I started at the hospital today. It was wholely overwhelming, but strangely not as much as I anticipated. Since I still find all my clinical encounters overwhelming this wasn't too much different. So far I would say the biggest difference from the emergency expereince I have had so far is that everyone gets less space. As in the beds are really close together. Everything is done in english (orders, charts, etc) except the talking, which, at this point is probably shielding me somewhat. I have been studying the phrase book but I still haven't made it much past namaste and hajur. I attached myself to a first year resident (I can't tell how pleased she was about that) and she was great. All of the residents there were very helpful, if a little suspitious that I was just finished first year, or that there was such thing as a three year medicine program. I learned how to take my own ECG and do a pelvic exam. I saw some regular stuff like cystitis, COPD and pneumonia but also mumps, a partial miscarriage, rat poisoning and cholera. (That is probably the part where I wish I hadn't given my mother this address. It is all good mom, I am being careful.)