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Yesterday we added to the family of pharmacy students living at Irma's house. Two German students that she met through the European Pharmaceutical Students Association have come to visit Lisbon, and naturally she welcomed them into her home. Although Irma had a meeting yesterday evening at her faculty and was not able to meet Ricky and Josy upon their arrival. So this became my chance to shine! I met them at the metro stop and facilitated their first tour to acquaint them with this charming city. Just as Irma had taken me downtown to the historical/cultural part of Lisbon, I was able to do the same with them. I walked down the main shopping street, Rua Augusta, to the Praça do Comércio found at the end with the two columns port. Then we walked up the hill to viewpoint #1 and went to the same restaurant Irma had previously taken me to, I figured it was Portuguese approved as a good restaurant to take tourists. Afterwards, we headed down the hill to the twin fountains and finally got on the train at Rossio so I could show them how to get home. Even though I was not quite as facilitative of factual information and names of places on my tour as Irma could have been, the girls exclaimed that they already have fallen in love with the city (just as I have) so I felt that I did a decent job of showing them around. Irma was also proud of me for knowing my way around to all of these places. I had a great time talking to Ricky and Josy about Germany; they're from the area around Munich. We went on to discuss some of the different places we have traveled both for pharmacy and just for fun. Ricky did ERASMUS in Italy and Josy did the same student exchange program as myself in India. However, it was especially interesting to learn about Josy's travels in the United States. After graduating from pharmacy technician school and before starting pharmacy school, she wanted to improve her English speaking skills so she took classes and lived in the United States for six months. Her trip began in Boston and the surrounding area, then she visited New York City before heading to the west coast. She proceeded to see San Francisco, San Diego, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, and even Hawai'i. I may be missing a few other places she visited on side trips as well. Talk about some places in the United States I've never been...basically that entire list except for NYC. Needless to say, between taking formal English classes and talking to Americans on a daily basis, her English improved dramatically. She asked me if her German accent was hard to understand. It was not.
The girls will be staying with us in Lisbon until Saturday, at which point they have rented a car to drive north in Portugal up to Porto then south down to the Algarve for a two week trip in total. They even offered for Irma and I to come with them partway north this weekend, then we would take the bus or train back to Lisbon. It is sounding like a very possible possibility that this will happen. Aqui está a novas amigas!
Today, we once again met up with Inês to go to a handicraft fair in the convention center downtown. One building was full of crafts handmade throughout Portugal. A second building included stands from throughout different parts of the world. We had a wonderful time browsing the selections available and I was able to see some of the traditional features of Portugal such as cork, ceramics, and of course more Portuguese blue tiles. It was interesting seeing the different types of crafts featured compared to the craft show I was at just two weeks ago in Philadelphia. In both cases, it is nice to see the intricate and lovely piece of work that people are able to create. As it is now pretty late, I will be going to bed so I can be up tomorrow morning to return to my rotation. I am looking forward to the work we will be doing in the lab this week! (Additional pictures from this weekend in Lisbon have been added to the Photo Gallery) Music Links
I am not sure if you are aware, but during the day Irma and I are not together. She is in her final year of pharmacy school and she also has a required internship, which is at a community pharmacy. So from when she leaves in the morning until we meet up later in the evening, I am on my own. Today, I had my first community pharmacy experience, solo. Throughout the day I was having watery eyes, running nose, and scratchy throat all classic symptoms of allergies. And I was miserable. I decided on my way home to stop at the pharmacy I walk by daily. I followed the signs and pictures on the wall to locate the over-the-counter cough, cold, fever, pain, and also allergy relief medications. Scanning the boxes I finally located a medication "cloridrato de fexotenadina" with "anti-alergico" also printed on the box. Success! In English, fexofenadine goes by the brand name of Allegra. I took a few pictures of the box and packaging displayed here just in case you were curious. I felt proud of myself for being able to navigate the pharmacy to treat a self-care problem, and grateful that like in the US there was no prescription required.
