Ivan Susanszky, 42, a college student from Budapest, Hungary, is an intern at the First Hospital Affiliated with the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine. After graduating in the summer, he will obtain bachelor's degree in traditional Chinese medicine in acupuncture and tuina (massage) major from the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. 

He started learning traditional Chinese medicine in 2013, in Budapest, taking the course conducted by this Heilongjiang university.

Students of the program study four years in Budapest, then they travel to Harbin to complete their training with a one-year clinical practice, according to the introduction of the course from the university.

He became interested in TCM 2012 after suffering frequent injuries.

"Since I used to play a couple of full contact sports, I often suffered from sports injury and my friend advised me to try a couple of TCM rehabilitation methods," he said.

"It did relieve my pain, and helped with other injuries as well."

Besides, Susanszky got bored working as journalist, or rather a critic. His TCM treatment and knowledge about sports medicine, physical therapy and diet lead him to get a TCM degree, a step to get closer to this field.

 

To better learn TCM, which is taught in Chinese, Susanszky started with learning the language and spent one year in a local language training school in 2012.

In 2017, Susanszky, who studied in Budapest for four years, finally had the opportunity to study in China. He got a one-year internship at the First Hospital Affiliated with the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine in Jiangsu province.

"It was quite a precious experience even if it made me graduate a year behind my classmates," he said, adding that he went to the hospital in Harbin in 2018.

For the enthusiastic foreign intern, Zhao Jun, head of the acupuncture department of the hospital in Heilongjiang, who taught him, said "Ivan is really one of the hardest-working students that I have ever met."

"He became familiar with the working procedure in less than one month and has been warmly welcomed by the patients because of his professional performance as well as smile." 

After the study and internship in China, Susanszky has decided to develop deep love in the traditional Chinese medicine treatment, saying "After graduation, I will return to Budapest and I hope I can fulfill my dream of opening a clinic."

From ChinaDaily