Concordia CMLL Study Tour

As someone who has barely any experience traveling overseas, this trip came with a lot of firsts. It’s hard to be prepared for everything when traveling and sometimes you get thrown into an experience you really weren’t expecting. The day we traveled from Nafplion to Sparta I spent the morning in a Greek hospital, with no Greek language understanding and an hour of sleep the prior night. Although it wasn’t an expected or wanted way to spend our long morning, I got to experience an aspect of Greek culture different to the educational aspects in the trip, and luckily Prof. Buell was there to help.

The day I got sick had been one of our first out of Athens. We were all really excited to have access to the beach and cool off after our long hot days on sites. At Lerna and Mycenae that day I would’ve never guessed what was in store for me that night. After the sites a group of students, including myself went to the beach with a bottle of wine and had a joyous time before heading to dinner. Once returning to my room with my two roommates, (Piper and Charlotte) all was still well, until around 9pm when the sickness began. It continued and worsened for hours until my wonderful roommates got worried and went to inform our teachers. It was very late at night by this point so there was nothing to be done except wait for the morning. I had not been so extremely sick in years and got maybe an hour of sleep throughout the night while trying not to disturb my roommates, who were trying their best to get a bit of sleep. 

That next morning, we luckily had one of our latest starts of the trip at 11, even before the hospital visit I was grateful for the extra time hoping my stomach would settle a little before our long drive to Sparta. Dr Buell woke around 7 and messaged me if I wanted some translation help at a nearby pharmacy to grab some meds for the bus ride. I was so glad to have the help as I had barely slept at all, was severely dehydrated, and had never been to a place that did not speak English as a national language and was still getting more used to the barrier. 

When we got to the pharmacy and asked for some stomach medicine the pharmacist first asked me around how many times I had puked the prior night. I answered him with a (lowballed)  range of 20-30. The pharmacist heard my answer and immediately pointed me and Dr Buell down the road to the local hospital. Neither of us had really expected this side quest and hoped we would still make it to the bus on time.

  I am from the U.S. and have been to the ER a few times for broken bones but nothing else. We walked into the Hospital in Nafplion and were instantly given attention and help without having to wait hours, the standard in both the US and Canada. It wasn’t super busy so early i the morning but I was still shocked at how fast we got help. When we explained the situation the nurse immediately went to give me an IV, and I was quite surprised by her lack of communication as she just went to do it without talking to me first. This was probably a combination of the language barrier and the difference in medical system but it still freaked me out. While I was there they checked just about everything a hospital could check for stomach issues, a blood test, a urine test, and they even did an X-ray. At this point I was starting to worry about the cost, I knew generally that in Europe hospitals work differently but wasn’t sure if it would work the same for international travelers and the cost of such things in the US is always a very big deal. A few times while I was there they brought me away from Dr Buell and thus my understanding of Greek, as my phone also hadn’t been changed the prior night and I didn’t have the service nor battery to be using a translator. Most of the people at the hospital knew some English and seemed very used to travelers who didn’t know Greek. Within 2-3 hours all the tests they had done were finished and my IV was finished so we were able to leave. The fact we were in and out in such a short amount of time was very surprising to me. I was quite proud that in my tiredness I had not shed any tears until the nurse took out my IV, at which point I had no music on my dead phone to distract me and was thoroughly exhausted. Prof Beull was wonderfully nice the whole time even though I had definitely derailed his morning with the hospital visit and helped with all the international differences. 

  Although it wasn’t the most fun cultural experience of my trip it was definitely really interesting to see how medical systems here work. When I left we did not have to pay for a single thing except the prescriptions back at the pharmacy and although I logically knew to expect it in Europe I was shocked. Later that day when I told my mother of my adventure, the first thing she asked was how much it cost and had a similar reaction when I told her the lack of price for my visit. Although the general system in the US works very differently and is supposed to have its own merits with lesser taxation, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the doctor at all after this sickness because of the high cost, instead just waiting it out and managing my dehydration. Traveling definitely sped up my timeline for getting better but still I was shocked by how accessible the system here in Greece was. 

In the end, I was allowed to skip our lectures for the day, but they were in Sparta so I was thoroughly told by our professors that I really wasn’t missing much. Later that night my friends watched Meet The Spartans, which was more of a bummer to miss out on than the site itself as I was told it was quite the fun time, and in a few days felt back to normal with the help of some medications from the hospital. The whole experience was really interesting as it let me get a different perspective on Greek society away from the more touristy and educational things on the trip and let me get a glimpse into life in a different place. 

By Nola Roberts