Tess Lin
On Friday everyone asked for day-off work to go to Porto. Being the good, hard-working, American girl that I am.. I still went into the lab for 2 hours in the morning. And then me and another Dutch girl met up with the group in the early afternoon. Porto is perhaps one of the most beautiful towns I have seen in Europe. It is also very clean--the city has a new metro system and the old buildings are all amazingly preserved. The river Douro is beautiful and separates Porto from Guia. Guia is where you can go port-tasting and look at the amazing red roofs sitting on the hills of Porto.The SEP-experience has been manifold. First, there is the opportunity to experience foreign pharmacy practice and learn about the pharmacy education from the students. For me I chose to do research and was able to jump into my project. For those practicing in community, it depends on if the pharmacist and technicians know English in the 
pharmacy. One Polish girl told me the only one in her pharmacy who knows English is on maternity-leave. So she feels like she is just taking up space-- whole 5 feet 11 inches of her! Also because she does not understand Portuguese, she can´t pick up the patient counseling (but that is perhaps rare). There is also the study-abroad opportunity to really be infused in the country´s culture, food, way-of-life, people, and language. I have definitely picked up quite a few Portuguese phrases and have eaten more carbs and ham than ever! But everything is so fresh here, and that is what I love about places outside of America.. fresh ingredients and less processed-foods. Even the McDonalds taste better and healthier. There is a also something special about being in aprogram that is not only American students. As a SEP student you not only learn about the country you are at, but if you want to, you will learn many things about the culture and language of all the foreign students in your group! I have learned some mind-blowing things about Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Holland, and Poland; and now I´ll have friends to show me around when I visit Eastern Europe in the future! My Slovak and Polish friends told me a lot about their cultures-- which consists largely of liquor, beer, and hockey. It is common for them to make their own wines, vodka, and various fruit and tea-infused liquor that usually contains more than 65% alcohol. I also ask about their favorite foods, places, drinks-- and then you realize that nothing is typical. Everyone is different and the same kind of people will like very different things =) I know SEP is an experience I will continually learn from, even after I leave here.
pharmacy. One Polish girl told me the only one in her pharmacy who knows English is on maternity-leave. So she feels like she is just taking up space-- whole 5 feet 11 inches of her! Also because she does not understand Portuguese, she can´t pick up the patient counseling (but that is perhaps rare). There is also the study-abroad opportunity to really be infused in the country´s culture, food, way-of-life, people, and language. I have definitely picked up quite a few Portuguese phrases and have eaten more carbs and ham than ever! But everything is so fresh here, and that is what I love about places outside of America.. fresh ingredients and less processed-foods. Even the McDonalds taste better and healthier. There is a also something special about being in aprogram that is not only American students. As a SEP student you not only learn about the country you are at, but if you want to, you will learn many things about the culture and language of all the foreign students in your group! I have learned some mind-blowing things about Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia, Holland, and Poland; and now I´ll have friends to show me around when I visit Eastern Europe in the future! My Slovak and Polish friends told me a lot about their cultures-- which consists largely of liquor, beer, and hockey. It is common for them to make their own wines, vodka, and various fruit and tea-infused liquor that usually contains more than 65% alcohol. I also ask about their favorite foods, places, drinks-- and then you realize that nothing is typical. Everyone is different and the same kind of people will like very different things =) I know SEP is an experience I will continually learn from, even after I leave here.
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