Despite the above description on what the elective was like, many of my colleagues whom I kept in contact with back in the UK or on other electives asked if I had time to do much else apart from being at the hospital. This was not true, admittedly despite this heavy workload there was plenty of time to go out enjoy the area and travel.

Boston is a wonderful city, being in America everything like bars, diners, clubs and shops are open till late and I often went out with the other medical students.

I lived in Cambridge, which is the town where Harvard yard, which is the main university campus, is located. Cambridge is about five miles and a short tube ride from Boston city centre where the hospital and main department stores are located.

The location of Harvard meant that I lived in a very student orientated university town. Harvard yard was very impressive and students made up most of the town’s population.

Boston city centre was also impressive, it was a very good for shopping, with several department stores and smaller shops with prices that were considerably cheaper than in the UK.

As far as the tourist attractions in Boston were concerned, Bostonians took pride in their baseball team the Red Sox that played at Fenway Park near the city centre as well as their status as the place where the Boston tea party and the country’s independence took place. Massachusetts’s number plates call themselves the spirit of America.

Not being much of a museum type person myself I did not go to the many museums that were in the area like the museum of fine arts where some Van Gogh paintings were on display. However in the last week out of guilt and pressure from the other students who said that I must see it, I did walk around the famous Boston freedom trail. This was a well laid out walk around the city through all the famous historical buildings such as where the Boston tea party took place.

I also travelled further afield than Boston, there was a bus from Chinatown that only cost $10 (about £7.50) for a trip to New York. I spent most weekends visiting New York, the trip from Boston took four and a half hours. If anyone could ever get bored of Boston, it was impossible not to find something of interest in New York. I had previously been to New York five times before but even going back on this trip found more things to see.

I also spent a week of the elective travelling when I went to Washington. This was the first time I went there and there was plenty to see. The main tourist attractions of course like the White House, the capitol, and the Lincoln memorial. There was of course heightened security, this was however more evident in Washington than in Boston. In Washington for example my rucksack had to go through an airport security type scan to even enter the shopping mall! However for prospective travellers on this elective it is not worth worrying excessively about security in America. I had been to America many times in the past before the terrible events. The only difference I had noted were that there were more officials present and more passport checks at the airport which if anything made things safer. I did not have any problems and found the American people as friendly as they ever were towards tourists and visitors.

Regarding food, Boston is by the coast and prides itself on its seafood. I am however a vegetarian but did not find that to be a problem despite being my non meat eating placing me in a very distinct minority in America. There were plenty of places to eat out, supermarkets were open till late (I often tended to cook) and the hospital canteen was very impressive serving everything from sushi to fast food. Interestingly the person in charge of running the canteen is regarded as one of the best chefs in Boston and the canteen has won many awards for its standard of food for the whole of Boston not just surrounding hospitals.

Concerning accommodation I stayed in an apartment in Cambridge. This was about 10 minutes walk from Harvard yard and the subway station. The ride to the hospital was four subway stops and took about 25 minutes from door to door. I used to go in in the mornings wearing my surgical scrubs and Nike trainers which was normal practice! My apartment was a large two bedroom apartment that was subletted to me by a Harvard student. I was able to find this accommodation on the web before I left the UK.

Widener Library at Harvard Yard – the main university library was founded in 1915 and contains 14.9 million volumes.