Farewell and thank you!

Footprint in the sand

I suppose I leave just a small footprint of my passing here, but I take something of this place with me. It has been such a wonderful experience to work and live in Romania this last few months. The people have left such a sweet impression with me and I am thankful to all those who made my stay here such a pleasant one. One day I will come back!

Warmth and culture

If we look at Lewis model of Culture we find that the UK is Linear Active whilst Romania is Multi Active. Personally this model doesn't really fit with me I am hardly even close to a Linear Active person. But if I look at some of the aspects of social life in Romania I can see very much the warmth of people, people are more open with their emotions and I have noticed people are more tactile with friends than we in the UK are. I was invited to eat at the house of one of my supervisors sister. It isn't the first time since I have been here that I have been given such warm hospitality. Romania is one of the friendliest places I have visited. I have seen passionate outbursts during my work in the hospitals however, I think you would find this in any emergency unit as the pressure is intense. Just look at this amazing home cooking, ah strangers have rarely fed me so well. I really can't help but love this country from what I have experienced of it.












https://www.crossculture.com/latest-news/the-lewis-model-dimensions-of-behaviour/

A short cultural reflection.

As part of this blog I am need to make a few cultural comparisons. Here I will use Hofstede for the first one, I will try to fit this with what I have experienced here. However anything I say is entirely open to debate.
One of the main differences according to this model of culture is power distance, the UK appearing to have less than in Romania. This can really be felt in the hospital environment where the Dr is very much in the position of authority over the nurses. In the UK this is still in place to some degree and I can say Finland less so as it feels more equal there.
Uncertainty avoidance is high  and indulgence low in comparison to the UK. When you think about this it makes sense, there have been many social and economic difficulties in recent Romanian history, many of the people I have met focus on the practical things such as owning their own house and raising children. In the UK well many of us can't afford a house, and it feels like we tend to focus more on short term gains and personal leasure.




https://geert-hofstede.com/romania.html

St Mina Orthodox church

St Mina Orthodox church. This church is made entirely out of wood and at first glance it appears to be quite old. However it is less than ten years. It is very striking and atmospheric something I haven't really seen the like of before. I felt very drawn to it.  Orthodox Christianity is the main religion here. Romania is one of the most religious countries of Europe, this can be seen in the many churches that can be seen in any city. For me this is perhaps the  closest I have come to culture shock, being from the UK which is nominally Christian, I have found it at times surprising how deeply religious people here appear to be. 

Poppies

Poppies by the black sea.

Constanta

The city of Constanta is a jewel on the edge of the black sea. I am so glad I had the chance to explore this beautiful place.

Where does it lead to?

Side streets like this speak to me of unlikely adventures and fantastical possibilities.... probably just leads to a shop selling seaside tat, but allow me to dream. Sometimes it's better not to explore, it keeps the imagination alive.

Art Nouveau Casino

 

The Constanta casino building is a beautiful crumbling  Art Nouveau building that is found as you walk along the coast. This building excites my imagination so much, I really wanted to go inside and explore but sadly entry is prohibited at the moment. 

Carol I Mosque

This is the Carol I Mosque. It was built in 1910, and is a quite famous landmark in Constanta. I didn't get to see inside as their is a fee to visit it, however it is quite a remarkable building. Unfortunately my picture doesn't quite do justice to its beauty.

Yummy doughnuts!

Did someone say doughnuts? I stopped by the interestingly named doughnut library and had me some vanilla and Oreo cookie doughnuts!!! *drooling*

A little view of paradise

A breathtaking place to rest and take a drink in Constanta. The sun shone brightly, the sand and the sea make this perfect for me.

Time stops for Communism

A classic communist era clock tower I saw on my adventure in Constanta. The clocks faces are frozen in time, it almost seems symbolic of the end of communism, the marks of which can still be seen across this beautiful country.

Traditional music

Buna dimineata! Here's a link to some traditional Romanian music to cheer your morning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcnSPs2OWOY

Soon to travel

My placement time is coming to an end, so now I will go and explore Constanta with my fellow Erasmus student. So keep your eyes open, soon there will be pretty pics of the black sea and more adventures coming to this page. Until then take care and be well!

Dog walking in Romania

One of the things that makes me feel at home here is taking my housemates dog for a walk. My dad has always kept dogs and as a result walking a dog makes me feel very at home indeed. This chappy is called Oscar and he likes walks, pets and his special love pillow :)

Refreshing Romania

 

This is a pic of my favourite coffee shop here in Iasi. Just look at the amazing selection of coffees and teas!  Most drinks are between 1 and 2 euro... so cheap!!!

