Day 1 of MINE!

I hope you're sitting comfortable, so I'll begin :)


Day 1:

I suppose that anticipation hung over all of us, no-one knowing exactly what they had let themselves in for, not only got the MINE Project, but also coming to Finland for 2 weeks, the weather being very different for many of us... I am pleased to say that although it's much snowier and colder here, it's not as wet as what we Brits are accustomed too, quite pleasant really.

After the initial housekeeping bits and bobs that have to be completed, we were given a tour of the local hospital. It didn't take long at all for differences to become very obvious between all the different ways to how each country works and operates. Initially the biggest shocks for me was the patient:nurse ratio, a higher percentage of people on the ward being trained nurses, and the small things, like decorated day rooms with instruments, a variety of seats, and it being a pleasant place to be as opposed to an overflow for nursing notes to be written. Having come to an immediate decision that this simply was a better system than the one I was accustomed to, I thought no more of it, and was essentially in awe, seeing all the best bits... It realised later, when I was talking to a fellow student that the system that I am from is totally different from the one that's been shown off to me. The shear size of population in Pori simply doesn't compare to that of London, (London's population being roughly 95 times larger than that of Pori). Once this had been pointed out to me, it became far more understandable as to why the hospital visited in Pori seemed less full, and less hectic and didn't appear to be running on limited resources... it simply was!

Our first day of MINE ended with a 'naming and gaming' session, put on by students now on ERASMUS in Pori, who were involved with the MINE IP last year in Malta. Up until this point we were beginning to recognise people's faces in relation to their country group... but had had little exchange with one another. It's fascinating how quickly people can work well together once a common goal is put in front of people, and how people from different nationalities with different languages can work well (save a few exceptions!) when barriers like communication is levelled out for everyone... no talking. The whole of the Intensive Programme (IP) is done in English... being one of the UK delegations, I have no problems with this, but for those who aren't so used to speaking constantly in a foreign language, this can be incredibly daunting. I found it really fascinating to see how peoples confidence shifted once that hurdle had been taken away. Hopefully this will remind me to be more mindful of those I am working along side during this IP that I don't build on barriers that may already be there, and use skills that I have acquired to take things further, and to learn off each other better ways to work together.