I'm currently a junior doctor doing a social service in rural (boonies) Mexico. It's really different from the large cities. No fast food joints, virtually no traffic, I have no tv in my clinic but if I did and had the money I could get a satellite dish for a modest monthly fee which I can't afford right now), the municipality is feared because of the narcs pretty much ruling the place as the law (though things are really peaceful believe it or not), most people are peasant farmers, chickens wandering everywhere, you get the idea.
The job entails a lot of degrees of suck (I just HAD to end up in the clinic that gets to enjoy frequent malaria supervisions even though the entire state hasn't had 1 single case of the disease in over 13 years). Announced "surprise" supervisions making you forced to stay physically in the clinic even if you're not going to be working that day just because you could get into a lot of trouble if they DO come and you were back home drinking Starbucks coffee.. and then the supervisors never show up at the end, that's annoying.
Bimonthly trips to the municipality for day long meetings with nothing to eat, expensive on the pocket because the trip back and forth from that place is 4 dollars (when all the money I have to survive for an entire month is just 30 dollars), ugh, that sucks. Some of my peers can skip some of the meeting because they have an MD with a full license to cover for them but I can't because I'm alone in my clinic. Reporting every common cold on endless forms and making the numbers crack picture perfect... ugh, it's a headache.
I also haven't been paid yet, a whopping awesome 100 dollar a month salary (with a 100 buck bonus every other month) for 8 hours of work 5 days a week and (supposedly) 5 hours Saturdays that nobody in my municipality actually does unless it's a special event weekend like last weekend because of vaccination week where I could get a surprise supervision. I'm expected to get paid sometime this month and having biweekly payments that I'm FORCED to pick up or could face serious sanctions. Oh, and the trip to the place to pick up the check is a nauseating 1 hour bus ride away in another town. Barely worth the 50 bucks but it gives me an excuse to go to the bank to get money sent to me from my parents to help me survive. I will get a money compensation for the money I haven't gotten yet and living expenses are cheap here (I don't pay rent, electricity or water but my clinic has no gas so I have to put up with cold showers... and the phone line is dead. Most cellphone companies are worthless here because the signal doesn't reach so far out there.
Local dangers like angering the people and them attempting to kill you could be true. Luckily I am getting along pretty well with the locals even though some of them have a hard time believing I am legally mexican just because I look American and english is my native language. I stand out a lot there.
Most consults aren't for interesting things (high blood pressure and common colds are most of the consults) so things do get a bit repetitive. Some patients are rude and annoying and enter my office while I give consult to someone else and get offended if I tell them politely to respect other people. Some people give me tips under the legal table which have helped me to buy food and survive. They don't have to pay money because they are on welfare, but some of them are so greatful they will give me a 1 to 2 dollar tip which if you add up 7-10 people a day giving similar tips adds up pretty decent cash. Some of them have invited me to eat at their homes, integrate into local community customs and serving me dishes I'd normally never eat (I hate papayas, mole and tamales, but you have to eat whatever they serve you to not offend them and they make the food actually taste pretty good even if normally I'd never in my sane mind eat them). They have served me some bizarre and awesome things I've never eaten before that taste awesome. Not sure what a coyohuitle is, but it tastes awesome.
Some patients have suffered complications that have been getting hard on me emotionally. Sometimes I hate my job.
It's different from being an intern where I obeyed orders like in the military. Now taking away the paperwork and meetings part of the job, I'm the boss even if the government can still pay me peanuts because it's a "scholarship" salary job. MD's that do the same job I'm doing that have their license earn over 10 times I do, but I have the legal right to free housing while they can't. Despite the annoying things, I don't find family practice to be the hell hole many med students think it is.
I am enjoying my job, it has nice things and bad as in any other job. I personally like the countryside whereas others dread it and wish to come back to the big cities. I do miss being an intern sometimes though. You just don't have the same sort of informal commadery working solo in a clinic as in a hospital setting where you're in constant contact with peers. Luckily there's two junior doctors in nearby villages that I get along with, so I don't feel alone. Other people are in out there villages unreachable by mankind but get virtually no consults. I have a nurse and a technician that help me out during working hours that are nice people.
I'm liking my social service so far, it's just.. different from being an intern. Challenging in it's own ways but mostly nice. You make of it what you want from it. I hated being a med student though. I agree, it's not just lollipops and sunshine. Some attendings live it bad, working more than most residents just to climb up the ladder. You can stay as a family doc living in a village, earn a nice but modest living with awesome working hours, be loved by the village and protected by them or you can work multiple jobs, do courses, or a residency, whatever. Some MD's are happy being the local doctor doing family practice, others want to be the president of prestigious associations or being a hospital director. You make out of the degree what you want from it, other degrees force you to just do 1 thing and that's it.
I've never done engineering and while have good personality traits for it, I suck too much in math and physics to have seriously done it. I have a lot of friends that did similar degrees and some of them are living in the US and married and all. Others aren't doing as well though like everything, it's how you can sell your degree and your abilities. You sacrifice a lot to do medicine, but you gain a lot of things as well. So far I haven't regretted doing it, but it's not for everyone. It's no easy path for success.