Queen V

Wow it's been almost two months since my last post, but I luckily got an internship in Washington D.C. and started on June 7th! I am interning at a global health advocacy nonprofit organization called Best Shot Foundation, which focuses on childhood diseases, specifically Pneumonia. I am extremely thankful that I was able to find something last minute after my study abroad program was cancelled, and am really enjoying my job/ time in D.C. It's especially great because some of my friends from UNC are here and I've met a lot of people from other schools as well, including my roommates who are all awesome! I've been able to see and do a lot both work and non-work related which has been great. At the Best Shot Foundation I work 9-5:30 M-F as the Community Outreach intern, so for all the projects I work on  my main focus is to reach out to potential partners for our specific advocacy inititatives. It's really cool because I have gotten to research a lot of health rel

Last wednesday I unfortunately found out that my study abroad program to Venezuela was cancelled because 3 more people dropped out, leaving only four of us. Because we were supposed to go on a lot of trips sponsored by UNC and because there were 2 courses during the program it apparently wasn't cost effective for the program to continue forcing them to cancel it. It is such a bummer because I was really looking forward to going abroad in 3 weeks. They offered to switch us to other open programs, but none of the study abroad programs available are ones that I am interested in, so I decided it was best to apply to internships instead.  On the bright side a lot of the public health internships I was planning to apply to in the first place don't have deadlines until next week and just ask for a cover letter and resume at first, so I plan to apply to as many as possible between now and then. I am interested in working for a  public health organization and the majority of them are in

Summer 2012 Preview! In 11 days, I will officially be done with my Junior year and starting summer 2012! I will be staying in Chapel Hill until May 20th so I can continue working at the Sheps Center and earn money for my travels. I'm excited to stay in Chapel Hill for a little bit longer, because my sisters will finally get to visit and most of my roommates and close friends will also be here at least through May! Before I leave to study abroad, I will be back home in the Illadel (okay let's be honest-Doylestown) for two weeks to see family, friends, and prepare for my trips!  Venezuela:  I will be studying abroad in Higuerote ,Venezuela from June 4th-July 16th with five other students! I just had another orientation  this week which made me even more excited for the summer. I will be taking an African American studies course on the African Diaspora in Venezuela as well as an advanced spanish course (ah!). I will also be volunteering at an english writing workshop tha

Today I  met with the UNC Peace Corps advisor and officially decided that I am going to start the application process in June! Although I had done some research on the website and the associated blogs, I still was not fully aware of what this 27 month commitment abroad entailed. After speaking with the extremely helpful advisor (A returned Niger Peace Corps volunteer who is graduating from the UNC Gillings School of Public Health this May) all my questions were answered and I am 100% certain I want to do it! If I do get accepted (knock on wood) I would leave sometime in the summer of 2013. I am really glad the advisor emphasized how the Peace Corps is most likely going to be the most challenging thing I would have done up to that point in my life. Although this could make me shy away from applying, I see it as the challenges and difficulties I will  face may not only benefit the community I am serving, but may also serve to benefit me as an individual, leader, student and future

During spring break of this year, I traveled to Costa Rica with 12 members of UNCs Chapter of The Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC)-as well as 2 students from Boston College and Michigan State University, to participate as a global health volunteer at FIMRCs clinic there. This organization is a chapter of the national non-profit that is based in Philadelphia.  The overall mission  of FIMRC is to improve maternal and child health in underserved areas of the world. I have been on previous service trips and outside of the U.S. many times before, but this was the first time I traveled to another country for volunteer work. My time in Costa Rica was one of the most unique and memorable experiences of my life so far. The only part that I regret is not being able to spend more time there.  Even though we were aware that the environment and overall circumstances of the community that we were going to would be disadvantaged in comparison to our own personal lifesty