Never in a thousand years

...did I think I would be experiencing rural medicine in the Shetland islands... but here I am in "Lerwick" doing exactly that.

We had been asked a few months ago to choose where we would like to undertake a 3-week GP placement with the only criteria being that the placement had to be outside London. I decided I wanted to go to Scotland, a place that has always fascinated me somewhat... partly because we used to visit there fairly frequently and I love the Scottish accent but also because the people from there always seem so friendly! A placement was organised near Loch Lomond but unfortunately that practice later became unavailable. Still determined to go on my Scottish adventure, I asked to be put in touch with anyone else who might take me on. A few days passed with no sign of any joy (a few days is long in iPhone time!), but eventually an email came through; a GP in a place called Unst was willing have me visit.

I had never heard of Unst (have you?!), and when I google mapped this it became clear why... this was the most northerly isle of the Shetlands..i.e. of the U.K.! It was closer to Norway than London. Part of me was excited and part of me slightly unsure. I could see from the map this would not be an easy destination to get to. Would it be worth it I wondered?

It transpired that a student had visited this Practice a couple of years beforehand and I was put in touch with her. By coincidence I actually knew this student, now doctor, though I hadn't realised she had been on placement so far away. She convinced me and that was that: it's true this was probably a now-or-never situation!

My journey here was one I'll never forget. Hitchhiking through Argentina and speedboating through Laos were eye-openers but this was different in its own way! I first got myself to Aberdeen. From here I took an overnight 14-hour ferry. Even at check-in, I started to feel the stares... a Chinese girl clearly not from Aberdeen getting on a ferry to the Shetlands on her own? Then came the questions. First I met a retired man from Cornwall - he was a bike enthusiast, cycling all around Scotland as part of a retirement holiday. Then came Diesel. A Scotsman and biker - not a bicycle biker but a motobiker, complete with black leather jacket, long straggly hair and a Darth Vader like helmet. Now in London, my City girl senses would tell me to probably avoid conversation with such strangers but when you're on a ferry feeling seasick after forcing down pea soup, it's a whole lot more difficult to pretend to be in your own zone!!

Yep, the Shetlands is that red "A" balloon...! And yes they are closer to Norway than London!

"Two Questions: Do. You. SPEAK. ENNNNGLISH?" I could barely stop myself from laughing here despite my throbbing head. "I'm from London". He looked slightly blank before sitting down and asking "Do you want to speak?" I didn't really feel I had a choice as he was already on his seat and no-one was around. But against my irrational fears, he was perfectly nice (why wouldn't he be?!), just curious as to why someone as foreign-looking as myself would be onboard such a ferry..!
The conversation actually helped clear my headache and eventually I decided I had spoken long enough to be able to excuse myself politely. The rest of the night I tried to sleep in my "pod"; it was actually better than I anticipated though at times the sea did make me feel like a bobbing glass bottle longing to wash up on a shore somewhere.

Around 07:30 the next morning we docked in at Lerwick where I am now. It was a very grey, rather uninviting day. I was directed to the correct bus stop ready for bus journey number one. Fortunately an elderly couple from the Orkney islands heading to Unst were also waiting; I was very relieved I would be able to follow them on the next bus, then boat, then bus, then boat, and final bus!

The bus drove out of the small town into rolling countryside. Not like the green English countryside or the rocky Scottish highlands, but lots of brown undulating hills, what I know know to be composed of peat. (That stuff you learn about in geography but never truly understood..) The rain kept pouring. About an hour or so later we arrived at the North-eastern edge of the Mainland of Shetland. A ferry about half the size of the last one was pulling in. We huddled together in the bus shelter; another touristy-looking man joined us - a German, also heading to Unst. He clearly also was pleased to have met the couple who would be able to lead him there too!

We all got on the ferry where there was a surprisingly comfy seating area with a coffee machine and toilets. 20 minutes later we arrived in Yell: isle number two. What looked more like a big car than a mini bus was waiting for us at the shore. Had the couple not been there I probably wouldn't have trusted what appeared to be a man and his car! They seemed to think the arrangement usual and so I also hopped in along with the German. A young guy was already seated in the back - I recognised him as someone from the overnight ferry.

Our bus/car pulled away and I plucked up the courage to acknowledge I had seen him the night before. He concurred with a friendly smile and told me he was an engineering student from Aberdeen, visiting his mum who was the new practice nurse in Unst. I wondered if I would meet her in the following week..

8 minutes later we arrived to Unst, finally! The elderly couple were picked up by the daughter whilst the three of us boarded a mini bus - this one looked kosher. I had been instructed to tell this driver I was "staying with Jane" to which he nodded with supposed comprehension. We all sat in silence as we absorbed the place we would all call home, me for the next fortnight, them for the next few days. The other two both got off before me and we went our separate ways. I was dropped off at a bus stop - a very decorated one I will explain later - and "Jane" was waiting there as she said she would be. She drove me up the road to her house, a lovely quiet place full of trinkets she had collected from all her travels from exotic places I hadn't really heard of. I would be living in the extension next door. It was beautiful and immaculately clean, and far nicer than my dorm room in London!
The next ferry was now half the size of the last! I found it amusing it was called "Bigga". The seating area this time was very basic: wooden benches in the basement of the boat with a grotty probably-shouldn't-try-me-looking coffee machine. It all looked a bit war-time-esque but perfectly functional. Above the noise, I asked the German more about his reasons for heading towards this unlikely but clearly fairly popular Isle. He turned out to be a Gastroenterologist (Gut doctor) from Northern Germany. The world is so small and medics are everywhere! He seemed quite amused I was visiting the Shetlands for a placement but then agreed he also liked visiting odd islands for walking trips which is why he was there.

Since then it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I've definitely had my eyes opened wider than I had even expected they would be. The people, the lifestyle, the doctoring is all a far cry from that of London and the life akin to me. And now I'm back in Lerwick tonight staying with a kind doctor who agreed to show me the only hospital in the Shetlands tomorrow. My visit started earlier than we anticipated however as just after I arrived tonight there was an emergency transfer needed for a patient who had to been flown to Aberdeen. I went in the ambulance with them. It was my first time doing such a call and so all a bit exciting! The person was manoeuvred onto the tiniest plane I've seen and sent into the black night's sky on board with two doctors from the
"Retrieval Service".

The whole team were so friendly and keen to get me involved. In London, as a student you often feel completely in the way! After the event, the ambulance men then drove me back to the doctor's house where I'm staying. Where else on earth do ambulances transport you home?!

It's time like this when I feel I cannot deny that luck and fate and serendipity must exist.