So after three different flights and over fifteen hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Izmir today. I had no means of communication (text, call, etc.) with my fellow student, Mateusz Kopaczyk from Poland, whom I was supposed to meet in the airport. Luckily I was able to recognize him from his FaceBook photos when he came through the passport checkpoint.
Although I expected to be a little out of sorts coming here without knowing the language, today has been difficult in that Mateusz and I have just met for the first time and he is the only person that I know here. Talk about having to trust someone pretty quickly.
Fortunately we were able to find some interesting topics to talk about. I have been questioning him about pharmacy in Poland and he has been asking about pharmacy in the United States. I learned that pharmacy school in Poland is a five year program with a half year of internship following. Mateusz's opinion is that their curriculum is too heavily oriented in pure science; he attempted to explain some different labs that they had to complete which were not really related to patient care. They refer to exams during the semester as "colloquiums" then at the completion of each class they have a cumulative final that must be passed. Apparently students are given multiple attempts at final exams, usually 2 or 3, because often they are not able to pass them on the first try. These exams can be multiple choice, short answer, or essay questions such as explain the mechanism of a class of drugs. Additionally, he explained that for the amount of schooling they complete, he thinks pharmacists only make a mediocre salary (he said about 800-1000 USD starting salary).
One conversation I thought was particularly interesting was when I mentioned I was part of an undergraduate sorority and had to attempt to explain Greek life. Not the easiest concept to try and put into words for a foreigner to understand.
As opposed to everywhere else I have traveled, I find there to be fewer English speakers here in Izmir. Mateusz has been told "No." to the classic "Do you speak English?" by pretty much every person he has encountered. I find that if I ask a male, he is likely to ignore me or say "No." right away whereas young females seem more likely to empathize with me and offer directions or help. It makes us both wonder if people do speak English and just are unwilling to talk with us. We will see if this pattern continues throughout our travels. (I hope not.) Tomorrow we will be