The First Day

Susan and I are here in Copenhagen. We finally met Jette, the mystery woman, who will be our preceptor during the Community Health clinical rotation in the town of Fredericksburg. The flight to Amsterdam was crowded with many people but fast after watching two in-flight movies, Philadelphia and Pan's Labyrinth. Both made me tearful and emotional. The first impression at the Amsterdam international airport was generosity. First, there were smokers everywhere. They have smoker's section in the middle of airport lounge and they are allowed to smoke in any restaurants that sells alcohol or in casino. The smoke smell was quite disturbing but people seemed to tolerate it well. Another side of the generosity was facilities to give comfort to travelers. There were many relaxation reclining chairs on which people can sleep between flights. One big space was equipped with a large screen display of movie called Holland Horizon to provide visual illusion of spaciousness. Meditation chamber for quiet time and Yoga. Restroom next to this chamber had a sink for Muslims to wash their feet before their ritual. Museum that had an exhibition of Dutch Realism. First Aid service desk. Chair Massage area. And most of all, the security personnel were kind and more personal and less authoritative compared to the States. Thoughtfulness to detail was impressive. Efforts to service people were apparent.

Not so generous thing was the food price. Average mundane lunch was about 15 Euros, which is $20. A small bottle of water was 2.50 Euro ($3.40) while a can of Heineken was 2.60 Euro. We wandered around a long time to find a noodle restaurant. A simple Asian noodle was 14 to 18 Euros and it was not even that inviting. We ended up buying cheese, cracker, smoked salmon, apple, and beer at a store for about 7 Euros per each person. It was good.

After a short flight to Copenhagen, I found one of my luggage was missing. Giving up on the bag, we got out of the baggage claim area to meet Jette. She probably waited for us for quite a while and after a brief moment of excitement of our meeting, she helped me go back to the service desk to submit a lost baggage search request. Again, the people at the desk were quite laid-back and even soothing. Dealing with the frustrating circumstance like lost bags, the staff were kind and sincere. The lady searched for my bag on the computer and confirmed that the bag was still in Amsterdam. She noticed the forwarding address was a Nursing school and asked me about my trip. I asked her if she liked Danish Health Care. Quite surprisingly, she said she might like German system better. The reason being doctors don't pay enough attention to patients. These doctors are primary care doctors or general practice physicians. She said that it takes a great effort to get a referral ( I had to explain the word) to specialty doctors. But I told her that the U.S. government doesn't take care of its citizens as well as Danish one does. She said she heard in the States a million people were 'hungry', eating in a soup kitchen, etc. Well, not THAT many, I hope not, I talked to myself. She gave me an apology gift that had a shirt, socks, and personal hygiene stuff. It seemed like a routine gesture but it made me feel better. I have not seen such a 'gift' after losing a bag in any of U.S. airports. Another attention to detail.

And Jette took us to her car and drove us around the city a bit. The air was so fresh and cool. So many people were on bikes. Most cars, quite a few Japanese cars but no Hyundais, were compact or sub-compact cars. The old buildings looked they were taken care of well. The nursing school Jette teaches at is the smallest nursing school in the city, she said. There are about 25 students for each year. The school is ‘protected’ by the Queen. The nursing school building used to house catholic nuns and it is about 150 years old. But it has been renovated to meet today’s standard, including security doors and classrooms. The classroom area used to be a small hospital before. Everything is so neat and well kept. Then, Jette took us to a typical Danish restaurant. The price of a veal steak was about 170 Danish Krone, equivalent to $30. The meal was so good and the service was excellent. Jette said the Dean of the school provided the meal. It was around 10 p.m. when we left there and it was still bright outside. We are supposed to meet the school faculties and staff tomorrow. Including tomorrow’s orientation, my clinical rotations will be spread out over 9 days.

One more interesting thing I found: the toilet papers are narrower here. At the Amsterdam airport and in Copenhagen, the papers are about 30% narrower than the American ones. It would perhaps save a lot of trees, I thought.