In our paper, based on in-depth interviews with Polish doctors, we analyse how they narrate the complex process of adapting to the professional role in different national and cultural contexts, e.g. in Poland, England, France and Sweden. The field of medicine may be conceptualized as largely transnational, with the professional knowledge and skills being a kind of universal “capital” that can be used in different countries. But alongside this transnational medical field there are also national or regional “subfields”, more hedged in by cultural ideals, ideas and practices. The implicit cultural requirements for a successful professional performance differ, e.g. from more strict and authoritarian doctor's style in England and France to the imperative of "pleasantness" and calm in Sweden, from heavily gendered style in Poland to "gender-neutral" style in Sweden.