Summer 2010 [part 2]

A few days before the commencement of the course, I was introduced to Dr. Tatiana who was to be my guide. She was a russian with Masters degree in Radiology. She was very good in her subject and also friendly with students. She instructed me on what to wear, when to come and whom we will be meeting on the first day of the course.

The person who introduced me to her was my agent Mr. Sergey and his assistant Miss. Sophia. Sergey was a middle aged man in his late forties spoke only Russian and Ukrainian languages. But Sophia spoke fluent English with an Ukrainian slant in the accent. She was tall, lean and wore tight short dress in the late spring when I met her. She had long nails, which upon inquiry I discovered were fake nails stuck to the tip of fingers for style. These appendages also had some art work on them. She helped me around the University area and showed me the route to many important places which I needed to know.

Towards the end of May 2010, I submitted my educational documents for verification and it was despached to Kiev, where the Department of Education and the Ministry of Health would verify my credentials through the Indian embassy. I was also asked to deposit the fees with my agent who would pay it on my behalf. Sophia also told me that from next year I will have to deposit my fees in the bank and she is helping me because of my ignorance of both the language, the procedures involved and the location of the bank. In short, because of my ignorance about everything. So she did everything necessary and also instructed me about the Marshrudka (local tempo traveler) numbers which I will require on the first day of my course.

The Marshrudkas were Mercedes tempo traveler vans with a seating capacity of about twenty. They also had a number plate along with the name of the destination in the front. The name was always in Russian, so the number was the only clue I could use.

Sergiy and Sophia also took me to the Medical Academy Hostel for foreign students. I met the owner , a lady in her fifties, Alyona and the warden Natasha, who a platinum blonde in her thirties. I signed the agreement, submitted a copy of the proof of fees paid for both the course and the hostel and I was allocated a room along with an African medical student from a francophone country in West Africa. Mr. Pierre, was in his second year of medical school and had a good reputation with the warden and the owner. He was  clean and did not smoke or drink and so they reasoned that he would not be of any nuisance to me. That turned to be true as the days went by.

All was set for me to start the course and the day of joining dawned on me. I am not sure about the details how I reached where and with whose help. I met the HOD in hospital number 4 and he introduced me to Dr. Binay, who was had already joined the Radiology residency program and was six months ahead of me. The boss asked him to help me out and from then on he helped me till I left Ukraine in 2012 July. So we became good friends.

According to the European system of education, the student has to decide the sylabbus and design his course. The head of the departement and the guide would facilitate the learning process and arrange posting for me in the various modalities of Radiology like X-ray, Ultrasound, CT, MRI etc. At the end of every six months I would be submitting a report as to all the postings I underwent, all the presentations I gave, all the course work I did and all the seminars we had. Thus I would be evaluated on my progress every six months and any issues or problems I had would be analysed and solved.