It's really happening

The next few months are going to be CRAZY! I'm so excited, but I also feel pretty guilty and overindulgent. Isn't that sad? This is what happens when you live a life of delayed gratification and suddenly have 3 months off to do whatever the heck you want.

1) India (4/1 - 4/28)

It's all planned and paid for! We've spent the last few days getting our sleeping bags, sleeping pads, water filter tablets, camping pillows, flashlights, mess kits, and napkins together. We're also double checking to make sure we have all the right vaccinations and prophylactic medicines to take with us. I even have a list of Hindi to study!

We're spending a month very very far from home and it's going to take some adjustments especially with the limited facilities and resources. I've never been away for so long in a place where I didn't speak the native language, had no access to internet or phone, or any of the other daily comforts we take for granted such as clean water, toilets and having a bed to sleep on. I can't even imagine how medicine is practiced in such a setting. Is lasting change or continuity of care even possible?

Hopefully if we keep an open mind and stay flexible, it'll also be a great opportunity to grow and to learn. We're going to be working with a team of 20-30 med students and doctors from all over the US at various Tibetan refugee settlements, a monastery and some improvised sites in the villages of the Dhauladhar Range in the Western Himalayas. Luckily with the Global Health Initiative at Northwestern we're paying $600 for what would have otherwise been a $4100 trip.

This is the kind of experience that can potentially be life changing. Please keep us safe, healthy and in good spirits....

2) Puerto Rico (5/2-5/9)

...especially because we're going on a cruise to Puerto Rico and the Southern Carribbean when we get back! We're flying into Puerto Rico and headed for the following islands:

7 nights of sun, sea and sand, midnight buffets, rain forests, waterfalls and snorkeling! It's partly to celebrate making it through med school, but it's also a last chance hurrah with the friends who helped me get through all the good and bad times over the last few years. Match Day is in a week and who knows where we're going to end up? Who knows how long it'll be before we have this luxury of time again?

Come! The more the merrier!

3) Whitney's wedding (5/12-5/16)

Soon after getting back from the Carribbean, we're driving down to Knoxville for Whitney and Mike's wedding. Pit stops along the way include a day in Mammoth Cave, KY and the Great Smokey Mountains. I'm VERY excited because I LOVE national parks!

4) Graduation

Grad week festivities from 5/16 to 5/19 and graduation on 5/20. It was weird sitting through the loan meeting today and TA'ing in lab the last two weeks. It doesn't seem very long ago that we were first year students in awe of our 4th year TAs who were matching in medicine, ortho and ENT. I still remember my M1 and M2 experiences so vividly. To go from where we were as first years when we couldn't even name the cold virus to where we are now, med school seniors, 2 months from the MD....it's amazing.

5) China - Hong Kong - Taiwan (5/25 - 6/11)

I'm going to Sichuan and Hunan with my mom, brother and sister for 11 days. Then, we're going to HK for 4 days and Taiwan for a week. We haven't gone on a family trip in a long long time, and I definitely haven't traveled with my brother as adults (btw he's turning 19 in 12 days!).

...

Sigh, how am I going to go back to the life of an medicine intern on 6/24?