Research Opportunities Abroad Summer after M1

[Futurefamousguy]

So it's "strongly recommended" that you do research or something medical related during your last summer in medical school after your M1 year. I really want to travel abroad, and was hoping to scratch my wanderlust (sorry for using this really cliche word btw) itch and beef up my CV at the same time. My summer is roughly 10 weeks.

Does anyone know of any programs, or ways I can make this happen?
Does anyone have personal experience and perhaps connections with Doctors or researchers in Europe?
What did you guys do during your summer?

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[tick_tock400]

^Talk to your med school about this and other peers at your specific med school. They should have far more to tell you than anyone on here can because your school probably has connections, specific docs have existing projects, your school might have a summer research program where you design the project and you might be able to independently design your own research project abroad, etc. And there are tons of people who go abroad to do research during their M1 summer, but again, your school should be your best resource. Best of luck!

 

[pageantry]

If you go to San Pedro la Laguna in Guatemala you can spend your summer in a super cheap, ridiculously beautiful, relatively safe place, do volunteer work at the ER or clinic, and work on a medical Spanish certification. 1-on-1 Spanish tutoring is about $4/hr. And, if you prefer not to do a homestay, a motel room with wifi and hot water and a hammock on a flower covered balcony is about $6/night. Kayaking is $2/hr. And, most importantly, a great mojito will run you a buck.

If you're interested, you could contact https://www.celasmaya.edu.gt (the San Pedro branch) or http://www.sanpedrospanishschool.org as a place to start getting set up. It's not research, (tho maybe it could be!) but if you don't already feel confident in your Spanish, it's the kind of resume booster that can add 20% to your future income, forever.

^^this is where I took my classes with Celas Maya, just to give you (or others interested) an idea.

 

[deleted642188]

I would suggest DAAD if you'd like to check out Germany and prefer basic science lab work

 

[Fedekz]

@pageantry what was your total cost for the summer (housing, courses, food, transportation, etc)? I would be very interested

 

[pageantry]

What was your competency going into a program like this, how long did you get tutoring and how much do you feel it helped?

I'm looking into programs like this for the summer before starting M1 and I've been hoping to get some testimonials/recommendations for specific places and advice!

I've gone back several times at different points, but have not yet gone specifically for medical Spanish.

But, I can tell you that the first time I went, I'd had one year of Spanish in high school, ten years past. Over the course of a month in San Pedro, I did probably 45 hours of Spanish and two weeks of homestay while living in gringotown (meaning I was speaking a lot of English much of the time and doing a lot of cheap yoga and bodyshots.) I felt like I could conjugate reasonably well up to the subjunctive when I left.

(Protip: do NOT pay up front for school or home stays. Just go straight to San Pedro and visit different schools and ask about home stay options. Some homes are great. Some are not. Some schools have specific curricula, others will try to tailor directly to your level. You can pick and choose.)

Then I didn't touch Spanish for three years and decided to take a college class while doing my post-bacc. I tested into Intermediate Spanish, which was a class mostly about the subjunctive. I wasn't doing super well. BUT, while I was in that class, I went back to Guatemala and did maybe 15 hours over spring break (staying in a motel) and leapfrogged over the rest of my class when I came back.

Next time I go, I think I will try for a certification. They take visiting medical students seriously, and you can look around to find a teacher who you feel can really get you where you need to go. The nice thing about San Pedro is that it has built itself around being a Spanish-learning town for backpackers, so there are a LOT of teachers who have taken college level training in teaching Spanish as a second language. That said, I feel like now I'm at a level where I need to choose my next teacher more carefully or be in a certification track.

Hope that helps! Glad to answer any questions here or elsewhere if this is jacking OP's thread...

Btw here's a pic of the kind of place you can find for $6/night. I'm standing in the door of the bathroom. Hammock, flowers, desk outside. I wrote all my secondaries there.

 

[pageantry]

@pageantry what was your total cost for the summer (housing, courses, food, transportation, etc)? I would be very interested

Depends on if you do homestay or not. Classes plus homestay are about the same price at any school, and homestay includes room and meals. For twenty hours of class a week, plus homestay, you can expect to pay probably $225, so $900 for a month. Most school offer extra activities as well, many for free (learning to make tortillas or watching a documentary about the area, etc.) 20 hours is way more Spanish class than I would want to take tho. If you don't do homestay, you can probably get by for the same price. Depends on how much you plan to drink.

Transportation will run you under $500 r/t flight from anywhere continental U.S. to Guatemala City if you time it right. Exchange no more than $50 in the airport no matter what they tell you because their rates are the biggest rip-off in the country. When you exit the airport, there will be a million shuttles that will take you to the safe tourist town of Antigua for $10USD. Go directly there as Guatemala City is TRULY dangerous (said as a seasoned backpacker, not as your mom). From there you can either spend the night in a hostel for $10 (Antigua is pricy) or take another shuttle straight to San Pedro for $15USD. After that, all transportation is walking, tuktuks (~$.75 a ride) or little boats to the various towns around the lake (all interesting) which cost between $1-$5 one way.

In other words, you can live very very well for two months, including flights, for about $2500.

I am definitely threadjacking now tho... Eff it, one more pic from the dock. #nofilter.

 

[deleted642188]

Depends on if you do homestay or not. Classes plus homestay are about the same price at any school, and homestay includes room and meals. For twenty hours of class a week, plus homestay, you can expect to pay probably $225, so $900 for a month. Most school offer extra activities as well, many for free (learning to make tortillas or watching a documentary about the area, etc.) 20 hours is way more Spanish class than I would want to take tho. If you don't do homestay, you can probably get by for the same price. Depends on how much you plan to drink.

Transportation will run you under $500 r/t flight from anywhere continental U.S. to Guatemala City if you time it right. Exchange no more than $50 in the airport no matter what they tell you because their rates are the biggest rip-off in the country. When you exit the airport, there will be a million shuttles that will take you to the safe tourist town of Antigua for $10USD. Go directly there as Guatemala City is TRULY dangerous (said as a seasoned backpacker, not as your mom). From there you can either spend the night in a hostel for $10 (Antigua is pricy) or take another shuttle straight to San Pedro for $15USD. After that, all transportation is walking, tuktuks (~$.75 a ride) or little boats to the various towns around the lake (all interesting) which cost between $1-$5 one way.

In other words, you can live very very well for two months, including flights, for about $2500.

I am definitely threadjacking now tho... Eff it, one more pic from the dock. #nofilter.

View attachment 199530

Lovely view!!

 

[pageantry]

Everybody just go go go! You can live ethically and well for under $20kUSD/year. Physician reimbursement threads can be put to rest forever. Best resume booster ever.

 

[CubsFan314]

If you really want to do research (rather than feeling that you have to) then it should be with an investigator with whom you can continue to work for the rest of medical school (get a few papers out of the whole experience, rather than just a one-off). It sounds, however, that you are more interested in having an important worldly experience. Similar to research, if you eventually want to practice medicine in a manner that will satisfy your wanderlust, you should get started early. I guess the bottom line, is that don't let people (including people at your medical school) make you feel bad about your true interests, in the end, that is what will keep you happy and thriving as a physician in the long run.