I went to Africa for a volunteer trip. I went to help out at a hospital, but saw that with limited training, there's a limitation to what you can do in such a short period, even in a developing country. I would suggest going if you have a very good medical background to provide the help. In the end, I viewed what the hospital was like for a week, and then ended up doing a lot more preventive work with local groups. I went to schools, villages, churches, etc. and taught about HIV prevention, transmission, and a little bit of the biology of it. It was really rewarding. I highly recommend going abroad, but be realistic to your abilities. I would say try to help out at a hospital only if you have something you can really provide help with (maybe if you have some phlebotomy or EMT or hospital lab training).
Africa was really expensive because of the flight. I would say developing countries in South America should be cheaper and if you already know a little bit of Spanish, it can help out. Swahili was very difficult to learn and we had translators the whole time. Good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for.
Lol. Also great if you want some unique extracurriculars ("marksmanship award" and "combat sapper").