The past two days have been extremely busy. I finally had the chance to meet Helena Marques, Irma's professor and my preceptor during this time in Portugal. She was welcoming and interested in hearing more about pharmacy school in the United States and what we do for our fourth (and final) year of pharmacy rotations. After a short chat, she walked me around from room to room in the pharmaceutical research building showing me the various labs and introducing me to absolutely everyone: professors, co-researchers, PhD students, masters students, undergraduate students, even the secretary. In each lab she would try to explain to the best of her ability what type of research was completed and the different pieces of equipment that were utilized. For those of you familiar with the pharmacy school curriculum, it was the living example of the Drug Development III course. Basically, I had seen pictures of these various machines used during the drug discovery and development process, and had a general idea how they worked, but now I will be observing their use for clinical research purposes. For aerosol delivery there was a machine that could measure the size of a particle. For parenteral delivery there was a machine that could measure the osmolarity of a solution. For oral delivery there was a machine that created tablets and another for capsules. And the list goes on of each of the technologies I was introduced to, which hopefully I will be seeing in action over the next few weeks. As far as the laboratory goes, some of the research is confidential as it is unpublished and innovative work. Therefore, I will be able to post some pictures but they must be approved by my preceptor first to make sure they are appropriate for sharing on my blog. It is so exciting that I even have the opportunity to observe the work that takes place in this faculty!
In my off time, I had my first chance to explore a small part of the city as Irma and I venture to the top of one of the hills surrounding Lisbon for dinner in the evening. I'm starting to get used to seeing picturesque views everywhere I look. Even the sidewalks are paved with black and white tiles in various patterns, it is almost too pretty to walk on. I had the pleasure of meeting more of Irma's family as her brother and his wife are visiting from France with their new baby boy, Tomas. Below is a smattering of photos from the past two days so you can see what I am trying to describe in words, but it is almost impossible. I have officially arrived in Lisbon, Portugal! Irma had to be at her internship at the pharmacy all morning/afternoon so she was wonderful in making arrangements for me ahead of time. Her uncle and cousin picked me up at the airport and brought me to her and her mom's apartment outside the city then gave me a little tour. Currently her mom is on vacation in the south of Portugal, the Algarve, so Irma and I have the apartment to ourselves for the week. She had ready my key to the apartment, her phone number in case I needed to reach her, the form I need to complete to get my transportation pass, and even the wi-fi password so I could check my email and work on my blog. In addition she had cleared out a closet/dresser for my use and had lunch prepared in the fridge for me to heat up. While these may all be boring details, it goes to show the hospitality that she and her family, as well as the Portuguese people in general, have shown me already in just the first 24 hours of arriving. Below you can see photos of the apartment, just to gain a sense of where I will be staying for the next five weeks. I enjoyed looking around at all the details of the art and decorations as it compliments the personality of Irma and her mom. For instance, you can definitely tell that they travel often as there are pieces from other countries (even the United States) on display throughout the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms. Tomorrow I am supposed to meet up with her professor, who will be my preceptor for my pharmacy rotation while I am here. For those of you who are new to reading my attempts at blogging, welcome. For those of you who followed along on my adventures in Turkey last year, welcome back. Currently I am sitting in the Philadelphia International Airport after a quick flight here this morning from Harrisburg. My bag has been checked and so I'm patiently waiting in the company of my blog and a book for my flight to depart to Lisbon, Portugal in order to start my five week excursion. If you are completely lost and have no idea who I am or why I am going to Portugal please feel free to browse through the other tabs of my site to fill in that missing information. In case you didn't notice or couldn't tell from the footers at the bottom of each page, I enjoy quotes, especially about travel, because sometimes other people have already put into words what you're feeling yourself but may have a hard time expressing. So just for good measure, there's one more quote by Rachel Wolchin I would like to share with you. "If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet, he said." So, yet again, I find myself ready to explore a new corner of the earth (literally because Portugal is located on the corner of the peninsula shared with Spain) to meet new people, marvel at a fresh culture, and discover more about pharmacy practice around the world. I hope you find my writing intriguing and if something sparks your interest or if you have questions please feel free to leave me a comment. I have found half the fun of a blog is reliving my own experiences and the other half is hearing other people's thoughts and reactions. With that short introduction out of the way, I will provide another update once I have arrived across the ocean! |
AuthorCheck out the About Me tab for a brief self-biography of Valerie Nolt. Archives
August 2015
Categories"Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world."
- Gustave Flaubert |