Hospital General de Medellín. In this public hospital, we spent three to four days each in surgery, OB/GYN, emer- gency medicine, and internal medicine. In addition to being immersed in the Spanish language, we learned about the process of becoming a doctor in another country, and we encountered a variety of attitudes among some toward Americans. For example, we met doctors who teased us about our Spanish abilities or completely ignored our presence, but also doctors who invited us to personal events such as World Cup celebrations or a Saturday at the Museum of Antioquia to teach us about the political works of art by Fernando Botero. This was eye-opening in that it was a chance not just to view changing perceptions between Americans and Colombians, but also to get a personal glimpse into parallels between people living in other coun- tries and the immigrant experience in the United States. southern Medellín. The treatments we learned about there were for conditions related to malnutrition, such as marasmus and kwashiorkor, as well as a variety of bacte- rial and viral infections--especially pneumonia. It was here that we were encouraged to take basic histories in Spanish, perform pediatric physical examinations, and present on rounds the patients we followed all week. We also met a member of Colombia's indigenous population and learned about the language, cultural, and socioeco- nomic gaps that exist, which parallel what the three of us were trying to overcome in our own country. clinic and research laboratory that serves the regions of Chocó, Amazonas, and La Guajira. We met and inter- viewed patients with a variety of diseases that we had learned about in the classroom but never thought we would actually encounter in our careers. This included cases of leprosy, mucosal and cutaneous leishmaniasis, and leptospirosis. The faculty there was very receptive to us, and by this time our Spanish had improved dramati- cally, thus allowing us to speak with everyone about Medellín culture, religion, politics, and the World Cup. pronunciation and basic vocabulary to grammar and med- ical conversation, and ultimately to conversation on abstract concepts. In learning another language, there is no substitute for doing it by immersion. When we |