Doggo do you a protec

This lil beauty is bank of Transylvania doggo. I posted a pic earlier in this blog where she is sleeping outside said bank. My fellow Erasmus student and I were walking home after a night shift and this cutey came over and started walking in front of us borking and occasionally coming back for pets. It was like she was protecting us... so cute, this lovely doggo melted my heart! I made this meme for her.

A trip out.

We had a fun time visiting the local monastery, there is an amazing view from the top of the hill where you can see the whole city. There were cute stray cats and of course monks as well as some cool old buildings.

Not strong not stable

Not far from where I am staying is a small river. I made a video earlier in the blog that shows this. Across this bridge lies the open countryside and I would really like to walk across but upon taking a closer look you will find it is rusting and you can see the river flow beneath it..... so yeah i gave it a miss.

Surprisingly cold snap

So after many days of lovely weather (reaching up to 30c) it decided to snow. So cold. A few days later the spring has returned leaving little sign of the snow, it is as if this never happened.

ER Easter

Easter in the ER with my fellow Erasmus student and awesome supervisor. One of the other Erasmus students made some traditional Swiss style Easter eggs for us. They are coloured and patterned with various herb leaves(I'm the guy in the middle).

More about Easter

Easter is a really big deal here, and unlike the UK it isn't mainly the domain of children. The feeling in the run up to Easter was very much like we have with Christmas. Many people are vegetarian for a period before the celebrations and afterwards there is a big meal and most people go home to their families for this period. Iasi felt like a ghost town around Easter. However, just like the UK there are chocolate eggs!!!

Easter Eggs

Near to Easter time one of my neighbor's gave me these eggs. They are part of the Orthodox tradition, they are red to represent the blood of Jesus. At Easter people play a game where two people bash the eggs, each against the other and say something like Christ has risen. Then the eggs are eaten. These lovely eggs made a rather nice egg mayonnaise.

Neon water colour night

Walking home one night in the rain, I love the way the light reflects on the road, like neon water colours.

Botanical ramble

 

A few weeks ago, my fellow Erasmus students and I visited the botanical gardens. It's pretty huge and you could walk around for hours. I liked this part,it reminds me very much of my visits to Taiwan.

This could be art

The other day, I was walking past this beautiful building, and I couldn't help but feel that this would make the perfect painting. Unfortunately, I have all the artistic talent of a toddler let loose with crayons after a few cans of red bull.

Could be a building from Fallout

Has anyone here ever played Fallout? When I saw this building I immediately had images of Nuka Cola and rad scorpions rushing through my mind. Fortunately there were no rad scorpions in sight so I managed to get the tram home safely.

Gothic beauty

Scenes of crumbling Gothic splendor are common here in Iasi, truly it touches that part of me that grew up loving gothic culture. I was chatting to a Romanian friend about this house the other day, and I suggested Dracula might live here.She assures me however, her friend used to live here and it is 100% vampire free. I couldn't help but feel a little sad at this knowledge... 

It could be some scene from a horror film...

On the night I took this picture I was walking my flatmates dog. I couldn't help but feel this looked like a scene from a film. Quite possibly the sort of film where something bad happens to you while you are walking a dog.... but fear not friends I am still alive despite my long absence from this blog.

A sandwich called Henry

A few days ago I accidentally made a face instead of a sandwich. I call him Henry.

Welcome to the red room

I realized this morning my room has such an interesting red glow when the morning sun shines through it.

Night city

Iasi by night

Street art

This is popping up all around town, not sure what it's supposed to mean but it looks quite interesting to me.

A walk by the river

Another year older!

 

My first and most likely only birthday in Romania! Card's a cupcake and my own special birthday treat for myself decent tea!!! It's been a lovely day, many thanks to those who made it special.

Good home cooked food

Traditional Romanian food cooked for me by my housemate, I'm starting to feel better already! Super tasty!!! 

It's not the cough that carries you off...

Unfortunately I am ill today, I've been coughing all week but it got worse. My flatmate took me to the chemist and I got some cough medicines in the hope of at least easing it up enough to make it bearable. When I came back with my little bag of remedies, I noticed this lil fella on the bag!

The warm heart of Romania

The Sun sets on my first week in Romania, it has been an eventful and interesting experience for me. The trams are old, dogs roam the streets (but appear well fed). The A+E department is fast paced and very changeable. The thing that strikes me most this week however is just how friendly and hospitable the people I have met have been, my house mate has made every effort to help me and show me around; my colleague has given up some of their precious time off to show me a bit of the city and take me to an event, and just moments ago the neighbor invited me to their place for something to drink and a chat. I have traveled a fair bit, but here I have seen hospitality way above and beyond what I would have expected in the short time I have been here.

