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# Information page

# Information about the programme

Evaluation of a student coming from Australia

This is the information about the place of the Student Exchange Programme:

Dear Kate! You have been placed in a community pharmacy in Budapest. Soon you will receive more information from the Hungarian SEO. Hope you will enjoy your stay in Hungary.

The Student Exchange Programme took place :
From 2006-01-19 to 2006-02-21

# evaluation form

- Application Procedure -

How did you find out about the exchange program?
Through an Australian pharmacy student newsletter

How was the application procedure?
Too complicated

Easy and clear

comments: The forms were very straightforward

Did you get enough information about the Exchange conditions?
No

yes

What do you think of the IPSF Web Site?
Very unclear

Very clear

comments:

- Student Exchange Officer (SEO) -
How was the assistance provided by your SEO? Was it easy to get in contact with the SEO?
not filled in
comments: She always checked her email!

Did you get an official invitation from the host SEO?
No
comments:

Did you get enough information about your exchange, visa requirements, vaccinations, etc?
Yes
comments:

Did someone pick you up when you arrived in the country?
Yes

Did the SEP committee organise touristy excursions during your stay?
Yes

Did the SEP committee organise museum visits during your stay?
Yes

Did the SEP committee organise university visits during your stay?
No

Did the SEP committee organise excursions to other pharmacies or pharmaceutical companies during your stay?
Yes

Did the SEP committee take you to local student activities during your stay?
Yes
comments:

Did those activities fulfil your expectations?
No

Very much

- Accomodation and board -
Was it easy to reach the place where you stayed?
No , very difficult

Yes , no transport problems

Did you stay in a student residence, in a hotel or with a family during your traineeship?
Student residence

Did you feel at home at the place where you stayed?
Not at all

Very much

comments: The students there were very welcoming

Did you have to pay for the accommodation?
Yes
comments: But it was cheap

Did you get free or student price meals?
No

What did you do during your traineeship?
I worked Monday to Friday for 3 hours per day. During this time I worked mostly in the laboratory. In the lab I was preparing extemporaneous products. I also observed the patient/pharmacist interactions, but could not really participate due to the language barrier. I also helped do the daily orders and check the incoming products.

Was your employer interested in teaching you?
Not at all

Very interested

comments: She was always helping and showing me something

Do you think the work you did was interesting?
Not at all

Very interesting

comments: I enjoyed it!

Do you think you learned enough during your traineeship?
Not at all

Yes I do

comments:

Did the work correspond to the information that you received before the traineeship?
Not at all

Yes

comments:

Did you experience any communication problems during your traineeship?
Not at all

Yes , many

comments: Not all the staff in the pharmacy could speak English so sometimes this was hard

Which language did you use?
English

How many days a week did you work?
5 days a week

How many hours a day?
3 houres a day

Was this too much?
Not at all

Yes far too much

Did you get the opportunity to visit the country?
Not at all

Yes more than enough

Did you get a wage?
No

Did the wage correspond to the information you received before the traineeship?
Yes
comments:

- Final Evaluation -
Were the traineeship and visit as you expected?
Not at all

Yes I am very

Would you advise other students to apply for this association's SEP?
Not at all

Yes definitely

Do you have any suggestions how this association's SEP could be improved?
The Hungarian association SEP was great! I was looked after really well, by both the pharmacy staff and the pharmacy students. The only improvement would be to give a bit more information to the incoming student on what to expect when they get there.

- Preparation -
How did you prepare for your traineeship?
Did you arrange a travel and/or malpractice insurance before your exchange?
I contacted the Hungarian embassy in regards to a visa, which I did not need. I organized travel insurance and packed some warm clothes!

- Arrival and reception -
Write something about getting there , about meeting the local students and finding the working place and the place where you stayed.
26 hours after leaving Sydney I arrived in Budapest, so getting there was very long! At the airport I was met by two pharmacy students who picked me up and took me to my accommodation, I was then taken to dinner and met a big group of the students. The students were all very friendly and cheerful; they liked to laugh a lot! The pharmacy I worked in was great! It was close to my accommodation and the staff were excellent, they were very kind and helpful. The pharmacist/owner was taking care of me in the pharmacy and was always helpful and very friendly. I could not have been sent to a better pharmacy! My accommodation was nice; the students had picked out a very nice student dorm for me. I shared the room I was in with one other girl who was very friendly. The accommodation was close to the pharmacy I worked in and was also in the middle of the city so I was close to everything.

- The place -
What was your accommodation like?
The accommodation was nice. The student dorm was clean and tidy and I only had to share a room with one other girl. We also shared a bathroom and kitchen with two boys who I also got to know and were very friendly. The student dorm was full of medical students and we would often hang around the common areas drinking tea or playing pool. They were very inviting and made a good attempt at having English conversations!

- The work -
Explain in detail what you did? What was the work like?
In the pharmacy I worked mainly in the laboratory. In the lab I got to prepare many extemporaneous products, examples were suppositories, pessaries, cough mixtures, gargles, shampoos, creams, ointments, eye/ear drops and individual powders. I would make the product and the pharmacist would help me with getting the ingredients and supervise the whole process. I found this interesting as we learn the techniques of how to prepare these products at university but never really use them in practice in Australia, so it was good to get some experience in this area I also observed patient/pharmacist interactions. Although I could not understand the Hungarian language it was still very interesting. The interaction is very different to the Australian experience. I also helped out with doing the daily orders to the drug manufacturer and checked the incoming stock. The pharmacist even gave me the chance to sit in and participate in discussions with the medical representatives from various drug companies. Overall I was involved in most areas of the pharmacy business there. It was very different to the pharmacy in Australia and I really enjoyed being there.

- What did you learn? -
What did you learn?
In the pharmacy I learnt different techniques of preparing extemporaneous products, for example we made suppositories by hand and in Australia we heat the material and pour it into a mould. I also learnt about the history of pharmacy in Hungary and how it has been just recently that pharmacies have been privatized and that prior to this pharmacies were state owned. Away from the pharmacy I learnt so much about the culture, people, history and politics of Hungary; I even learnt some Hungarian words!

- Other visits or activities -
What else did you do during your stay? Which places did you visit?
Was it organised by the SEP committee or did you do it on your own?
Did you have to pay for these to the SEP committee? How much? Where there some other unexpected costs?
During my stay the students took me sightseeing a lot. We explored Budapest and some of the small towns outside the city. We would visit museums, galleries, monuments, castles etc, most of these places were free as it was winter, if we had to pay it was only minimal and we received student discounts. The SEP officer took me to her hometown out in the countryside and we stayed with her family which was really nice, and I had some real home cooked Hungarian food! I hung out with the pharmacy students most night, either at their dorm or my dorm and we would cook dinner and chat. Most of the activities I did in Hungary were organized by the pharmacy students. During my stay I also visited London for a weekend. I did this on my own and I stayed with some of my relatives over there. Some of the pharmacy students and myself went to Vienna for a weekend and we paid for it ourselves. There were no unexpected costs; I was expecting to pay for everything, but it was very cheap to travel, eat and visit places.

- Recommendations/final conclusion -
Do you have any recommendations for other students? What is your final conclusion?
Go on exchange! It was a great experience and I loved every moment of it! It opened my eyes to another world and I really enjoyed seeing such a different culture. The people I met were great and I will surely keep in contact with them. Now I am thinking where I can go next!