Belén Barrera Aranda (23) is a 5^th year medical student from Granada, Spain.

 

Do you live with your parents or on your own?

With my parents.

 

How’s university life in Spain?

It’s amazing!! Especially in my city, students are almost half the population of my city so there are a lot of different things to do. There are many activities organized by the Uni, like sportive events, meetings to go hiking in Sierra Nevada, sky discounts, parties etc.

However Granada is not so big, so you can go everywhere by foot and we have such a good weather because it’s the south of Spain. The best thing is that Granada is so cheap! It’s one of the cheapest places to go out in Spain...

 

How many hours a week do you spend on your study?

I stay every day in the Uni from 8:00 to 10:00 and then from 10:30 to 14:00-15:00 in the hospital. Then eventually you can have a couple of hours in the evening but that’s not very common. And studying… well I’m a little bit lazy and I usually leave everything for the last moment so I don’t really study during the year but in exams I move to the library and I spend 12 hours per day in there.

 

Is it financially possible for everyone to study medicine in Spain?

The cost depends on the city. In Granada it costs about €800 per year, which is the summarizing of every subject you have. If you have more subjects because you failed subjects last year and you need to do them again, it’s more, and if you need less subjects, it’s less. In my case I receive a grant from the government and I study for free (they cover my taxes).

 

What do you think is the best part of the medical education in Spain?

The best part is that we have a very good university life, and also good theory knowledge.

 

If you can change one thing of the medical education in Spain, what would that be?

 The practices, for sure. We are fighting to reach a kind of insurance for students to cover our mistakes, because right now we depends on the doctor’s insurance and that’s why they don’t let you touch anything. With an insurance they’ll let us do more things, and it will be a very good step.

 

You are involved in IFMSA and especially during international meetings you meet a lot of different medical students from all over the world. What do you think that is the biggest difference in study medicine in Spain and another country?

In México is too few lessons but too much practises. They are slaves from the hospital and they are forced to treat patients by their own, which I think is a risk for the patient even though is good for the students.

In Germany they have the insurance I already talk about, and I really like it because they are forced to participate in the practises. That’s why I’m moving to Germany on September to do in there my 6º year of the degree.

In Austria is a little bit like in Germany but students don’t do anything, so I think it’s like in Spain. I was in there for 1 month during my Internship and I didn’t learn a lot, not because of the language because I speak a little bit of German, but because doctors didn’t care about me.

 

Describe your life in 2020….

Well I’m planning to move to Germany to finish my degree and do my specialization, but I guess you prefer to know how my life would be in 2010 if I finally decide to stay in Spain… In 2010 I’ll have to spend a lot of hours in the hospital, I’ll work from 8:00-9:00 to 15:00 every day and about once per week I’ll have a shift.

I don’t want to become a surgeon because my schedule will be a mess, but I like Anaesthesiology so my life would probably be a mess as well.

 

There is enough work for doctors, so I think I won’t have too much problems to reach my job, but as I said I hope I’ll be living in Germany for that time.