New Semester, New Challenges

I realized I have not written a blog post since last semester, and a lot has happened since then. For starters, I am currently in the fall semester of my last year of undergraduate university. It is strange because I am pretty much done with my required major classes, and I am mostly filling in all of the GE classes and requirements that I neglected before. Most of my classes are interesting, but some are definitely harder than others.

I am also continuing to take piano lessons. I love that my teacher now treats me like an actual pianist rather than just a random student taking piano lessons. He encourages me to listen to recordings from different composers as well as consider the emotions and background behind each piece I play. In lessons, he does not underestimate my ability to play, but merely guides me in one direction or another in order to play at my best. This also scares me at times because I feel that he has more confidence in my playing than I do, and I don't want to let him down by being unable to play certain pieces. I am enjoying feeling like a piano major rather than just someone who does it for fun.

In regards to work, I am still working as an EMT for an event standby company. I particularly love working the raves and large music events, as they provide multiple patients to perfect my skills. I still feel new at times, especially when I am working with people that have been in the field for years. However, this only helps me to improve and desire to be as competent as they are. I continuously have the desire to work for an ambulance company where I would see "real patients" as well as work with the fire department, but unfortunately I do not have time at the moment to go through the training process. Hopefully as soon as I graduate I will be lucky and be hired by one of these companies.

In regards to my pre-medical career, I am still on track to apply to medical school this summer. My current fear is that I won't get the required number of recommendation letters, as I tend to be a lone wolf in class and don't necessarily talk to the professors. I have a few people in mind, but I just need to get the motivation to actually ask them to write something for me. I did apply to a pre medical honor society at school, but I didn't get in. I wasn't expecting acceptance anyway, I mostly did it to practice the "medical school style" interview. I feel that I did pretty well and answered most questions to the best of my ability. I think with the outside reading that I do and my knowledge of the health care system that I won't really have a problem answering the difficult questions. Finally, I really need to start back volunteering at the hospital. It is just hard for me to get the motivation to drive downtown on friday and saturday nights, but obviously it is something that will really help me in the field.

In regards to travel and language, I desire every day to return to Argentina. I watch the novelas and news shows from Buenos Aires and I feel some kind of empty hole that would only be filled if I returned. I am currently in a medical spanish class, but I pretty much know most of the stuff just from translating on the job and in the emergency room. Thus, I feel like I really would want to volunteer or work in a hospital in Argentina to enhance my skills. My current plan is to try and sign up for a course through my university in order to fulfill my last spanish class requirement. As it doesn't start until July, I would hope to go the beginning of June to buenos aires and work in a hospital until the program started. This way, I would get to see both sides of Buenos Aires, the health care field and the academic setting. I still dream of moving to Argentina after medical school, but obviously I need to GO to medical school first before this dream can come true! Besides spanish, I am currently using Rosetta Stone to learn some French. I think in my future job I would hope to work for a company such as Doctors without Borders, where French would definitely be needed. Besides this, I always desire to learn more, but I find that I don't have enough time to do everything I really want.

Bueno, that is all for now, I will try to write again soon!

First Day on the Job

I am currently watching an episode of Lost from March. I have been so busy that I have not been able to watch a one hour TV show for almost a month. Most of my time has been spent finishing presentations, studying for tests, and driving back and forth from my house. Luckily, I am currently entering my last week of classes for the semester, the only thing that remains it to take the finals in a week. It is strange that as I have become older, I look forward to summer less and less. I guess it is because I am expecting to be just as busy as I am during the school year. This summer I am taking an MCAT prep course so that I can take the exam the beginning of Fall semester. This combined with work will undoubtedly keep me occupied for summer in its entirety. As to work, I was recently hired by an event standby company as an EMT, and I had my training session today.

The training session occurred at an extremely large Latino event Downtown. I expected that with half a million people there would be a large amount of injuries or illness, but surprisingly I only saw about 4 or 5 patients in the span of 5 hours. A few were actually transported to the hospital whereas the others were given first aid and released. Being that this was my first day, I was interested to learn more about working in the healthcare field and what types of people I would encounter. As I expected, I was the only female healthcare provider, as the EMT's, paramedics and firefighters were completely male. The only other female in uniform I saw was a police officer. This of course created a strange dynamic, as all of the males had a way of joking around and talking to each other that was very...masculine. It was strange to be standing in a group of 8 people and be about a foot shorter than everyone else. Of course, being a female does have its advantages in the field, as female patients tend to want to talk to other females. I was also able to use my Spanish with a few of the people we saw, which was very helpful as I was given the opportunity to do more than just observe on my first day. I still need to work on charting, as this was not included in any training I have received, but overall I think the first day went rather smoothly. I am looking forward to finding out if I need to do any more training sessions or if I can start signing up for shifts. I would prefer, of course, to work with other people the first few times, as I am still relatively inexperienced. I think this opportunity will allow me to see healthcare from a different perspective. I am planning to work for a 911 response ambulance in the near future, and I am hoping that this job will get my foot in the door for jobs with more responsibility and independence.

