Tairona

II.III.IV TAIRONA Somehow, against all odds, I woke up feeling better than ever. We got up, shook off our boots in case of spiders and scorpions (because apparently these things happen), and headed out before dawn in order to get a head start on what was to be the most challenging of days. We trekked along the riverside of the […]

Wild

II.III.III WILD read on the doe My journey through Colombia led Pedro and me to Santa Marta, a city renowned for Tayrona National Natural Park, a wildlife sanctuary that is practically heaven on earth. Yet it wasn’t for this either that we had travelled there. It was for the Ciudad Perdida – the Lost City of Teyuna, an ancient settlement hidden deep […]

Land of Passion

II.II.II LAND OF PASSION And hello Colombia – the promised land! But trust me when I say it really didn’t feel like it when I arrived in Bogotá, the capital. After four hundred million hours of travelling I felt disgusting and exhausted – kinda like a professional athlete at the end of a triathlon, only all I did was sit […]

Departure

II.II.I DEPARTURE Colombia… Half the world away it stood. And I was going there. The furthest I had ever been from home was Manchester; three hours away from Malta by plane. And now I was going to friggin’ Colombia – some 10,000 kilometres away. “It’s okay, it’s okay – he’ll be there with me!” I told myself as I tried […]

Out

II.II.VI OUT Over the next two weeks of my summer general rotation, my passion for medicine only intensified. I saw all kinds of surgeries – some of which I’d be lucky to encounter again throughout my life. It was all I expected to see and then some. Patients that would forever remain immortalised in my memory. Especially the one with […]

In

II.II.V IN My third year in medicine was right around the corner. Third year – one of the most challenging years in the course, if not the most. But it was also the year I had been most looking forward to. Third year meant finally starting our clinical rotations! The previous summer, before the whole Manchester saga, I had spent […]

Inheritance

II.II.IV INHERITANCE read on the doe It wasn’t only grief that changed me after my father’s death. For the first time in my life, I had enough money to do whatever the hell I wanted. I’m not talking millions here – in fact, I was by no account even close to being rich. I had just enough to live comfortably […]

Alone

II.II.III ALONE I had never lost anyone before then. This was all terra incognita to me. Luckily, I wasn’t alone. I had friends, and now, I also had someone by my side who made it a little more bearable. Only now, this someone too was about to leave me. It was around the same time that Pedro’s job opportunity fell […]

Anger

II.II.II ANGER I stood tall and put on a brave face. Remember, I’m too proud a person to admit weakness or vulnerability. I wasn’t the one in need of consoling. I was the one doing the consoling. My mother, my brother, my aunts and uncles… they were all a mess, as if their entire life had just collapsed in front […]

Goodbye

II.II.I GOODBYE read on the doe Things were going great. I had finally got my routine down, I was in love, and I was about to embark on my third year of studies. This meant finally going around the hospital as we started our clinical rotations and getting to see a little bit of everything. Basically, a dream come true! […]