Student’s Summer 2022: Medical Exchange in Turkey

In the AM conference, there is a big cultural exchange event: National Food and Drink Party. During the event, each country will set up its own booth, and there will be famous snacks and drinks from various countries on the booth. What special food?

Let’s listen to Yizhen’s experience sharing!

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Before we officially set off to Turkey to participate in the World Medical Student Conference, I think I have learned a lot in terms of preparations. Because in the General Assembly of IFMSA, important tasks include: electing the next international cadres, voting and passing some UN-related proposals (policy documents) to be issued to the outside world, revising the various laws and regulations in the committee… etc. Therefore, before we set off for Turkey, our head of the regiment will assign tasks to us when we conduct pre-training. We need to read many topics, English materials related to laws and regulations, and international cadre candidates. We have to analyze political opinions, so that we can get into the situation and learn more during the meeting. After reading the policy document myself, I have a better understanding of the topic of primary health care, whether it is the situation in Taiwan, the situation abroad, the position of the World Federation of Medical Students…etc.

At the opening ceremony on the first day, it was the first time that I saw foreign medical students from so many countries gather at the venue at the same time, and there were medical students from all countries and races of the world, which really opened my eyes. While I was waiting that day, I chatted with a medical student from Kazakhstan, and actually got to know a little bit of Kazakh culture. I also introduced some famous scenic spots in Taiwan to that friend. It was a pleasure chatting with her, and I hope she will have the opportunity to come to Taiwan to experience the attractions in Taiwan that I introduced to her.

Early the next morning, I participated in the parallel sessions of SCOPE (Professional Exchange Committee). The organizer has arranged different themed courses at the same time, and each representative can freely choose the one he is interested in (such similar activities will be held in the future, several days of meetings have also reappeared). One of the sessions I chose to participate in was “The Perfect Exchange Officer”. During the event, there were lecturers (the lecturers are also medical students from other countries, but they have trained courses and have to pass certification to become lecturers). For the characteristics of a The Perfect Exchange Officer all participants are randomly divided into groups and then they discuss how to arrange the exchange schedule for a whole year and some administrative procedures as a medical student exchange officer, etc. During the group discussion, we were able to hear about the professional exchanges in different countries. I also found out during the discussion that many medical students from other countries will take the initiative to discuss. Compared with them, our active leadership is not so strong. On the one hand, it may be because we are relatively shy, and on the other hand, it may be because in Taiwanese culture, it is more respectful to let the other party finish speaking first. But I feel that because I am not the director of Taiwan’s professional exchange department, and I have not actually participated in professional exchange, when I discuss some things about professional exchange, I feel relatively unfamiliar, so I am afraid to take the initiative in the discussion. These are the differences between us and foreign medical students that I think I observed in these parallel sessions.

During the meeting, in addition to the SCOPE session discussion I participated in, the conference also arranged joint sessions of other committees for delegates to freely choose to participate in, and I participated in LGBTQIA+ inclusiveness in medical healthcare. In this session, we discuss how to respect and accommodate people of diverse genders in medical treatment, and make them have a comfortable environment for medical treatment. During the group discussion, I actually learned that Asia is really a conservative region for gender diversity, and it has also helped to open up many European countries in the world. Also, what measures local schools and governments have taken to promote LGBTQIA+ rights is worthy of in-depth discussion and study. This session also discussed many interesting topics, so it was also my favorite top few activities during the conference.

In the AM conference, there is a big cultural exchange activity: National Food and Drink Party (NFDP). During the event, each country sets up its own booth, and there are famous snacks and drinks from each country on the booth. We are also have the opportunity to visit the booths of other countries, so that representatives of various countries can experience famous or special food and drink. What impressed me the most that day was that I ate a very special licorice candy from Sweden (but it tasted like concentrated sorghum candy). The taste was very strong and a bit pungent. Although I didn’t like it, it was really a very special experience.

n the AM conference, all kinds of Plenary took up a lot of time during the conference. The mode of conduct is very similar to the form of participating in the Model United Nations conference in high school. Representatives from various countries have voting cards and focus on various things. Discussing and voting, the experience of all of us sitting in the conference room to participate in the meeting is really special, but participating in Plenary also requires good physical strength, because there are really too many things to discuss in the conference, and it is necessary to complete the agenda of each day, it will not end until at least four or five in the morning, so during the meetings days, everyone do not have enough sleep (but I admire medical students in other countries, even if they have little sleep time, they can still be very energetic in various activities)

One afternoon during the conference, our Taiwan representative had nothing important to do on the agenda, so we all ran to a beautiful old bridge in Istanbul and wandered around Istanbul by the way. After arriving at the beautiful bridge, the five of us met very friendly Turkish people who introduced the history of the bridge to us (the Asian faces were very fresh to them) and said that the bridge we were walking was more than 500 years old, and we were lucky to see the local music festival in Turkey~

It is really a day with a very rich local cultural experience!

In the morning of the fourth day was the exchange fair, where booths were set up by various countries, and medical students from other countries introduced what exchange activities in their respective countries they would have. Because I participated in the SCOPE session of this conference, I will be responsible for taking care of the booth, introducing Taiwanese culture and exchanging work. At the exchanges fair, I met a lot of medical students from various countries and spoke a lot of English, but after the whole morning, I found that it might be because I didn’t really have the chance to practice English in Taiwan and I suddenly had to speak in English, I felt that my English is a bit rusty, and I should think more about how to continue to maintain and develop my English in the environment of Taiwanese Chinese. Although I don’t think my English is very good, I still hope that everyone who visits Taiwan stalls will like Taiwan~

I think it is very valuable to be able to chat and interact with medical students from many different countries face to face. The only regret is that I don’t have the opportunity to visit the booths of other countries and understand what the exchanges in other countries are doing.

On the last day of AM22, I took photos with many new friends I met here, and met many Swiss people who gave me delicious chocolates. I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet friends from these countries in the future (or have the opportunity to participate in the exchange programs) ~

It’s been a week since the AM conference ended. I am very happy to have the opportunity to participate in this international medical student conference in the era of the epidemic, and that I get to know everyone in the Taiwan delegation and go out with them. I will miss people that I get to know here and good things that happen.

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When you come to Tzu Chi University, you will have many opportunities to go abroad for exchange, you can expand your international horizons, and you will also have the opportunity to receive the support of the school’s overseas exchange grants! Isn’t it super good!!??