Updates

Wow, it is extremely strange to see that I only have posted twice within the past three years, and both posts were almost exactly a year apart. Maybe it is the time of year, with finals coming up and projects to do. It seems my mind is always uneasy during this time, trying to relieve the stress of finals week by focusing on other topics. As I have not written in two years, I decided to at least give some updates, as it is always fun to go back later and read what I was involved in and what I was thinking at the time. So...

University

After a talk with a doctor at a nearby hospital, and his recommendations regarding applying to medical school, I decided to apply to USC. The application process would have been a lot easier if I had not decided 5 days before the complete applications were due. Nevertheless, as I have been focused on applying to medical school, I did have a list of all of my activities and essay points that I was able to use on my application. And... I was accepted! At first, it was difficult to decide if I wanted to continue at my current university or transfer to the new school, but after some debating I came to the realization that USC would be a better choice for my future. As I am almost done with my first year, I feel that I can comment on my experience so far. I have found that the students and professors are not very different from those at my previous university. The level of knowledge required is similar, but the classes are simply much larger! As I transferred into a major that was very similar to my old one, I have not had to devote a lot of my time to science classes. Therefore, I have had more opportunities to finish my other classes and pursue a Spanish minor. Spanish and the Latin American culture are my true interests in school, and if I could find a way to integrate this interest with that of medicine, my life would be complete. I have already had some opportunities to do volunteer work and practice my medical and spanish skills. Initially, I attempted to do another trip with Global Medical Brigades through the USC branch. However, I found that the organization was very different than what I was used to, and I found it hard to get along with the people on the trip. I therefore decided that my resources would best be used elsewhere.

Volunteering

When researching the school, I thought one of the most interesting programs was the Trojan Health Volunteers. This of course involved volunteering in some sort of medical capacity in the area and then commenting on experiences. As my previous experience had been in a family health clinic speaking spanish, I decided to do something more drastic and work in the Emergency Department. My time in the ED has been one of the most amazing experiences I have had so far during university. I have been able to see and speak to a wide variety of patients in both English and Spanish. I have seen grief, excitement, chaos, new life, and dangerous situations. Most of all, I have been able to learn more about the health care field, especially in an urban environment. I hope to continue working at this hospital, as I have been able to see procedures that most students don't even get to see until residency. Although at times it may be boring, and the staff may not trust you to do anything, but I feel that I am the type of person that is willing to walk up to a situation and integrate myself. I think that this is an important character quality that a medical student must have, as standing back waiting for someone else to act does not save lives.

Spanish and EMT

My spanish skills have greatly improved, and I have been able to use them almost fluently in a variety of situations. My travel to Latin American countries has helped, and my work as a translator in the hospital setting has greatly improved my patient interaction. I believe that if I continue to practice and become involved in the culture that I will be able to be completely fluent within the next year or two. Because of my spanish and my interest in Emergency Medicine, I decided to become registered as an EMT. Along with 20 other crazy university students, I spent the entire winter break, sometimes 12 hours a day, studying and preparing to work on the ambulances. After passing the national registry and becoming registered in my county, I have actually been hired for my first job in the health care field. I am just in the training process at the moment, but I am hoping that my skills will be sufficient enough so that I can continue to work for the company. My first work assignment is standby at a large Latino event, and I am extremely excited to use my Spanish!

Well, at the moment, I need to finish two presentations for tomorrow, one in Biochemistry and the other in Spanish. Therefore, I must leave this blog. Hopefully my next post won't be three years from now.

