know me that is almost impossible for me to do). But sometimes you just need a break and even just a weekend to yourself to do exactly what you want to do and not worry about other people.

This slump along with the exciting week of colonoscopies has just been such a wonderful time. My optimistic and upbeat self feels like it is dragging on the floor behind me wherever I walk. Colonoscopy after colonoscopy I tried to find something that would make it a little more exciting to watch for the ummteeth time. (You could probably show me a picture of a part of the colon and I could identify where it is.) I am so tired of watching the little camera navigate through the colon and clean out all the remaining poop in people’s colons. I tried pretending the doctor was playing a video game (honestly, that is what it looks like). Nothing seemed to help and I always found myself starting at the clock thinking it would make 2pm come faster. NEWSFLASH it makes time pass a million times slower.

So I found myself talking to God today when I started to nod off watching the colonoscopies. I sat there talking to him about how boring this was and how I could not imagine what it was like for this doctor to have to do this day in and day out for his life. God thumped me on the back of my head at that comment.

God made us all different and to have different passions. My passion may not be looking at colons, but that does not mean that someone else is not passionate about that. I may not understand it, but I’m not supposed to. That is what makes us all so unique. We have different things that make us excited. Mine might be Orthopedics and his might be colonoscopy, but as long as we are both doing what we are passionate about and trying to be the best that we can be, isn’t it all the same? We are serving others with our work to try to increase the quality of their life by doing something we enjoy.

With on more day in digestion and endoscopies, I cannot say I’m overly excited for it, but I am going to do my best to make the best of the situation. There are still so many things to learn from this experience in digestion – 1) I will never be a gastroenterologist. 2) I can learn from the way the patient and the doctor interact when they have to deliver both good news and bad news to the patient. 3) I can learn how the doctor works with his team of nurses as a unit and not as an authority figure.

Headed to Barcelona for the weekend. Can’t wait!!!

 

XOXO,

Kaitlyn

 

Rock Bottom

I don’t know if you have ever felt like you hit rock bottom, but the operating room floor sure felt like rock bottom for me. My dreams felt crushed; I felt pathetic and embarrassed because they became concerned about me while they had a patient with their internal organs exposed. If you know me, I hate being the center of attention for anything and I hate to be bother or a handful, so this whole situation was just awful for me.

Sitting on the floor in the corner of the operating room, I remember thinking what the heck am I doing? How am I suppose to ever be a doctor or a surgeon? Or more importantly how am I even suppose to survive today in Trauma/Orthopedic Surgery? I just sat there and prayed that I could at least survive today and then ask to switch specialties. I prayed that I would look at this program as a learning opportunity, and if I learned I was not called to be a doctor, I prayed that I would be content and calm about figuring out what my passion is.

Five surgeries and one day later, I think I figured it out. I love surgery, especially orthopedics. I love that each case may appear similar but actually, each case is very specific to itself.  I had the opportunity to see the doctors replace a hip, two knee replacement surgeries (one with a computer to help with the alignment and one manually aligned), a dislocated hip with a fracture in the neck of the femur, and the replacement of screws in a hip replacement.

I will spare you the details of trying to describe how awesome these surgeries were (once I survived the first one). It was so neat to see everything behind the scenes because I only have experience from being the patient. And it is far different than I would have thought.

Some of the doctors still offer me a chair to sit in during the surgery just in case, but I’m good now and no longer worry about when I will have nice little encounter with the floor of the operating room. Not sure I’m ever going to live it down with them. But they are so sweet and take care of me so well and include me in everything. They take time to explain the type of surgery they are doing and exactly why they are doing each step they are doing. They also stop in the middle to show me specifics that you just can’t explain with words. I just can’t put into words what an awesome experience it has been.

It has been a truly amazing experience in the operating room. Unfortunately, I only have two days left before I change departments, but they are like my family now. They invite me to their coffee breaks and we all work on our language skills. I will miss them after this week; they have been so influential in this process for me. Digestion and Oncology have big shoes to fill.

