Mexico Medical Student |

Today is “physician’s day” in Mexico, and we found out late yesterday that we had to go to school. What a rip! The campus was like a ghost town–even the coffee shack was closed because all the Mexican students and teachers got the day off. All the International Program students, including the professors that teach us, had to come to school. I’m sure they were just as unhappy as we were.

It was nice not to fight for a parking space against a bunch of 19-year-olds who can’t drive, however.

UPDATE, Saturday: OK, thanks to Dr. Iñarritu’s comment below, I looked into the situation. As he said, it was indeed the 23rd of October that is physician’s day here, but on our campus it was celebrated along with “students’ day” in general, at our school’s main campus on Friday, the 27th. That’s why I was confused, because people were saying they were celebrating “Doctor’s Day,” etc. when it was actually rolled into more of a local student celebration. Mexicans love days off (who doesn’t!?) and I’ve even written about it before. In the U.S., there’d be more days off except to get a paid vacation costs money, not just in salary but in productivity overall. Here, things are so much more relaxed that it doesn’t even factor in.