“I managed to connect with locals from the hospitals, shops and all around the city and build meaningful connections with others from my program while abroad. I also got to experience the healthcare system in Hungary and compare it to the healthcare system in the United States,” reflected Erick Maldonado-Parejo, an exercise science major on the Atlantis - Pre-Health Shadowing Experiences in Budapest, Hungary.
Students on the program shadow doctors from different departments in the historic city. Maldonado-Parejo spent his time in the Jahn Ferenc South Pest Hospital.
“As I am about to embark in my third year of premedical undergraduate at Ohio State, I can look at medicine from a different perspective and compare it to future experiences that I will have as a future physician,” he said.
As someone who had never travelled abroad alone before this program, his experience provided him invaluable personal development skills that he can use in the classroom, his personal career and when he leaves Ohio State.
“Through this experience, I learned to communicate with locals despite language barriers and build relationships with the doctors that I was shadowing. I learned about the healthcare system in Hungarian hospitals: prioritizing patients, different types of surgical procedures, hospital hierarchy and government involvement. Additionally, I realized how open I can be with other people and communicate effectively to form great relationships,” shared Maldonado-Parejo.
Outside of watching doctors perform their daily duties, giving him an insight into an aspect of his future career, Maldonado-Parejo particularly enjoyed some of the cultural experiences that come from being in a unique city like Budapest.
“I truly enjoyed riding through the Danube river, visiting parliament at night, trying Hungarian foods like Goulash and Langos and going to the spa.”