Hi all,

I made it through the Buenos Aires domestic airport to Tucuman! (The Tucuman airport was small but really nice. I was impressed) My first days in Tucuman have been great! My family in Tucuman is super nice and fun. We ate the traditional Tucuman dish of empanada stuff with beef and cheese. (They were both amazing but esp. the beef ones) Tucuman is known world-wide for their amazing empanadas! I have a big room all to myself and a bathroom that I share with my host sister Analia who is in her 30s and really cool. My older brother just had his second baby on Friday before I got here. (I haven't met him and his family yet but I hear that his older son is really jealous of the new brother)

My first day in the hospital was today. It was definately a shock at first to see all the patients and the different hospital conditions. They have 30 births a day in this hosptial. In IC I was lucky to see 3 in a day. This is the only public hospital for the whole Tucuman region so they get a ton of countryside people that can't afford private care. After some brief indroductions I was allowed to be with the Tucuman 5th year medical students and was quized about why they are giving certain medications to babies. (AH! what did I get myself into!!!!) It was cool to hang out with the med students and we shared stories about what it's like to go to med school in a different country. (For example they pay nothing and I pay a ton! They were really surprised by this) O and another thing, I was super suprised to find out today that all hospital workers get free lunch everyday! Wow! So I get free hospital cafeteria lunch everyday that I want to eat there. (And it's a lot of food too!)

So the second thing that I found my self doing with the med students after we took care of one baby is that I got to see 3 live births in one hour.... (Really what have I gotten myself into.....do they realize that I actually haven't even learned about any of this yet!!!!) So after watching the first birth I decided I was never having kids (Sorry Trisha) after watching the second birth I thought it was kind of cool, after the third birth I needed to go sit down for a bit.... it was a bit much. But don't worry after taking a break and eating a little I was ready to go again and watch my 4th live birth that actually had some complications with it was interesting to me once again and I'm comtemplating having kids again.

All the docters here are really nice and I learned sooo much in my first day. I learned about how the Argentinian medical school system works, what some of the doctors think of private vs. public medicine, tasted there favorite drink yerba mate which is awesome (and similiar to green tea except everyone shares the same straw....weird in a hospital I know...).

After working in the hospital from 8 to 5, my madre picked me up and took me the a gym (conveniently located in a shopping mall) near my house. I bought a month membership for $40 and had a personal trainer take me around to all the different weight machines. Tomorrow, I'm going to go to a spin class include with my membership. I think Tucuman and I are going to get along very well! I already feel much more comfortable here because it is a smaller city than Buenos Aires and it actually reminds me more of Iowa City.

Now tomorrow the real test begins... I'll be trying to collect placentas and obtain the correct samples that I need by myself and I will be expected to be able to navigate the bus system by myself....we'll see if I still love Tucuman tomorrow.

However, the bbq's that I've been promised and the many friends of Analia's that want to meet in a bar this weekend make me think that I will love it here.....o and did I mention that my host father can't wait to play golf with me! ;)

Ya me encanta Tucuman!

Hasta la proxima,

Ciao