As a medical student, we are known to be a lifelong learner. It means that we won’t cease learning just until we become doctors, but we will always learn until we die. Medical aspects always include continuous updates so that we shouldn’t be left behind. To gain an update of the knowledge, we can study abroad as a student or as a researcher. However, the understanding of how to study abroad is lacking in medical students. So, SCOPE and SCORE CIMSA FK UIN SH held MERCH (Medical Education and Research Abroad) to increase the knowledge regarding opportunities to study and do research abroad. MERCH is a one-day event that was held via Zoom Meeting with dr. Nanda Lucky Prasetya, MMSc, and dr. Nada Ristya Rahmani, M.Sc as speakers. The participants are medical students of FK UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
Three days before the event, members of SCOPE and SCORE CIMSA UIN SH did a publication to the medical students of FK UIN Syarif Hidayatullah 2020 and were given an assessment to join the MERCH. As a result, they all attended.
On Thursday, 22 October 2020, at 4 p.m., MERCH was finally held. The event was opened by the MC and continued by the welcoming speeches by the Project Officer, LORE, and LOCO CIMSA UIN SH. After the opening, the event continued with a talk show. The first talk show was with dr. Nada, as she shared about her research exchange abroad; regarding how she got the scholarship, the environment, the culture, and habits of the people of Dutch. The participants were very excited during this session with dr. Nada, as we continued to open a session for questions. Then, the second talk show was with dr. Nanda. Similar to the previous sharing session, dr. Nanda also told us about studying abroad in America, including how he survived despite the cultural differences and resolving his mental health. We continued to give the participants time to ask dr. Nanda. After the talk show session, we gave dr. Nada and dr. Nanda certificates as a form of our gratitude in regards to their sharing session about their knowledge and experiences studying and doing research abroad. Then, we took pictures with the speakers and participants. The event was closed by the MC with games. The game was about guessing a part of a song. We picked one participant every session with a higher score as a winner and gave them a prize.
The participants were very excited about the event; thus, we hope that the event can be held again next year with other amazing speakers to give us more insights about studying and doing research abroad.
