Summer Rotation Experience in Zaragoza, Spain

Summer Rotation Experience in Zaragoza, Spain

Marina Sharobeam

This summer I had the privilege of spending three weeks in Zaragoza, Spain in order to experience a clinical environment in another country. It was a fantastic experience and I was able to shadow a number of different specialties, work on my Spanish-speaking abilities, and travel to others parts of Spain, as well.

As someone who was unsure of what field to pursue in my medical career, this was an ideal program for me. The scheduling was very flexible and we were able to communicate with Dr. Rosa Magallón, the program coordinator, on a daily basis to organize our schedules for the coming days. Dr. Magallón was extremely sweet and even picked us up from the train station upon our arrival. Thanks to her I had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of medical specialties, including primary care, pediatrics, gynecologic surgery, rural medicine, emergency medicine, and cardiology. What struck me the most was that although I spent time shadowing in many different fields, both kindness and trust persisted in the relationships between physician and patient throughout the various fields. It was incredible to witness such faith in physicians as well as so much personal health knowledge in patients, and this was one of my favorite aspects of this program.

This program also allowed me to improve my Spanish. Most of the people of Zaragoza do not speak much English, so this presented a perfect opportunity to speak as much Spanish as possible. Understanding the people of Zaragoza at the rapid pace they spoke was difficult but the best Spanish practice I’ve ever had. It also helped that the people of this city were so patient and willing to help us with the language.

The four of us who attended this program stayed in an AirBnB that was only a fifteen minute walk from the downtown area. This made it incredibly easy to explore the city in the evenings after we finished our shadowing for the day. Not only did we get to see this beautiful city, but we took weekend trips to Barcelona and Madrid, as well. This experience was incredible and I’m so glad I had the chance to explore a variety of medical specialties as well as the city of Zaragoza.

This is a photo of Calle De Alfonso I, one of the main streets in Zaragoza, and at the end of the street is the Basílica de NuestraSeñora del Pilar and the Plaza del Pilar. We would walk to this area in the evenings to eat dinner and wander the city.

This photo depicts Plaza del Pilar, the social center of the city of Zaragoza. People congregate here on a daily basis after work to chat, eat, and relax. We attended several events here during our three weeks, such as a refugee rally and a Renaissance fair.

This is a photo of us with Dr. Rosa Magallón. She took us out to dinner one night to give us a real Spanish restaurant experience and afterward she took us to explore some other parts of Zaragoza.