Queen V

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 a...

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 o...