Putting the T in good night.

The night finished with a splendid cup of tea, luckily my colleague and his friend know where to find good tea in Iasi!

Fairytale Romania

Iasi has it's very own fairy tale castle!

Chairing culture

The flowers on the back of this chair are a traditional design

Good food and company

My new colleague rather kindly showed me around the city a little. I got to sample some dishes from neighbouring Moldova..... seriously people you should try this food, it's amazing!

Eat before you shop!

 

As the sun was setting on Iasi I went shopping. 

My advice is don't go shopping when you are hungry, I bought up half the shop!

Dog tired Friday

Well, I have to say I am glad it's Friday. I'm feeling a bit like this little fella today.

Old ground, new possibilities

Took a little walk through the hospital grounds today. I was told that some parts of the buildings are around 300 years old. Today was a long day, honestly I have a lot of admiration for those who choose this path in medicine their dedication and hard work mean that many people who otherwise would be dead are alive today!

So here I think is a good place to talk more about my experience of nursing here in Romania. I think the first thing nurses from countries like the UK and Finland will notice is that some of the equipment is quite old, the beds are mostly manual as opposed to electric and some are quite damaged as they are so old this makes ergonomic practice quite difficult it seems quite a few nurses have back pain as a result. This also extends to equipment like wheelchairs, manual handling is at times quite challenging as a result.
Uniforms are not provided by the hospital, you can see a rainbow of colours in staff uniforms and at times it is not always obvious who is the nurse and who is the Dr, however the effect is quite beautiful and I value the individual freedom it allows. 
Work hours are typically 12 hours and the breaks are not official, so the day is very long. There are plenty little shops and cafes dotted around the hospital grounds and this is where we go when we need coffee or delicious pretzels (the ones covered with poppy seed and salt are amazing).

The rooms are divided by colour depending on the urgency of treatment required:
Red- this is for the most urgent cases, usually only 3 patients at a time are in this room
Yellow- This room is for intermediate needs patients and is by far the most crowded, I would dread to be working this room as it has no outside facing areas, so no windows, It gets hard to breath in this room.
Green- Often the patients here were not so urgent, basic wound care is the most common treatment in this room, however at times more serious traumatic  wound care happens here.
Blue- Non urgent cases, often awaiting results or to be moved to a specialist ward.
ICU- there are two small intensive care wards this seems to act as an area for more serious patients when their is not enough room in the actual ICU unit.

The relationship between nurses and doctors here is that the Dr's are in the position of absolute authority, this is a little strange for me as in Finland the division is not so obvious.

Emergency care in Romania is the only part of the healthcare that is free to everyone, this means that often those that can't afford health insurance will wait until they get very ill to seek treatment. For my mind this is a good argument for free universal healthcare, the cost in human life, suffering and of course also actual financial cost is much higher if people feel they cannot afford to get treatment when they get ill. 

Religion is very important here in Romania and you will as a result of this see icons of Saints and Jesus throughout the hospital. Their is a small shrine in the triage office and porters room to several staff who died due to a air ambulance crash that happened some years ago.

Patients are often although not exclusively older people. This means that communication is often a challenge as many are hard of hearing and do not speak English. I learned some Romanian and found that this combined with polite gestures allowed me to navigate most situations. When I needed help to communicate, then usually one of my awesome supervisors would usually assist me.

I feel that during my time here my nursing skills improved considerably, and of course when you don't have the most modern equipment you need to know a few tricks that are very helpful. My supervisors were so patient and friendly and many of the other staff were helpful to this student. This is the lasting memory I have of people here in Romania, people are often very kind and friendly. What this country lacks in wealth it makes up for in heart.

My favourite cultural experience!

Well it's the end of a long day. Time to savor the flavour of Romania!

Bank of Transilvania... is it a blood bank?

Will I ever get tired of this.... probably not. I would open an account but I fear what the deposit might be!!!

My first view of blue skies in Romania

My journey to a bigger journey

Taking the tram to my placement this morning, didn't know what to expect. On the whole I was pleasantly surprised. The staff were kind and very friendly, I saw patients come in who must have been in some terrible pain but they faced it well on reflecting I wondered if I could do the same. Tomorrow is a new day, and ever day is different in the hospital, I expect I will learn a lot in my time here.