What inspired you to go abroad?
I am a pre-med student at the University of Notre Dame and a certified EMT, and I want to become a surgeon. Working 911 calls showed me how much medicine depends on connecting with people in their most vulnerable moments. I wanted to see how physicians practice in a resource-limited setting, use my Spanish in real patient care, and find out what medicine looks like when you strip it down to its core.
Why did you choose International Medical Aid (IMA)?
International Medical Aid offered real clinical exposure across multiple departments instead of a tourism-style experience. Over two weeks I rotated through general medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, and ultrasound in Cusco, four hours each morning, working directly alongside attending physicians. IMA also combined that with Spanish instruction, which let me actually understand and follow patient conversations.
What was your favorite part about your host country/city?
The people. I went to Peru expecting it to feel unsafe and chaotic, and I was wrong on every count. Within my first hour in Cusco, two strangers at the airport sat down with my brother and me, unprompted, and spent twenty minutes giving us recommendations in Spanish. Before they left, they gave us their number in case we needed anything. That kindness was not performative, and I saw the same thing later in the hospital in how doctors treated their patients.
What made your experience abroad extraordinary?
The physicians. Dr. Pedro saw 23 patients in four hours, told us he was tired, and still lit up for every single patient, remembering their families and personal details. When a woman with a blood glucose of 323 and dangerously high blood pressure said she felt fine, he told her directly that without treatment she would die early and her sons would not have her. You could see it land. In family medicine, Dr. Pamela saw a woman with chest pain, shoulder pain, and shortness of breath but normal vitals. Instead of moving on, she asked about the woman's life, found the cause was stress, and spent thirty minutes listening to her, even though it meant staying late. The patient cried and thanked us just for letting her speak. No classroom teaches that.
How did local staff support you throughout your program?
Manuela, who organized our experience, was exceptional: organized, warm, and responsive to everything. I mentioned offhandedly that I competed in kickboxing back home and was looking for a class in Cusco. She found one, ordered me an Uber there, and coordinated everything, and the instructor waited after class to help me get a car back to the hotel. The physicians supported us too. After we ran out of patients one day, Dr. Silva took us to lunch to talk about what kind of doctors we wanted to become. The whole experience felt cared for, not just logistically managed.
What's one thing you wish you would have done differently during your time abroad?
I wish I had arrived without so many assumptions. I went to Peru with low expectations, expecting it to feel unsafe, chaotic, and hard to navigate, and that mindset cost me some of the openness I could have had from day one. I also expected to leave simply appreciating what we have at home. If I did it again, I would go in ready to learn from the system instead of judging it.
Describe what a typical day in your life abroad looked like.
Mornings were spent in the hospital for about four hours, rotating through general medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, and ultrasound. That meant shadowing attendings through patient visits, listening to histories in Spanish, and asking questions between patients. Afternoons were for medical Spanish classes and exploring Cusco with my brother. Some evenings I went to a local kickboxing class to keep training while I was abroad.
What did you enjoy doing during your free time abroad?
I explored Cusco with my brother, trying the restaurants and seeing the places locals recommended to us from the day we landed. I compete in kickboxing at home, so I also trained at a local kickboxing class that our coordinator Manuela set up for me. Training with locals was one of the best ways to connect with people outside the hospital and practice my Spanish.
What type of accommodation did you have? What did you like best about it?
I stayed in a hotel in Cusco with my brother. What I liked best was how easy it made everything else: it was a comfortable home base after mornings in the hospital, and the IMA team coordinated logistics around it so well that getting to rotations, classes, and even my kickboxing class was never a problem.
What is one thing every future participant should know about your program before their program begins?
Learn as much Spanish as you can before you go. The most valuable parts of this program happen in conversation: how a physician builds rapport in the first five minutes, how they deliver a hard truth, how they draw out what is really wrong. If you can follow those conversations, you will learn far more. Also, tell the staff what you need. They will go out of their way to help.
Would you recommend your program/provider to others? Why?
Yes. The clinical exposure was real, across four departments, and the physicians invested in teaching us, not just letting us watch. The staff, especially Manuela, went far beyond logistics. Most importantly, the program showed me what medicine looks like when doctors have few resources but a strong sense of purpose, and that perspective will shape how I practice for the rest of my career.
What do you feel the biggest benefit of traveling abroad is?
It challenges assumptions you did not know you had. I expected to observe a resource-limited system and come home grateful for what we have. Instead, I came home questioning what American medicine has sacrificed in the pursuit of efficiency and volume. Seeing another system up close gave me a clearer view of my own and of the kind of physician I want to be.
Now that you're home, how has your time abroad impacted your life?
I want to be a surgeon, and surgery rewards speed, precision, and technical mastery. The physicians in Cusco reminded me that none of that matters if the patient in front of you does not feel like a person to you. Dr. Silva warned us that medicine has become mechanical and asked us to carry that awareness through our careers. I now hold myself to the standard I saw there: be fully present, be honest, and never just go through the motions.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel means leaving as a different person than the one who arrived. It is not about sightseeing; it is about putting yourself in a place where people live and work differently and letting that change how you see your own life. In Cusco, the physicians I worked with had none of the luxury of resources but all of the discipline of purpose. Learning from that is what made the trip meaningful.
