Going on elective by yourself?

It seems to me like everybody else is going in a group or at least a pair, but I don't know anybody who wants to go to the same place as me. Thing is, I'd rather go where I want to go than ship myself off to the US or something just for the sake of knowing somebody else. Obviously I'd love to go with somebody I knew, but it's looking super unlikely unless fate intervenes.

Has anybody been in this situation, or gone by themselves before? Did you just meet people & make friends when you were out there? I don't even know how unusual it is to go by yourself but everybody I speak to seems to be buddied up somehow! I've been travelling by myself before but only for a week... not a month and a half, so I do feel a degree of apprehension. Possibly more worried about the fact I'd want to go travelling around after the placement and that would potentially be alone. Also it'll require using my (rusty) spanish which I'm going to work on, but I still think it'll take me at least a week to get the hang of it.

Any advice, thoughts etc. appreciated!

Reply 1

junior.doctor

18

I went on my own. I knew that there were going to be 2 other students there at the same time though from another university who would overlap with me. Depends what kind of setting you want to go to. I now work in a rural mission hospital in Africa, where I often receive elective students, many who come alone. However we have a close-knit ex-pat team here, and so all short term visitors, students or otherwise, have a ready-made 'community' to be a part of outside of work. That might be harder if you were going to a big hospital / town. Travelling afterwards - I went with a friend of a friend of a friend (European) I made whilst there. Since then, as a medic, when I have annual leave and go travelling, I take my rucksack and go, and each time have met other people on the way / in backpacker lodges who want to do similar things and share national park guides and fees etc. But I am now used to the country, and have been fortunate to have always found people. if I have students who are alone, I usually manage to join them up with someone to do a bit of travelling at the end. So not guaranteed, but if you're laid back and don't mind some last-minute planning / don't have an exact itinerary you want to do, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it. And that said, there's no reason why you can't travel alone - except that often traveling with someone is a lot cheaper.

Reply 2

shiggydiggy

12

I'm going on my own. I know a few groups have clustered together to various places, but generally people seem to be going solo.

It seems a bit daunting, but at the same time it's a good opportunity to be a little more independent and ultimately gain confidence in what you're doing.

Reply 3

Helenia

20

I went by myself, initially had planned to go to Canada but that fell through so ended up going to Swaziland (which I'm not sure I'd even heard of before being offered the placement!) alone. It was quite scary but actually not as bad as it sounds - there was a British doctor out there who was acting as my supervisor and picked me up from the airport, and a couple of other UK medical students from other universities staying in the same hostel as me. We made friends quite quickly and went travelling on the weekends etc together.

I think if I'd been totally alone I wouldn't have been as brave about going out on weekend excursions, but the work side of things would have been fine.

Reply 4

seaholme

OP

19

Guys you have no idea how much better you have made me feel, thank-you so much for your responses! It's just re-assuring to know that it's worked out really well for other people. I'm sure it'll work out fine in the end (always got to be optimistic!) and actually that's a good idea to try and recruit a non-medic friend to come out & join in with the travelling part. We've not really been given much info by the medical school, so I think that's part of why I've been feeling out at sea with it all and procrastinating any *actual* organisation :P

I was hoping to find somewhere more rural (I'm hoping to go to either Argentina or Peru) and just have a totally different experience, so fingers crossed wherever I find will have a similar community vibe :smile:

Reply 5

Lantana

10

I went alone and found out when I got there that 3 of us from my med school had booked the same place all independently of each other...And then there were other med students who came and went from other places and I stayed in a backpackers so there was always someone to do something with.

Reply 6

mrs_bellamy

18

I also went alone and am really glad I did. I had quite firm ideas about where I wanted to go which were different from my friends and I am glad I did what I wanted to do. I met lots of great people and feel that I developed a lot more as a person and became much more confident about travelling and working abroad from going by myself. I went to a small hospital and feel that I was able to integrate much better being alone than I would have done if I had gone in a group/pair.

Reply 7

nexttime

22

I'm in a rural mission hospital on elective now. As you say, i'd rather have gone with someone but everyone i know was off to like australia, singapore, which i just consider a massive waste really. Its way too rural for any other students or backpackers to be around, but i'm living with the British doctor who is here and learning lots

Going on elective by yourself?

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