We Made It! - Lauren Riley, Pharmacy Candidate

Yay! We made it! We have had such an interesting trip since we got here on Friday night...

After getting off the plane, we walked out of the airport lobby and were greeted by thousands of people! Ok- they weren't all for us but it was so interesting seeing all of these people waiting at the airport for their loved ones. There were 1000x more people than I have ever seen at the ATL airport.

After a short night's sleep (I kindly refer to it as a long nap), we started the day in Ho Chi Minh City. Hearing history from the local's point of view was very interesting. While I wasn't around for the Vietnam War, I have heard the tragic stories from my parents about it. The videos we saw and the stories that were told seemed to have a different vibe than the ones I have heard at home...

The food has been amazing here! The first couple of days, we have had multiple multi-course meals! The food is so delicious! I have a new found love for Dragon Fruit and Rambutans... go get them at the farmers market - Delicious!

Yesterday (Sunday) we had our first taste of what we will be doing for the next week as we visited the hospital we will be stationed at. From the outside, the hospital looks very nice: the building is fairly new, there are lots of scooters parked outside, etc. Even the inside looked very nice. However, the first culture shock I had was seeing patients being wheeled around the hospital by their family members. Culture shock number two came when I saw a patient on a metal "cart" using a towel for a pillow. Wow... we are so lucky to have a health care system that allows us all that we have. No matter how much I may complain about our system, we have beds to lay in and personnel to assist us in our care.

Today is Monday and our first day of clinics. I am very excited about working with our team. We have a great mix of people both medically and non-medically minded. We anticipate seeing approximately 90 patients today and hopefully get a sense of the illnesses that we will see for the rest of the week to help us treat them effectively.

Don't forget we are 11 hours different from home; it is 6:45am and we are headed to breakfast and will be starting clinics in less than 2 hours. I anticipate a full 8+ hour day in smoldering heat. Say a little prayer - I know we will all need it!