The End

The program is over. I have finished! So many days of studying. So many days of learning. I cannot believe that I get to say that I have finished a masters program and I will soon have that masters degree. Now, all I have to do is find a job! I have no idea what my future holds for me. I know I want to keep learning and I am extremely happy that I chose to do this program. Initially, I believe I was the only one doing this program having in mind that I was going to go to pharmacy school. I would still like to pursue that path, but I am now also interested in a Ph.D in pharmacology. But, who knows! First I need to start studying for that PCAT :(

Volunteering this year has been very enjoyable. My habitat humanity experience was super awesome this semester. We basically made jokes the entire time while adding the insulation to the outside of the house. The weather was nice, so we were not dying from the heat and took many memorable photos. (Which I still need from you Cait!)

Anyway, I really do hope that I stay in contact with everybody from the program. I may not have been a huge social butterfly, but I met a number of great people in the program, and I really wish everyone luck. We did it. We all stuck it through and completed this program. YAY!! And now we are all on to bigger and better things!


April Hours: 26.5 hrs

Total volunteer hours: 36.5 hrs
    Kipp: 24.5 hrs
    Habitat: 8 hrs
    Second Harvest: 2hrs
    Lead Samples: 2 hrs

March Madness

One more month to go... I cannot believe that I am almost done. It has gone by way too fast! This month included a few fun adventures. I went with a group of fellow classmates to do the Tough Mudder in Florida. New Orleans is so close to many states, it is such an easy drive. Never thought I would ever drive through Mississippi and Alabama in my life!

I need to start making a list of all the things I need to do in New Orleans. There are still many sites and attractions I need to visit. I need to go to the WWII museum and the zoo. This month also included the shelf exam. So a lot of studying went on this month. The exam definitely felt very intimidating and I did not look forward to the days when it got closer. However, after everything said and done, I "feel" like I was prepared enough and it was a huge relief to realize I am almost done. I think this program has more than prepared me for my future. I want to get a pharmD and I do not regret my decision at all coming to New Orleans. Well I hope that all the knowledge I have gained here sticks! (I have learned in Endocrine Pharm that stress can affect your memory…Oh no!)

Volunteer Kipp
March 26: 9am - 1pm

February

Another month done, and only two more months to go! Time is going by ridiculously fast. The semester is almost over. I only have a few more exams left, few more presentations and then just about done. It is crazy.

I stayed in New Orleans for mardi gras and it was definitely an experience like no other. Both my sister and my friend came to visit me for spring break/mardi gras as well and they loved it. The weather here has been pretty cold too. I tend to have to layer up. I knew it was colder than San Diego of course, but sometimes it is painfully cold! So word to the wise, be prepared for cold and I even told my sister and friend to plan for 40 and 70 F degree weather. Just in case. They did not believe me and froze a good portion of their visit. It was funny. However, they still had a great time. We walked through the french quarter almost everyday eating at delicious restaurants and showing them the sites. I also took them to see the cemeteries, since they are above ground. Something really cool is that there are some "Hobuschs" buried here in New Orleans. I even found their grave stone. I am not completely sure if I have some relation to them, but it is definitely possible.  Which I do find very cool! Who knew that I could actually have relatives from the late 1800's buried here?

Also I know that the main focus of mardi gras is to have fun and "party," but I noticed a lot more than just that. During the day, the parades were more than just jumping up and down for beads. It is a huge event for friends and family to spend outside participating in this tradition. I have never experienced a street parade like this before, or probably even a street parade in general. (I cannot remember ever seeing a street parade) After each parade all of the children would go out onto the street and play with the balls they caught or use the broken beads as a jump rope. Everyone was having a good time. One of the coolest or niftiest things I saw while at the parades is people using ladders as a seating area. They would have a bench seat on top. It looked like a giant high chair. One of the most clever contraptions I saw. I would not have minded sitting in of them.

February is a short month, and it usually goes by in the blink of an eye, but I do not think I was even able to blink.

Volunteer:
KIPP: Feb 26th. 9am-12pm

New Year, Second Harvest

Now onto the second semester of the program!

I started out this year volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank. We were in a warehouse on one of the colder nights of the month packaging up food. I was on box duty with Antonia and Evy. I worked together with Antonia to build the boxes while she serenaded me with music! It was really fun and we packaged so many boxes of food. It also went by extremely fast. We were a true assembly line and I hope that I can go back there and help out more. The people were very nice and a great atmosphere. 

