Submitted by Victoria Sanchez on the 2017 winter session program in the British Virgin Islands sponsored by the College of Health Sciences…
This study abroad experience is a little different than some of the other programs. Instead of attending classes, we have clinical hours in the hospital. I quickly came to learn that hospitals in the United States differ greatly than hospitals in the British Virgin Islands. In the particular unit I am working in,there has been either one or zero patients. Residents with mild illnesses usually utilize clinics and extremely sick patients often get shipped out to other hospitals across the world. While this may be a good thing because there aren’t many sick children in the pediatric ward, it forces me to find ways to pass the time when there isn’t any patient care going on. I took this time to really get to know the other nurses and staff I was working with. Despite our many differences, it was interesting to see how similar we actually are in comparison.
Two of the women I spent most of my time with were not much older than me so we had a lot in common. They both attended college in the States and eventually returned back to Tortola. We initially bonded over our love of Grey’s Anatomy and iced coffee. It turns out, we listen to the same music, watch the same TV shows and eat the same foods. They read American news and worship the same celebrities that we do. I went in thinking how different our cultures were, but we ended up just being peers who have many similarities.
While getting to know each other, I also gained a lot of insight into their culture. They expressed to me that older generations claim they are losing their cultural traditions. They emphasized the importance of religion and going to church as a part of their way of life. Getting a good education is very important to them and they encouraged their families to better themselves. Manners are also extremely imperative to this culture. It is very important to say hello to everyone you meet. They stressed if you enter a room without a greeting it is deemed disrespectful. This was proven to me in the hospital when everyone who walked passed me greeted me with a “good morning” or “good day”. This is so interesting to me because here in the States you can pass someone you know on Main Street and they pretend they don’t see you. Disrespecting elders is also extremely frowned upon and it is very common to live with extended family members. I feel extremely fortunate that I had the opportunity to learn about their culture while also sharing my own experiences with them.