Graduation Time

I can’t believe I’m graduating! 

Honestly, it really hasn’t hit me yet; I’ve taken graduation pictures and have posted them, but still, I don’t feel that I am graduating. Maybe it’s because right now, I am so preoccupied with finals. 

I think it is ironic that this fall, the Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) graduation falls on Friday, Dec. 13. What makes this day even more spooky is that the graduation is happening at night! I wonder whose great idea it was to do that. 

The only downside about graduating early is that I will have to play the waiting game. Currently, I am applying to multiple veterinary schools, and I do not yet know whether I even qualify for an interview. 

For those not familiar with the veterinary school application process, I like to say there is equivalent to three parts to the process. The first part is actually applying, where you’re filling out your coursework and experiences. If the school likes your application, they can invite you to an interview; these interviews don’t happen until December to February, depending on the veterinary school. 

After the interview, the school will let you know whether you have been accepted, which usually happens between January and March, again, depending on the school. 

Waiting so long is anxiety-inducing, but during these upcoming months, I have made plans to keep me occupied. 

During December to March, I hope to work part-time at the same animal clinic that I have been working at for the past few years. 

From March to April, I hope to travel to Japan and South Korea! Since I am waiting on veterinary school interviews to be scheduled, I haven’t yet purchased tickets for either of these countries; however, I do know that I want to travel during those months so if not Japan and South Korea, I may choose to go to Thailand and Vietnam instead.

For May to August, I have two different plans, depending on the outcome of a summer internship I’ve applied for. If I get the summer internship in Sacramento, I will head to California for the summer, which is great and ideal because my whole family lives in Sacramento. If I do not receive the internship, I will continue working at my clinic. 

All of this, of course, is second to getting accepted to a veterinary school, so wish me luck!

Summer Plans

Hannah JSummer is so close I can almost taste it! This semester I will be finishing up my sophomore year at Texas A&M as a biomedical sciences (BIMS) major, and looking back, I just can’t believe how incredibly fast it has gone by.

A piece of advice that I would give to any student starting college would be to make every semester count. Get involved in things you love doing and gain as many new experiences as possible.

That’s something I plan to do this summer!

Angelica, a fellow Ambassador, and I will be leaving the United States in a little over a week to travel to South Africa! Ever since I was a child, going to Africa has always been something I knew I wanted to do, specifically to be able to interact with the wildlife there.

Angelica and I heard about a program through Pre-Vet Society that offers a two-week trip to Chinsta, South Africa, that enables us to have this experience.

The program is offered to any pre-vet student from anywhere in the world! It will be exciting to meet other students from different countries who are also interested in veterinary medicine.

The program is split into three parts, each working with different animals, including wildlife such as zebras, antelopes, and giraffes and at the zoo located close to town; cattle and equine; and small animals at a few clinics in the area.

We have known we wanted to go on this trip for probably over a year now and I can’t believe it is finally almost upon us!

Neither Angelica nor I have ever traveled outside of the country before, and there was a lot to do in order to be prepared for the trip. We had to get our passports, book our flights, and receive the recommended vaccinations, as well as buy all the recommended items for the trip.

The travel time to Chinsta will be quite long—in total, about 25 hours! South Africa is also seven hours ahead of Texas, so I’m sure we will be facing quite a bit of jet lag!

Since it will be the first time out of the country for the both of us, we plan to document every detail we can!

I bought a Nikon camera last summer and will bring it with me on the trip with. I love using it and am really into photography; I even joined the photography club this past year!

Angelica also bought a camera recently that she plans to take on the trip! We hope to take photographs of the wonderful animals we see, as well as the beautiful landscape. Chinsta is located close to the coast, so we may even get to visit the ocean!

It will be fall time there, so we are planning to dress in layers that we can take off as it gets warmer as the day goes on. It will be strange to go from this Texas heat to cooler weather and then come right back.

I am glad not to be taking any classes this summer and plan to come back home and work at the veterinary clinic I worked at in high school for the rest of my summer break.

I wish you all a relaxing summer and hope to share with you all the fun I will have on my trip!

 

Taking Time to Travel

Priya and her mother outside of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India
Priya and her mother outside of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India

As a second semester junior at Texas A&M, my schedule can be pretty draining.

Between research, an internship, my classes, studying for the MCAT, work, volunteering, and being heavily involved in my organizations, I rarely have any time to take a break from everything and do something fun for myself.

However, this year’s Spring Break provided me with the perfect opportunity to mentally, and physically, remove myself from the craziness that comes with being a busy college student.

Normally over Spring Break, you can find me volunteering at one of the many impoverished communities across the country with Alternative Spring Break. But this year I decided, instead, to take sometime to travel.

For 10 days, I was 8,742 miles away in Calcutta (Kolkata), India!

While I was there, I was able to completely immerse myself in the culture, shopping at local markets and centres, attending a local festival, visiting all of the major tourist spots, and eating a lot of good food! I also got the chance to spend time with my grandparents with whom I’m super close but do not get to visit on a regular basis.

Additionally, one of the most unexpected opportunities that presented itself to me in India was the opportunity to shadow an ENT (ear, nose, and throat specialist) while I was there.

It was extremely eye opening to see the differences in  aspects of healthcare and patient satisfaction. For example, the ENT I was shadowing was very well known in the area and always had an overflowing waiting room; therefore, he was trying to turn over patients as quickly as possible.

Mother Teresa's tomb, inside the Motherhouse, in Kolkata, India
Mother Teresa’s tomb, inside the Motherhouse, in Kolkata, India

In an effort to be more efficient, he would bring the next patient into his office while he was finishing up with his first patient. This resulted in each patient’s personal and private healthcare information becoming public, as it was inadvertently shared with other patients.

To someone like myself who has lived in America their entire life and has grown up with HIPPA laws being in place and enforced, the reality that patient information was so public was a very out-of-the-box concept and my eyes were truly opened to what a world without HIPPA looks like.

My time in India was short but very well spent. I was able to focus a little bit more on myself and truly live in the moment, something I tend to forget when I’m in college and always planning for the future.

I enjoyed where I was and didn’t worry about where I was going to go. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to travel somewhere else in the near future!