It is also the end of the month now, and the start of mardi gras season. I am super excited that I get to be here for mardi gras. I know that it  is a big celebration here, and I don’t think I have ever expected I would be able to celebrate it in New Orleans. I can’t wait to see all the parades!

FREEEEDOM! #braveheartvoice

The first semester of the pharmacology program is completed!! I am half way through the tunnel. Pretty soon I will see the light!! I can't believe how much I have learned. I am not sure if I have anymore room in my brain.


TOTAL volunteer hours: 35 hrs

HABITAT - Sept 6th (8hrs)
KIPP -  Sept 18&24 (5hrs) Oct 3rd (2hrs) Oct 4th (5hrs) Oct 8th (3hrs) Oct 28th (4hrs) Nov 17th (4hrs) Nov 20 (4hrs)

Semester almost over

The first semester of the program is almost to a finish. Only 1 more block exam is left and it is unbelievably crazy how fast the time has gone. The weather is becoming much cooler and at times chilly. I truly love it.

I honestly have no idea where all the time went these past four months. This is the first time I have ever lived somewhere on my own so far away from where I grew up and it has been a great experience. At times, I still cannot believe that I am in New Orleans, I often think to myself, "Who would have thought that I ever would do this? How did I even manage this?" I still think about it, but now I am not as shocked about being in New Orleans. I am very glad I made the choice to do this program. It was very scary, nerve racking even, but I try not to ever let the feeling of fear stop me, and I am glad I did not. I am also very much thankful for the help I did receive from my family in helping me get here because I do not think I ever imagined myself moving so far away and I do not know how I would have managed everything by myself.

The days, the weeks are a blur; they happened so quickly. I have participated in an intramural soccer team this semester with some of my fellow classmates, probably one of the most fun activities I have done so far in the program. I have continued to volunteer at KIPP helping the teachers and staff around the school. I try to go as often as possible. The children are adorable with their shy little smiles and they say hi to me whenever I help out. I helped with their Fall Festival and had to count individually 800 candy corns for their "guess how many jar." Never have I counted one-by-one so high and handled so many candies. I most likely messed up a few times. There were just so many candy corns. They were everywhere! I helped out right before Thanksgiving break while they were having a book fair. It brought me back to the days when I was in elementary school. Showing my mom all the books that I wanted, and asking for money so I could buy them all. One-by-one the classes would roam around the books, deciding on what they would buy. I completely forgot about the book fairs that my school had when I was a child, and it was nice to see the students walk around excited to buy something.

Something else that happened right before Thanksgiving break is my family visited me for the weekend. I had them all go to the seminar with me. The seminar was about Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists. The seminar talked a bit about hypertension and my grandmother found it interesting because she has hypertension. I asked her about her medication and I actually knew about all of them. It was an awesome feeling to really understand what she was taking and why. I know I am learning many things here, but that experience showed my how much I really am learning. I am getting something out of being in this program. I knew I would be, but now I know just how much...

The program is practically halfway over. I did not expect that to happen so quickly.


Volunteer Hours: 15 hrs (Total 35)
     October 8: 1pm - 4pm
     October 28: 9am - 1pm
     November 17: 1pm - 5pm
     November 20: 11am - 3pm

Paint Party!

I have started volunteering at KIPP Primary School. The school is really nice, and one thing I really like about the school, is that they name each classroom by a college. For instance, some of the classroom names are: Tulane, LSU,  and Xavier. Each classroom has its own college. I think it is really great for the kids to be exposed to colleges so young. When I was growing up, I did not really know the names of any college (only that my mom wanted me to go to college) and these kids are not only exposed to colleges in Louisiana, but through out the country. The school really emphasizes growth and going further with school. It really feels like a positive atmosphere for the children.

Some of the stuff I have been doing so far is help the teachers in preparing their projects or supplies for the students. This weekend I helped prepare and paint some of the columns in the school to liven it up. There were many volunteers, but one stood out to me. This little girl came with her mom and sister to help paint the columns, and she ended up having me carry her everywhere! She was the cutest thing ever, and by the end of the day she wouldn't let me go. I had to carry her to the front door when her mom and sister were leaving, and slowly peel her off of me. She was unbelievably sweet and helpful. Her and her sister kept wanting to help everyone paint.

Here are a few pictures of us preparing to paint.

On Friday, Vihas, Evy, and I had to tape around the perimeters of the columns on the first floor of the school and place plastic to protect the floors from paint. Saturday was the "paint party!"

Kayla and I having some pizza and salad.

Volunteer: 12hrs
      5 hrs total (9/18 and 9/24)
      2 hrs 10/3
      5 hrs 10/4