Reflections and Changing Directions

After the Galapagos trip, I had time to meet many new friends and experience a whole world of research that I have never known before. First off, I am extremely grateful to everyone who participated in and organized the GalapaGo! program and am forever in debt to my host family who gave me a home in a foreign country. My first-ever research experience will always stay with me as I explore the world and pursue my career. Andreas was my first PI to inspire me in learning about the ecology and human-animal interactions with a focus on sea lions. These magnificent creatures have so much character and are so easy to fall in love with. The environment and culture fostered creative learning processes leading to presentations of each project for the university. To conclude the class, all the participants created a narrative project to represent their experience in the Galapagos. I created a collage of drawings on a soccer ball, a 360 video, and an original piano solo for the trip. This trip has inspired me to think about ecological efforts and how medicine or even my personal life can impact the safety of animals and our world.

Here is a link to the 360 video: https://youtu.be/BE19TLGnmiQ

Above are some of the drawings I created as well. (left to right): hammerhead shark, kicker rock, dinner with my host family, futbol fields (Cancha de la Algeria)

One of my newfound friends also gave me further advice on my medical journey. They heard of my extremely dangerous plan to take an MCAT almost immediately after the trip with only a month and a half to prepare. Their shocked face told me all I needed to know. Many students on the trip were premed and gave me the same advice to probably push the test date to next summer as I am doing myself no favor by taking it sooner. I will continue to study for the test over the summer while participating in my volunteer opportunity at the Houston Methodist Hospital.

I am extremely grateful for the new connections I have made through my study abroad with great professors like Dr. Nunez, Dr. Azevedo, Dr. Zufall, and Dr. Danne. All of them made the trip unforgettable and I hope our conversations may transition into the fall with opportunities to take their classes in the future. Furthermore, many classmates have graduated and gone through many of the medical school checkboxes and I hope to lean on them for a little support throughout my medical journey! However, besides all the new possibilities, I simply am so proud to have experienced such a wonderful world with them and I cannot wait to share my experiences with the world.