Shamsah Azi

When I first considered medicine, I did not have to stretch my imagination too far to see myself working in this field. I think this is important as when exams, deadlines and placements all mount up and you are clutching at straws, your interest in medicine can sometimes be the only thing to carry you through. Being able to see the bigger picture and knowing that your knowledge will help somebody one day makes it worth all the stress.

I travelled to Mauritius for my elective. It was amazing! It was quite different from the UK but the basic principles of management were similar. The obvious difficulty was the language, the main spoken language is Creole but nearly all of the staff working there could speak English. The beaches were as you see them in the brochures...picture perfect! Aside from the placement, exploring this small island was a lot of fun and a good break from studies. 

I carried out my elective in Emergency Medicine. I really enjoyed my A&E placement in my fourth year and wanted to experience emergency medicine in a different country. 

I would definitely encourage everybody to apply to Leeds. It is a very good university and there is always something going on either on campus or in the city. Leeds is a good combination of city life surrounded by greenery. There are so many small towns, nature walks and amazing hilltop views as well as shopping centres and lots of fun in the city.