 

XOXO,

(Your next surgeon) Kaitlyn

Salamanca, Te extrano mucho

Wow and just like that six weeks of study abroad are over. I can say that I am so glad to be done with classes, but I will miss so but I will miss the 5 hour long tapa tours, the weekend adventures, and all the wonderful people I meet on my trip.

When I arrived in Salamanca, I liked it but didn’t fall in love with it. Salamanca is small and more personal than big cities like Madrid, but still nothing stood out to me. Though I loved the plaza in the middle of the city. The square always had lots of people (minus siesta time) and I spent so much time there eating gelato. It was beautiful both in the day time and at night and I spent as much time as I could with friends in the plaza.

I didn’t realize how much Salamanca had grown on me until I arrived in Madrid today and I swiped the menu down on my phone and it said “Right now, it would take you about 2 hours, 22 minutes to drive home.” Home- that was what Salamanca was to me for the past six weeks.

I realized that Salamanca had  slowly grown on me. My friends and I discovered the secrets of Salamanca as we adventured down to the river and found parks to hang out in and enjoy a nice stroll. Quickly enough I started noticing that I loved Salamanca. The people there were so sweet and my host family was so wonderful.

It was hard to say goodbye. Salamanca had become my home for the past six weeks. I have never spent that much time anywhere but Fort Worth. It was hard to say bye to my Spanish mom Maria, who is so selfless and did so much for me during my weeks in her home. It was hard to say goodbye to Mar – our wonderful tour guide, that was so much more than a tour guide. She put up with all of our crap and was there both for the good time and the bad times. We all shared so many laughs with Mar.

As I watched the city get smaller and smaller as we drove away, I felt a heavy heart in my chest. I felt like a little bit of me was left behind as I looked out the window.

It was also so hard to say goodbye to my friends as I left for my next adventure in Spain, but the awesome thing about this study abroad is that I will be able to hangout with all these incredible people back at TCU next semester.

I will never forget the memories that we made on this trip. The laughs, the adventures, and everything in between. I can’t wait to be reunited with these girls in August in Fort Worth. And Salamanca, I will be back soon.

 

Tomorrow, I begin Orientation for the Atlantis Project where I will be shadowing a doctor in Teruel, Spain for three weeks. I can’t wait to learn about the health care in Spain and explore more of this wonderful country!

 

XOXO,

Kaitlyn Callaghan

Portugal

Free weekend = PORTUGAL!!!!!!!!

So for our last weekend of our study abroad, we have a free weekend. Six of my friends and I decided to go to Portugal together because Portugal is so close to Spain and who knows the next time we will have the chance to Portugal.

Two weeks ago, I found myself spending countless hours researching how to get there, researching the best places to stay, the best places to visits, and everything in between. (I think I could tell you every detail about Portugal and everything to see before even stepping foot in Portugal – I spent way too much time researching.)

I found myself booking the place we were going to stay and asking myself how am I old enough to book a place to stay in a foreign country and even traveling to another country without any supervising adults.

We unfortunately only had the option to take a 1 am train from Salamanca to Lisbon arriving at 7:30 am. (To say the least, it was a rough train ride and long day.) We arrived in Lisbon, and started walking to our apartment we were staying in. We were very surprised to find streets completely empty minus the hundreds of used plastic cups and plates from the very obvious party in the street from the night before. (We were informed by some locals that it was Portugal’s Independence Day.) So to say the least we were very unimpressed and worried about how the rest of our stay would go.

We spent the day seeing different sites in the city and walking through the streets getting to know the area. We went to the amazing Aquarium. We got a good view from a top of a tower built for a world fair. And the highlight of our day was when we stumbled upon one of the main squares in Portugal.

We watched the sunset by over the water. And we were fortunate enough to find a Euro Cup watching party. The entire square was converted into pretty much a tailgating and watching party for the Euro Cup (and Portugal wasn’t even playing yet). There was music to dance to, people to people-watch, food to eat, and we even made it on Portuguese TV! We made it big time! Sorry Mom I’m staying in Portugal.