23 april

This blog is mainly for times when I am either bored or procrastinating. Right now I am doing the latter. I would like to come on here every once in a while to blog what I am feeling or thinking. I tend to find my mind very active with random thoughts and this is the perfect place to put those obsessions to rest. Therefore I will talk about what is going on in my life right now, nothing very exciting I might add. I am almost done with my sophomore year of college, something that I never thought I would accomplish three years ago. I am pre med and therefore trying to figure out how to fit in about 20 lab classes in 4 more semesters - something I will not most likely be able to do. What bothers me about this is the fact that I cannot take other "fun" classes that I desire to take. I would love to continue in spanish or take another language, and maybe do some art classes. Unfortunately with GEs and biology classes, I cannot really fit anything else in. This is on my mind right now because registration is coming up on Monday. I was very angry with my university because they changed the order of registration times based on what year you are in school. For some strange reason, the freshman are registering before those who are of junior status. From my experience, I would think that upper classmen would have more specific class requirements and thus should be able to register first. They try to remedy this by only allowing freshmen to register for lower level classes, but that does not help when a lot of the pre med requirements are lower level classes such as physics and chemistry. I do not like complaining too much about classes because I should be able to take them eventually, but the university needs to realize that many people are unhappy with this situation. With the last couple of weeks of school comes the mad rush for projects, essays, and tests. Therefore I have been very busy the last couple of weeks, hindered by the fact that I contracted the flu last week. I still have a lot more work to do including homework, an impossible biology lab report, and studying for the multitude of tests that are coming up. Hopefully I will be able to get it all done and still stay sane. It also seems that with business at school also comes a very heavy social calender. I have about ten things going on this weekend, which does not really help my stress level - even though I am not a very stressed person.
I change my habits regularly, especially when it comes to what I do to pass the time. At the moment, besides school, the only thing I do is read and watch movies. I am currently reading Skeleton Crew by Stephen King which I absolutely love. I love his short stories, maybe even more than his novels, and I cannot resist the gore and violence. I enjoy many other types of books as well, but I tend to go through phases. I have not watched too many new movies lately, mainly I have been rewatching old ones that I miss. I saw The Philadelphia Story the other day and I fell in love with it again. The movies in the 40's were very different from ones today, and I find myself relating to them more. I also love the old Hollywood actors and actresses, they had such a glamour and presence that I do not see in modern cinema. I recorded the Third Man, one of my all time favorites and I am looking forward to watching that soon. Another movie I just experienced was Schindler's List. I had heard that it was an amazing movie, but I try to reserve judgements for myself. After watching it, I knew it was going in my top 10 list.

The Fate of Species

I am literally sitting in my dorm room bawling right now because of a news article I just read on CNN.com. After watching the marvelous and gorgeous Planet Earth series, I became very interested in animal conservation. I have a particular interest in the big cats such as the amur leopard because of their dwindling numbers and there high reactivity to changes in habitat. This article I was referring to stated that hunters recently killed one of the only seven remaining Amur Leopard females in the wild today. This is pretty much a death sentence for the species because without breeding, the leopards will not survive. I am so sick of people these days and their belief that they are superior to other animal species. Hunters, illegally I might add, senselessly kill animals in the wild for use with human endeavors. What makes this event even worse is the fact that the leopard's body was left in the wild, nothing was done with it. Basically, this animal was killed for NO REASON. It was not harming humans, and it wasn't even used for its fur (which I am highly against by the way), it was simply shot and then left in the forest for authorities to find a week later. I cannot BELIEVE this happened. This species has spawned numerous conservation organizations that have made great strides in protecting habitat and enforcing stricter hunting laws. But for the species to be almost demolished by a few ignorant human beings is unforgiveable. I do not want to live in a world where there is no natural environment and all of the animals live in zoos. This is not what was supposed to happen. We as humans, given that we are supposedly intelligent life, have a responsibility to care for our planet and its inhabitants. Don't even get me started on global warming. Given the ignorance by people exhibited in regards to global warming, it is remarkable that we still survive as a species. How can you not think that by pumping pollutants in the air that it will have an effect on us? I am very glad that this has been a hot issue (no pun intended) within the last year or so because something needs to be done. It is said that if pollution was stopped completely right now, it would still take around 50 years for the earth to start cooling again. This does not bode well because I see no end in sight. Well, I have school work to finish, but I just needed to get this off of my chest. If I could give one message to the world that everyone would hear, it would be to think about what this world is becoming and to save the life and the nature that is so important for our survival.

PS: Donate to conservation organizations, they are doing wonderful things and they need all of the help they can. Hopefully other species will not end up like the Amur Leopard

