24 June 2009

$$$

I'm on placement at the moment. I'm so skint that I've just had to go get a free coffee from the staff kitchen where I do most of my shifts.

It's a bad time for me to need new glasses too. And a passport for elective. And a phone bill to pay...
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Was kind of ruined by the Blackberry tag at the end of it...

tipsy said...

See, I really don't get it. You go on and on and on about being broke and struggling to make ends meet. You ask your blog readers for donations via PayPal to help your education (fair enough - it is our choice whether we actually do help) and then you plan on blowing £4000 on an 8 week elective. Why?

Merys said...

Morpheus - I can't actually get rid of the blackberry tag cos my phone is being stupid, but it's a contract phone that is the same price as my former contract for a shitty phone. BlackBerry isn't the stigma of money anymore.

Tipsy - the entire cost I'm budgeting for my elective is £4000. This includes passport cost, phone bill while I'm away for 2 months, flights, vaccinations, medical kit, and most importantly, covering my rent on my house while I'm away. My elective itself is costing around £1400, but I have so much other stuff to pay for to actually make it work. An elective period of 8 weeks is a requirement of medicine.

tipsy said...

I'm aware of what an elective period is Merys. I'm also aware it is not compulsory to go overseas and spend £4k on it. I didn't and had a truly wonderful experience which cost little more than my usual living expenses.

Merys said...

Hi Tipsy,
I'm glad you had a good time on your elective.

Thing is, my university has made it pretty clear that they don't want us to stay in this country to do our elective. There are circumstances in which you can get permission to stay, but I really don't fancy having a child in the next 12 months...

I'm more than open to any advice you have about organising an elective (from someone who has been on one), so if you fancy chatting about it a bit more, feel free to drop me an email on bloodystudents@hotmail.co.uk and i'd love to hear from you.

Merys

DundeeMedStudent said...

Tipsy-
I'm not sure where you study but in Dundee we've been told you better have a bloody good reason to stay in the UK and lack of finance isn't one of them. I would imagine this is the same with all UK med schools.

So any suggestions as to a cheap elective abroad is welcomed.

Anonymous said...

Newcastle uni doesn't mind if you stay in the uk, quite a few did stay. To make my elective cheaper organised it myself by contacting the university/hospital rather that going through an agency.

I had to pay home rent as well whilst I was away which pushes the cost way up but I went to the US about £2k total including some traveling after my placement.

Anyway, have a good time when you go, learn lots and enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

Thats rubbish, you can stay in the UK for your elective and if you pick where you go carefully, you will still get the opportunity to see different cultures/environments/clinical presentations etc not just a bit expensive holiday