Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Flying away!

Today I fly down to Hobart for the Global Health Conference. I haven't done any med-related travel in the past four years (rural rotation doesn't count), so I wanted to do something before I finished the course.

A lot of people I know have done wonderful electives overseas, but I can't justify spending the money on that. I guess it is easier when it is just your money and you don't have a mortgage and a partner who is still working full-time to support you both.

Anyway, I did the fair thing and he is coming with me to Hobart for the four nights, so he gets some time off work and I get to sit and listen to talks on global health. I hope it is interesting - there look to be some good speakers and good topics.

Unsurprisingly, I am very keen to go to the ones on mental health, and they are addressing some pertinent topics such as mental health in refugees and other disenfranchised people. Of course, you could also argue that the severely mentally ill of most cultures have lost a lot of their power, rights and autonomy, but I can imagine that it would be an incredibly powerless situation to be a mentally ill refugee or asylum seeker.

I'm in the middle of packing, and things would run a lot smoother if I hadn't decided to be a complete nerd and type out my list of things to double-check. Unfortunately my Macbook is now three and a half years old, so it is getting clunky, and I keep getting the Beachball Of Death every few seconds in Word.

Still, a packing list is worth it. I find that it doesn't matter too much if you leave packing until the last minute, as long as you have a solid list. On our last holiday, I made a list and Mr TGWTBS didn't. I remembered everything, and he forgot underwear. Did you know that some tropical islands don't sell men's briefs? We know now.

Anyway, I had better get back to packing. Have a lovely weekend. :)

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