The situation

Last night I received news that has thrown my life into turmoil. I am part of a pre medical group at my school, which provides me with all sorts of opportunities to get involved. Recently we had one of our members tell us about a mission trip to Honduras which sounds amazing considering I am trying to improve my spanish speaking skills as well as actually be involved in medicine. It was originally scheduled to take some place in August, perfect for me because I am not planning on doing anything during that time. I just received an email last night giving information about the trip, and it has now been changed to the beginning of June. This would not usually be a problem for me but I had decided not two days before that I would in fact audition for a musical that I have I very good chance of getting a lead in. The play will take place during the first and second week of june, the exact same time that the trip will take place. This has created a major dilemma because both items are very desirable. This is what I learned about in psychology - the approach approach conflict, two desirable outcomes that one has to choose between. On the one hand, Honduras will be a once in a lifetime experience, who knows if we will have the funds or manpower in the future to pull this off again. On the other hand, this is my last chance to essentially do a musical because next year I will be too old to participate. It is a great play and has many great available parts. So what do I choose, something that will influence my future, or something that gives me joy that I potentially will never be able to experience again? I always end up involved in situations like this and I usually end up choosing something that I regret. That is why this decision is so hard, I don't want to end up making the wrong choice and suffering because of it. Well, the audition is on tuesday, so I have until then to decide.

Another influence on my life is that of buddhism. As I said in the previous post. I am going on a retreat to a buddhist teaching center soon, and I therefore have had to read many books on the subject. I have found buddhism to actually be an interesting practice, one that I may include in my everyday lie after the trip. It involved meditation and knowing yourself as well as the world around you. I find this more desirable than the everyday materialism of the world that I live in. I am thinking of incorporating this into my everyday life, it should provide the balance and serenity I need. I am greatly looking forward to this trip, despite the fact that it is in Colorado! I have been watching the news religiously to find out about the latest snow storms and road/airport closings. I am worried that I will end up having to stay in a hotel in the city while the roads clear because the retreat is up in the mountains. This is an odd realization because I have never had this kind of weather trouble before coming from California. Getting there is not the problem, I am worried about closings on the return trip. My semester at college starts the day after I return home. If there are any delays, this could be a big problem. But, I will not worry about that now, there is nothing I can really do about it besides hope for the best. I will probably write about this experience in my next blog, I am so excited!

Oh, The Agony

Wow, it has been a while since I have written. This is mostly due to procrastination on my part and the sudden onslaught of essays and research needed to maintain grades in my classes. Finals are next week, the semester has gone by rather quickly. I feel as if I haven't learned anything, even though I have done well in my classes. Hopefully as I progress through college I will actually acquire some of this knowledge that I am supposed to be using in my future life. This is especially true of my science classes which will greatly affect my chances of eventually making it into med school, my goal (at least at this moment.) Registration was a few weeks ago, and I don't think I have an encountered a more agonizing experience at school. Watching the class numbers dwindle away was horrifying. My perfectly planned schedule was demolished on the first day of registration. Of course, because I am a lower classman I get last priority. This means that next year I will have some advantage over incoming freshmen. This is one of the reasons I hate the school I am going to. It prides itself on small class sizes and one on one teacher interaction, but this sacrifices the ability to attend any class you want without worrying about class size.

I have also had concerns lately about the fact that my college is not a well known one. Being a destined med school student, your undergraduate school has some influence on the types of schools you are accepted to. I feel that because my school is smaller and virtually invisible on the map of colleges that I will not be given a fair chance when applying. Within the last month or so I have seriously considered transferring schools as a junior. I will get all of my med school requirements out of the way at the school I am at now and just focus on my major at the new school. I would like the prestige of going to a top school, something I would not have been able to achieve with my poor high school grades. Therefore, my main goal over the next year and a half is to maintain a good GPA and take the classes (hopefully) that I need to for a transfer. Another goal of this transfer is of course, cost. The school I am at now is VERY expensive, even with an academic scholarship. I would hope to transfer to a state school such as UCLA or UCI to cut costs while still enjoying the high caliber of classes offered.

The thing that I am most excited about that is coming up in January is a Buddhist retreat, part of a world cultures class. This includes ten days of meditation and religious ceremony in Colorada. People have said that this is a life changing experience, and this is one of the main reasons I am taking it. I feel like my life so far has been predictable for the most part. I am not a risk taker and I never strive to do the unexpected. This Buddhist retreat will be unlike anything I have ever done before. First, I have never travelled completely by myself before. I have always had friends or family members with me. Second, the retreat is completely cut off from the outside world. It will be a different experience living out of the range of cell phones and in a remote area, at least 2 hours from any major city. My third motivation is the reaction I get when I tell people my plans. Some assume I am buddhist whereas others, the majority, laugh and think I am out of mind to be attempting this sort of thing. This reaction motivates me more than the others because through college I am trying to do the unexpected and branch out from the world I know. I will most definetely be writing about my experiences when I get back from this amazing trip.

Well, I guess this is all for now. I of course have many other ideas and experiences that I inevitably forget to write about. Hopefully I will continue to use this blog as a way to organize my thoughts, it is the perfect tool for this kind of endeavor.