Having the chance to experience this with hundreds of other people in this square was like nothing I have ever experienced. It is one of the reasons I fell in love with Portugal. It was so awesome and we definitely went back today to eat in the square and enjoy the atmosphere again.

Then today we went out to the beach to try to not look like a pale ghost anymore. Six hours later and I can now call myself pale lol. Maybe I’ll come back “tan”.

But it has been a really cool experience in all. I have just been feeling so grown up and like an adult after planning our days, where we eat, and navigating the city. Honestly, I could not imagine how my mom has planned the vacations we have done as a family. She has to have put so much work into it, and so much time. Trying to plan a three day trip to Lisbon was more than enough for me. I spent so many hours researching and trying to fun stuff to do and plan everything to work out, I almost went crazy. Maybe you can share some of your secrets with me Mom.

One more day at the beach, then we are headed back on an over night train to Salamanca for our last week. (Tears, I don’t want this to end!!!!) Maybe if I just don’t admit it, it won’t happen.

Prayers that I don’t turn into a lobster tomorrow!!!

 

XOXO,

Kaitlyn

 

P.S. Here’s some pics!

View of Lisbon

Me and the girls

The beach

The square where we watched the Euro Cup

Alfama – where we are staying

 

You Only Turn 20 Once

For starters, I think birthdays are one of the most awkward things ever. First of all, people are celebrating you and giving you all the attention when you literally did nothing to come into this world. My mom should get all the attention and credit for taking care of me for nine months and birthing me. Not an easy job, everyone should be celebrating her. Secondly, you run out of things to say once you have been told Happy Birthday for the um-teenth time, and you feel like you are just sadly repeating yourself over and over again. And finally, how awkward is it when everyone sings Happy Birthday to you. I know we have all been there multiple times. Like what do you do while a group of off-toned people attempt to sing this “wonderful” song to you – look at everyone else’s faces? Stare at the cake and candles pretending to be mesmerized by the little candles? do you just there awkwardly half-smiling and laughing?

Anyway, a birthday is usually a lovely day spent with your closest family and friends enjoying time together. I have always enjoyed having a May birthday because school is winding down and you can get with all your friends before summer starts. Or so that is how it was elementary through high school. In college, unfortunately my birthday is too late into May and everyone has gone home already. I have always been jealous of those who have a birthday during the school year and will have the chance to celebrate with their friends at school because I will never have that opportunity.

When I signed up for this trip I knew that I would be gone for my birthday and I didn’t know I felt about that. I was not home with my family for my birthday last year because I was working at Kanakuk and I won’t be home next year because I will be studying abroad in Cape Town, so I thought it would be nice to be home and spend that time with my family. Yes I know this sounds silly, but I was worried about how awkward it would be to celebrate my birthday with people I had only known for a week.

I should have learned by now that worry is just me not trusting and truly believing that God has a plan that is so much better than I could ever imagine. And yea it might sound a little silly that I was worried about having an awkward birthday but it ultimately stemmed from me being concerned about not making good friends on this trip. This is always a concern I have when I am put in a new situation – like going to college, working at Kanakuk, ect. But every time I can say that he has always provided such wonderful friends that speak truth into my life; however, I still had doubt and was convinced that I would be stuck in Spain with people I didn’t connect to for 5 weeks.

But boy, thankfully I was wrong. God provides like he always does. And not only did he provide, but did so in an even better way than I would have thought possible. My host mom was wonderful and cooked a tasty lunch for me and even went out to buy a treat for me when I know that she does not have a lot of extra money lying around to spend on that type of stuff. Everyone on the trip made me feel so loved and we had a Tapas Tour that lasted four hours. (We hopped from restaurant to restaurant eating Tapas as a meal.) There was even cake! And what was even better was I was surrounded by people that I can truly call my friends even though we have only spent a week with each other. I could not think of a better way to celebrate my birthday (except maybe flying all my friends and family out to Spain and having one big fiesta). I am so excited to spend the next 4 weeks traveling Spain with these wonderful people and
Shout out to all my friends at home who made me feel so loved even though I was not home in the Fort to celebrate with everyone there. And an even bigger shout out to my family for being selfless and making me feel so loved 8,000 miles from home and sacrificing for me that I may have this amazing opportunity to study abroad in Spain. Love y’all and miss y’all!

