Today was our last day in Birmingham before heading to London. It honestly felt like such a mix of lectures, goodbyes, and excitement for what was next in London. We started the morning with our first lecture of the day. The lecture focused on cardiovascular disease in adults. The woman teaching us was so nice and passionate about the topic, which made it easier to stay engaged even though I was a bit tired and the lights were hurting my head. We talked about how cardiovascular disease is the number one global killer. She explained how modern lifestyles, especially sedentary lifestyles, are causing rates to continue to rise because people are less active, eat more processed foods, and deal with so much stress. One thing that surprised me was learning about how cardiovascular disease is becoming more common in Nigeria. This is because Nigeria is a developing country and people are starting to move into urban areas where sedentary lifestyles and convenience food are more common. Even though cases are increasing, there is still poor reporting and very limited access to healthcare for many people there. This causes higher death rates at earlier ages when compared to the US and the UK. It was interesting hearing about the differences in healthcare systems and how access to care can completely change outcomes for patients.
After that lecture, another man came in to teach us about EKGs. He started with a pretest, which I did pretty bad on. But, this made me excited for his lecture because I knew I would learn some new things. We learned about the main different types of EKGs, such as a stress EKG or a heart monitor, and also the difference between a lead and an electrode. The electrodes are the sticky pads placed on the patient to read the electrical activity of the heart. The lead, on the other hand, is the different waves that appear on the screen, representing the electrical activity. He showed us how a standard 12-lead EKG works and explained how the different electrodes are used and that each lead gives a different view of the heart. There is definitely still a lot for me to learn about EKGs, but it was cool getting a better understanding of how healthcare workers use them to monitor heart activity and identify problems. Because I want to go into intensive care, it made me realize how much I have to learn to be ready.
Once the lectures were over, we had to say goodbye to Chinenye, who has been guiding us throughout Birmingham. She taught us so much during our time here, especially about nursing practices like burn care and wound care, which was her specialty. She was such a kind and welcoming person, and you could tell she genuinely cared about teaching us and making sure we had a good experience. I really loved when she took us through the skills lab on wound care. She made it a fun experience, not stressful at all. We gave her flowers and a card that everyone signed, it made her tear up which was the sweetest thing. Even I felt a bit emotional saying goodbye because she played such a big role in our trip and helped us learn so much both inside and outside of the classroom. I will definitely miss her and carry the things she taught me throughout my career and likely through my whole life.
After that, we had some free time for lunch before leaving Birmingham. I went to Morrisons, a huge grocery store, and got Yakisoba to go. It wasn’t the best yakisoba I’ve ever had, but it really hit the spot. I ate it in the hotel lobby, which was pretty relaxing after such a busy morning. Everyone was scattered around grabbing food, last minute packing, or just sitting around talking before we had to leave. After lunch, we got on the bus headed for London. The bus was a fancy coach bus like the one that we took to Birmingham on the first day. The seats were so comfortable and everyone got their own row. Just like our first bus ride, everyone was exhausted and slept on the drive. I napped for a good part of the ride too. I already miss Birmingham as I’m typing this, but I am excited for London tomorrow.
When we arrived, we went straight to our hotel, we were all excited about how nice it was. We are staying at the Inhabit Queens Garden hotel in Notting Hill, and the area is so pretty. The rooms have high ceilings and nice bathrooms, they even came with slippers and robes. The first thing I did was order a new charging cord and an adaptor that actually works. After putting our stuff in our rooms, a couple of my friends and I decided to go walk around the neighborhood. We popped into a few tourist shops to look for any gifts our families might like. By 7:10 we were meeting back in the lobby to walk to the Alumni Dinner. The restaurant we went to was really fancy. I got ravioli for dinner, it came with like a butter sauce and it was so delicious. I also got a chocolate cake for dessert, it was so rich and tasty.