September 2021

Despite the challenges that this semester has started with, there has been much to learn from in these circumstances. 

As a born and raised South Floridian, I'd seen my fair share of hurricanes growing up. In the days when Ida was still just a tropical storm, I was admittedly not taking it as seriously as I should have. If the storm wasn't going to be more than a category 2, I wasn't going to do much more but make sure I had the essential emergency supplies. The afternoon after our first module review, Ida was projected to be a Category 4, and I had to adjust y plans quickly. With my car still full of emergency supplies I hadn't unloaded since buying, I ran out the door with my roommates to beat the traffic out of the city, leaving with barely 4 days of clothes for what ended up being basically a whole month away. And then to top it off I ended up testing positive for COVID, so I had a special one-bedroom quarantine-special staycation sprinkled in there too.

The lesson I have drawn from this is a bit contradictory, but I think my Ida experience bears it out. No matter how familiar you are with a situation, or how much planning you do, or what you expect, or what else is going on at the same time, there will always be things circumstances that you can't control that can complicate the situation. The best you can do is prepare for what you can expect and be ready to adjust your plans for what you can't. While I think this is true for science, medicine, or research, it's a lesson that will serve me well in any part of life.

As far as the program itself, the workload and depth of the material that we have covered so far this semester have been within what I was expecting going into the program. That being said, with so much material covered each day, it's easy to fall behind. Thankfully, my previous coursework in pharmacology during undergrad has softened the learning curve, giving me more time to review all of the brand-new material I'd not seen before. With everything that's been going on and being away, I haven't had an opportunity for community service in New Orleans yet, but I am very much looking forward to experiencing more of what this amazing community has to offer and give back however I can.

Unfortunately, I had already made travel arrangements for returning the weekend of October 4th in advance, so I have been gone from New Orleans much longer than I wanted to be. As much as I can appreciate the convenience of Zoom, nothing can really replace the engagement of a classroom! 

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