 

XOXO,

Kaitlyn

Thankful for America

Wow, I can not believe I have already been in Spain a week and I’m almost done with my first week of classes here in Salamanca. I feel like it was just yesterday when I decided that I wanted to go on this trip this summer. And just like that here I am! It really hasn’t set in that Salamanca will be my home for the next four and a half weeks.

In the week I have been in Spain, I feel like I have already seen so much of Spain and learned so much about its history and culture. We spent the first three days in Madrid touring the city and walking and walking and more walking. (One day my iPhone counted 30,000 steps!! EEKKK don’t know how my feet are still attached!!) Madrid was great, but it just felt like any other big European city to me – lots of cars, lots of people, and very industrial.

I was relieved to leave the big city and take a day trip to Toledo. Toledo was a cute, little town southwest of Madrid. I immediately fell in love with the little fortress village next to the Tajo River. I wish we could have spent another day or so walking and exploring the little streets of Toledo. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Now I am in Salamanca taking Spanish Immersion classes to finish my Spanish Minor. Usually my day consists of 4 and a half hours of Spanish language and culture classes in the morning with some type of activity in the afternoon. (These activities have ranged from touring sites of Salamanca to cooking class and Salsa lessons.)

In my short week and a half, I have already learned so many differences between Spain and America. Quickly, became thankful for many things in America. Now I don’t want anyone to read this and think that I am complaining about any of this. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to Study Abroad in Spain for 5 and a half weeks. These are just differences in culture and things I am learning to adjust to as I live with a wonderful host family in Spain. 

 

10 Things I am Thankful For

1. Thankful for Normal Eating Hours

After our first day of touring Madrid, our tour guide Mar asked us if we wanted to meet for dinner at 8:30 in the lobby. I would have loved to see our faces from her point of view. She looked at us confused and timidly asked if we would like to meet at 9. Our jaws could not drop any lower. Since this experience, I have learned that snacks are my best friend with lunches consistently at 2 and dinner at 9. After a week and a half, I am still not used to this and snacks are still my saving grace throughout the day.

Even though the long times between meals stinks, I do really appreciate the European dinner culture. Nothing is rushed. People sit around and enjoy the company that they have. In America, it is too common to a whole family at dinner on their cell phones and not talking to each other. I have yet to see this in Europe. People are always relaxed, laughing, and enjoying each others company. Yes, dinners may take 3 and a half hours and sometimes you find yourself leaving a restaurant at 11:30, but these dinners are some of my best memories so far.

 

2. Thankful for Water Fountains and Free Water

In America, I definitely take advantage of how easy it is to get water. We have water fountains everywhere, and if you can’t find one you can walk into a restaurant and get a free cup of water. I have yet to find one water fountain in Europe. And even when I have attempted to order tap water trying to avoid paying 2 euros for a bottle of water, the waitor looks at me funny and still brings me a bottle of water. (Maybe it is the slightly broken Spanish, oops.)

 

3. Thankful for Air Conditioning

Thankfully, this has not been too much of a problem yet as it has been a little chilly in Salamanca. However, during the day it gets quiet warm in the apartment I am staying in and I can only imagine that it will continue to get warmer as summer progresses. I definitely take for granted electricity and the privileges of having A/C at home. I can complain so much if it isn’t cool enough in the house even though it is much cooler than that Texas heat outside. And I can be so wasteful of it and forget that there are so many people that get by just find without it in places much hotter than where I am. It will be a good lesson in learning to cope with situations and learn to complain less about trivial things.

