Our third day in Auckland and I'm absolutely shattered!!!

After arriving on Sunday morning (thankfully without our bags needing to be search/scanned, or without needing another pat-search) we worked out our way to the host family's house. Despite the warm welcome from the family, the weather was not being so kind, and the rain poured down getting us quite wet even in the 20m from the road to the front door! Glad we brought our rain coats then! Later that day, and in true Auckland style (apparently), the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came out - I can see this random and changeable weather is going to provide us with a little difficulty in planning our attire for the coming weeks! We took a quick tour of Auckland in the car with Michael and saw the important landmarks we would need to get to the hospital (not that it particularly helped as we still got lost on Monday morning on the way in, and again on Monday evening on the way home - apparently in NZ the public bus home leaves from exactly the same spot that it dropped us off whereas we were trying to look for the correct bus stop on the opposite side of the road! Foolish us!). Still, all character building! Determined to make it through the day, Em and I took to our books for some last minute cramming on Sunday after lunch with the family. I don't remember how far we got - the last thing I recall is considering having a little lie down for a minute. I don't even remember resting my head on the pillow but apparently we fell asleep at 4pm and didn't wake up again until 8.00 the next morning!

Some mixed emotions then on Monday morning. Having previously been really excited about our Auckland placements, we didn't realise how far away our host family lived from the city, and both how long and expensive it would be to commute every day. We worked out that it is costing us $10 = five pounds (sorry, NZ keyboard doesn't have the pound sign!) to travel on the bus each day, and when we also pay for lunch on top of that it negates the financial saving we thought we would make (and were lead to believe we would make) by living with the family. The student accommodation is also next door to the hospital in the city, which means my start each morning at 7.30 would be much more acceptable, and would not call for a 6am start as it does in our current living situation. We would also be able to go on the medic socials, which at the moment we would struggle to attend, both due to the extra money it would cost us in travelling, but also in that we would miss supper with the family (another financial reason for that choice of accommodation to begin with!). Em also discovered that despite her consultant supervisor being very laid back about the paperwork, the university administrators wouldn't let her start until her MRSA cultures etc came through. A bit of a disappointment, but cue a great effort from Super Steve in getting the MRSA results from the Derriford Occupational Health department and I hope that today she has been allowed to start! Im sure she will tell you all about her placement later. As for me, I met the Cardiothoracic team yesterday, and went for lunch with a few of the surgical registrars. I also went onto the ward to meet the surgical house officers, who, as I discovered, have it so easy compared to the UK F1's. Here, the Jn Dr's have about 2-4 patients each on the ward, and finish each day at 4pm. In the UK, you would be lucky if you were looking after fewer than 10 patients and finish before 7pm!!!This morning I attended a brief ward round and then went off to theatre where I observed an open heart operation. It was very interesting and I hope to get a little more involved with this in the coming weeks. This evening we are meeting some other elective students from the UK after work, and we hope to arrange some more meetings soon. I don't think Em and I will be able to stay for very long however, as we need to be home for supper by 7.30 - not to mention getting some well earned sleep (I've not seen 6am for years)!

We will hopefully put some pictures up of Auckland when we have had time to take some!!!

Love Jez and Em xx