After almost a year and a half of anticipation (and over six months of running around like a chicken with my head cut off), I’ve finally managed to be accepted to medical school. I suppose the anticipation had been building for nearly ten years, since I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but the prospect of doing it in Guatemala has had me going full steam to try to do the impossible since June of last year. November 3 marks my first day of classes at la Universidad de Francisco Marroquin (UFM). It’s a review course, covering things like chemistry, physics, math and biology. Regular classes start in January.
It’s a seven year program, although the first year will be lighter because I’ll be skipping what’s equivalent to pre-med classes in the United States (pending their approval, of course). Naturally, it’s all in Spanish, with the exception of some textbooks and possibly guest lecturers. Volunteering in the public health department has prepared me well, so I’m not worried. (I even scored 100% on the chemistry assessment test, in Spanish, at the other school I was applying to!) As I’m getting to know the school (and the country) more and more, I realize that it will be an extreme challenge for many reasons, based on the politics at UFM. Part of their mission statement is to create Free Societies. I’m still working on being able to define “Free Society” in the first place, but the easiest way to put it is that it’s a utopia for capitalism. Business has so little regulation (none, in fact) that it does whatever it wants. Consumers are allegedly benefiting, pushing prices down, innovation up and everyone is so well off that the need for government assistance is null. In fact, there practically is no government. Out of the seven years I’ll be studying there, six semesters will be devoted to these theories -- Austrian economics -- but to keep it in a positive light (and fortunately, economics already fascinates me), I’m looking at it as a big sociological study where I can people watch. Kind of like the gay evangelical church I did a speaking gig in three years ago (ask me about that, sometime). In any case, I’m very excited to see what you talk about for six semesters when the basis of the theory is that you don’t do anything (i.e. deregulation/free-for-all).
Most likely, I’ll be living in Antigua, about an hour outside of the capital. It’s much safer and cheaper. If the commute is too long, however, I’ll be moving nearer to the school to a teeny tiny room I can afford. For now, it’s an 8-5 kind of schedule, but within the next 3-4 years, I should be starting the 24 hour turns you take in the hospital. As most of you know, my plan is to do family medicine, which is what you graduate in after 7 years, without having to specialize, fortunately. It’s also possible I’ll rotate through an American medical school for a month or three once I start what’s comparable to rotations. Wendy and I are talking about that and it’s likely she’ll come with me.
I’m very ready to start school, as it means I’ll be done that much quicker, but I’m getting VERY nervous. My Spanish is good, but I’m still shy when speaking, so I’m scared of how to make friends there. We’ll see how that goes. I haven’t heard mention of student groups on campus, but I’ll look into that as well. Other like minded, social service oriented folks would be nice to get together with.
As always, I invite everyone to come visit me. I’ll have weekends free and various holidays here and there. Where I stay in Antigua is a great place to stay, as my friend makes great food and doesn’t charge much. Otherwise, there’s a bagillion hotels everywhere.
Here are a few links for your general amusement (I think there are options for English on some of UFM’s website):
- UFM Medical School
- Article about correspondence between one of the Koch brothers and Hayek: Hayek wrote for years about how horrible social security is, yet gladly used Austria’s socialized medicine when he had problems with his gall bladder. Fearing he wouldn’t get such good care in the US, he couldn’t come to work at the Koch brothers’ think tank. They wrote back reminding him his work in Chicago advocating against social security qualified him for it, so “come on down!”
- Random article on Austrian Economics, if I read it correctly it’s saying that the analogy about broken windows (or disasters, in real life) are good because the money goes toward industry for making the window and pays someone to fix it…hooray! Except that money was always there and could have gone to something more productive, otherwise we’d want to destroy the city so someone could make money rebuilding it!
- And on last article I found tearing apart Austrian economics explaining why it's wrong
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