 

4. Thankful for Showers

I have no idea who designed these showers in the apartment I am staying in, but it was a horrible idea. So practically, my shower is about 2 x 3 feet and most of it is sloped so I really can only get in it and stand in one place. Also the shower curtain doesn’t have the shower protector so if the shower head decides to have a mind of its own (which it does often) it sprays the entire bathroom making it nearly impossible not to slip when trying to get out of the shower. Our Spanish mom has also asked that we take short showers because water bills are so expensive in Spain. Wow, just another wasteful thing that I take advantage of each day that I am in the shower. Sometimes I like to try to collect my thoughts in the shower and plan out the next day, but I guess I am going to have to save that for when I am not in shower.

 

5. Thankful for Technology

Now don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed the break from technology and constantly feeling like I need to check Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or text someone. However, it is so nice that I have technology that I can use to communicate with my family back home. I don’t know how I would make it through the summer without being able to talk to my family and friends some so I can still be informed about what is going on in their lives. ONe thing I hate most about traveling for long periods of times is not knowing what is going on in the lives of my closest friends. The distance and the time zone difference  really challenges me to make time to catch up with friends and be intentional about trying to find a time that is convenient for both of us to catch up. However, all of this just makes the reunion at the end of the summer even sweeter.

 

6. Thankful for Ice

I did not realize how much ice makes a difference in a glass of water until I arrived in Spain. Room temperature water is just not as satisfying on a warm summer day as a nice cold cup of water. Unless you specifically ask for ice at restaurant, it is very likely you will not be served ice in your drink. And even at the hotel we stayed at in Madrid, the “ice bucket” at the breakfast buffet had just enough ice for a tumbler cup. At restaurants even if you ask for ice, you get about three ice cubes in your cup. For some reason, Europeans just don’t like ice as much as Americans do.

 

7. Thankful for my Bed

I love beds that I can sink into. Unfortunately my bed for the next five weeks is as stiff as a rock. (Ok, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration. It really isn’t that bad, and I have been able to sleep fine.) My mom and I have a name for these beds – Mexico Beds. Those bed that you can crawl into and you feel like you can’t even make a dent into them. We have encountered countless of these types of beds in Mexico, thus how they got the name. Well, I can say I am thoroughly looking forward to the moment when I get to crawl into my memory foam mattress at the end of summer.

 

8. Thankful for Meats that aren’t Ham

Ham is literally everywhere! You can’t walk down a street in Spain without seeing pig legs hanging from the ceiling of at least one store. Spanish people love their ham. Ham and cheese sandwiches, ham in their croquettes, ham on pizza, ham in pasta, ham in their salad… You name it they probably eat it that way.The ham has been amazing; however, I am in need of a Texas steak or a nice filet of fish after almost two weeks of just ham.

 

9. Thankful for English

I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful English can sound after four hours of Spanish classes every day. (Or on days like today when we had to do make-up classes for the classes we will be missing next week when we go to Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba and had 8 hours of Spanish classes today.) English is such a universal language too. Everyone knows English these days which is really awesome for anyone who speaks English. There are students from Germany, Poland, France, and Ireland currently staying with and thankfully they all know English. We have had so many cool conversations because everyone knows English and have really gotten to know some cool stuff about each of the countries they are from because of English.

 

10. Thankful for America

Man, in case you were wondering America rocks. You may not be a fan of Obama or not agree with some policies that America has, but you can not disagree that you are not blessed to be living in America. Our economy may not be at its highest, but as a nation we are doing alright. Our health care may not be perfect, but there are so many more places where it is worse off. We maybe always wanting more and seeking more, but most of us really have more than we really need. We have freedom of speech, freedom to elect our officials, freedom of religion, and so much more. I am loving my time in Spain, but as I am here and learn about other countries, I realized how blessed we really are.

 

Once again, I don’t want you to see this as me complaining about anything. I am truly thankful for this opportunity and for the Spanish family I am staying with to open their house to me and students like me who are studying Spanish. I can’t wait to see what else I learn about myself, Spain, and the people around me as I continue life as a “local” in Spain!

 

XOXO,

Kaitlyn