Queen V

 I felt like revisiting this, it brings back a lot of emotions,  especially because the Peace Corps finally told me that I am pre-medically cleared and in the process of being placed to leave next year..... For me, the most difficult question to answer is ‘where are you from?’ Is it Wales, where I was born, The Gambia and Zambia, where my parents grew up, or is it the Philadelphia suburbs, where my family now resides?   Instead of settling with one explanation, I often combine all locations to form an answer. I am British-born, American-bred, and African-influenced.   I have lived in America since I was four years old and as a result, have little to no difficulty identifying myself as an American. It was not until the end of my high school years that I felt as though I was truly immersed in both my British and African backgrounds. My experiences visiting family members in England and Africa and listening to my parents’ stories about their upbringings i...

Yes I know, I said my next post was going to be a piece on obesity research, but that'll be next time I promise! This is yet another personal story, but about some people that I surprisingly haven't really mentioned on my blog yet- my sisters. It may get a bit sentimental, but it's important for me to write about my best friends in my life. My sisters and I in London in March 2013 I have two sisters- an older one who is 24 and a younger one who is 19. So yes, I have middle child syndrome :/ I can honestly say that my sisters are my favorite people in the world. My oldest sister, Miranda is hands-down the most driven person I know. She lost about 20 pounds in the past few years and is now  tied with my mom for the fittest person award in my family (sorry Dad & Cass!). Miranda is moving to London next month for 2 years  to attend the London School of Economics for Public Administration/Policy. I am so proud of her and could not be happier for her, but I am al...

Seriously though, nothing was the same! If you told me last summer that I would be living in Chapel Hill for another year post-grad I probably would have laughed in your face and told you that I'd be on the other side of the world. But alas, I'm in year 5 of my Chapel Hill life! Wow, so it's been a bit over a year since I blogged, and a lot has changed since then.  I remember last summer I thought I would be leaving for the Peace Corps this summer for two years. Unfortunately my application was delayed for an extended period of time, so I found out last spring that I wouldn't know my placement until early in 2014.  I spent winter and early spring of this past year applying to jobs in the time that I thought was just between graduating and going to the Peace Corps, but as with many things, it didn't end up as planned; what I thought would just be a couple more months in Chapel Hill ended up being at least another year! I am currently working at the Duke Globa...

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 i...

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 w...

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...