II.III.IX – Home

II.III.IX HOME Constantly moving on from adventure to another, I failed to notice my time in Colombia was almost up. On my last day, I opened my eyes and I was wide awake. I wanted to keep them closed, to go back to sleep. I wanted to stay in that moment right before you wake up – when things are […]

II.III.VIII – Wandering

II.III.VIII WANDERING Just before we’d get to enjoy the city of Bogotá, we had one final road trip planned in order to cover as much ground as possible. Luckily, Pedro’s father offered his car for that.  Our first stop was the Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá which are salt mines extending some 650 feet underground with a church at their epicentre. Apart from being […]

II.III.VII – Adrenaline

II.III.VII ADRENALINE As expected, tomorrow did come and as hungover as we were, we had yet another trip to make. We took a plane to Bucaramanga; a city north of Bogotá where we’d start on a road trip down south; a cascade of adventures along the way.  We visited Barichara; a Spanish colonial town known for its cobbled streets and whitewashed […]

II.III.VI – Recovery

II.III.VI RECOVERY Our adventures in Santa Marta were soon over and the rest of Colombia was awaiting! We headed down south back to Bogotá once again, where we were given the warmest welcome by Pedro’s family before being cordially escorted to their bathroom. After four days without a hot shower, I could finally scrub myself clean from all the dirt and […]

II.III.II – Land of Passion

II.III.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 down on […]

II.III.I – Departure

II.III.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 was […]

II.II.VI – Out

II.II.VI OUT Over the next two weeks of my summer general rotation, my passion for medicine would only intensify. 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 […]

II.II.V – In

II.II.V IN My third year in medicine war right around the corner. Third year – one of the most challenging years in the course if not the most. But it’s 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 two […]

II.II.IV – 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 and splurge […]

II.II.III – 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 […]