The phrases “rollercoaster” and “on-the-spot-adaptability” are amongst those I would use to describe the course of my LiA experience. Negative? No, rollercoasters are fun, and who doesn’t like a bit of chaos during the summer? 

The last iteration of my project, titled “Optimising Care in Rural Slovenia: Kobarid Healthcare Station”, had multiple aims; however, the main goal was to assess the current state of healthcare and use my knowledge of different healthcare systems abroad to help a rural community and their local healthcare station. No, but seriously, it was a project that kept on giving, but also a project that will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. My mother, knowing I’ll be working in the local area where she spent her childhood, stressed to me the importance of making my time there matter. I can only hope I did and that the people I met there met me as deeply as I met them – because the experience and the professional relationships I built there have truly changed me.

Changed or challenged, I hear you asking. +1 Point to Gryffindor! In all honesty, it was both. Coming into a foreign environment where seemingly everyone knew each other (the town itself is 4000 people) and where people knew my grandparents, but I knew no one, was difficult. On top of that, the innocent expectation that I would become the new GP trainee of the town was so genuine that I didn’t have the heart to say no. And is there a better feeling than being wanted by a community so deeply? It really struck me what it means to be a medical professional in situations like these, and the feeling is something I’ll always carry with me. I’m getting sidetracked a bit, so let’s focus on my struggles. Now I say this with a heavy heart and understanding the implications of including such a precious detail in a blog post, but it was the first time I saw someone passing away. This hit me very hard, and the memory still carries so much weight in my mind. In that one moment, I was reminded of the fragility of human life, yet in the next, we had to focus on the next patient. I felt out of depth, and my emotions were a bit all over the place, but this experience taught me feelings no words can describe. So I’ll leave it at that.

There isn’t really a good way to continue after this anecdote, but I’ll try and keep it more positive. The community I worked with was amazing. Soča valley, with its residents, was and continues to be my favourite place on earth (as seen from my personal archive below).

It is where my ancestors are from, and I feel a personal connection to the place. So, coming back and helping, even if minimally, was of huge importance to me – in a way, it felt like a fetus rejoining with the umbilical cord. I hope my time there built a foundation for the future.

As I’m getting towards the final part of this blog, I feel like I’m developing a mild case of schizophrenia (with my medical knowledge, I know that’s not true) because I hear you asking for all the details about the leadership development. And here is the recipe I’ve been gatekeeping:

1. Find a project in Dublin and plan everything.
2. Decide to do it in your home country instead and completely turn your summer on its head, showcasing self-initiative, commitment, adaptability and problem-solving.
3. Get there and realise the plans fell through, so you have to do it all again... and do it all again.
4. Successfully carry out your LiA project, achieve real-world impact and create amazing bonds with new people.
5. Grow as a person and a leader, especially in terms of communication (you have to write a professional report and communicate with a director), teamwork (the team you were brought into is an already functional unit and finding your role in that is difficult) and problem-solving (you encounter many logistical problems along the way and solving them is key to project’s success).
6. Smile and have fun.

Now this is top secret, so do not share it with anyone, but on the off-chance you do, put down Steve Jobs as the author – that man really had it all figured out.

Overall, my experience was memorable. A simple word to describe your LiA – “we thought your vocabulary was extensive” – I know, but it genuinely conveys my feelings about it. From the moment I got the idea, finding a supervisor, working with them through the issues we faced as my project almost fell apart, to successfully carrying out the project… everything felt like a rollercoaster, but a memorable and fun one. Like the ones in Disneyland, which I unfortunately didn’t get to visit during my LiA… I’ll do it during my next “Leadership in Action” experience, I do not doubt that…