Day 14

Sorry I have missed a few days, but I though I'd write about my Uganda trip like I had promised before.

I went to Africa during my spring break in March 2012.  I went for a week so it was a total whirlwind of a trip.  My welcome to Africa moment looked something like this, from the window of the plane:

We landed in Entebbe, although this was not even close to our final destination.  We drove a short distance to a hotel on Lake Victoria.  It was absolutely beautiful, and far beyond my expectations.  

The next day, we had a 6 hour drive to Gulu.  It was definitely not a monotonous ride.  We first stopped at an amazing school.  The primary purpose of the school was to lead strong, women leaders.  These girls were amazing and had such high ambitions.  They wanted to be doctors, lawyers, and politicians.  They had a hunger to change the world.  What amazed me most about these girls was how thankful they were for everything they had.  This turned out to be a theme in Uganda. I have never met anyone like the people of Uganda.  They have very little, and yet they are so thankful for everything they have.  They love God and Jesus.  They are always dancing and smiling.  It is amazing to see such happy people who have so little.  It really made me think of the way things are in America.  We are so blessed and have so much.  We need to be happier about what we actually have.

We still had a long way to go after that, but we later stumbled upon some baboons and the Nile River, which was very beautiful and much different than I expected.

After more driving, we finally arrive at St. Monica's, long past our estimated arrival time!  We were greeted by such an amazing site.  The girls there put on a dance for us to welcome us.  They were singing and dancing to show how grateful they were for us to come help!  I can honestly say I was just as happy to come a meet them.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Day 13

"There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will." -Epictetus

This is something that I am working on.  I have a hard time with this.  I know that when it is things I cannot control, I should give them up to God and leave it at that.  But it is so difficult!  I struggle with it at all times.  I have been doing better, and this is why I think I have been happier.  I have gotten a much better grip at what I can control and what I can't.  I hope to get better and better at this!  Tomorrow, I will write about Africa.  Tonight, I am just much too tired.

Day 12

I absolutely love my school.  Honestly, I just do not think I could have went to a better school at all.  We have the best pathology professor in the country.  It is starting to finally dawn on me because of him that I am actually going to be a doctor!  I am starting to think like a clinician!  Which is way more exciting that memorizing hard science classes.  Then at lunch today, we were spoken to by Sister Rosemary from St. Monica's in Gulu, Uganda.  It was amazing for me because I had gone on the Pro's for Africa trip last year, which I think I will tell everyone about in my next post, which I can make super long tomorrow.  I really would love to do it justice.  It was so nice to see her and be reminded of what an amazing experience that was last year and how lucky I was to go.  Then, I went to clinical skills and observed another H&P.  While not as exciting, I know that this will put me way ahead of the game in the future when it comes to rounds and residency.  After that, I had a great talk with Lee, who I love and she just makes every day at school so much brighter.  I came home, got in a great core workout, showered, and then left for the ladies' night I organized between the first and second year class.  I am so happy that we go to do it!  Honestly, I do not think any other school could feel more like a family than our school.  It is such a great feeling to know that people have your back and that people have been where you are before.  It is also nice to know that people have felt the same exact way.  I hope that we were able to convey that to the first years and that they will be able to come to us and trust us in the future.

Day 11

I said that would explain why the quote from yesterday means so much to me.  Honestly, I believe that there are so many talented people in this world.  People God has blessed with ability people could only dream of.  However, many of these people do not want to work hard enough to achieve great success.  They become impatient.  They do not want success to take time.  When they fail, they do not want to get back up again.  When they struggle, they want to quit.  It is the people who push through this who really are the most successful in live.

I want to start out by talking about failure and struggle; two words no one ever wants to hear.  We fear failure and struggle.  We want nothing to do with them.  However, who would we be without failure and struggle in our life?  If we did not have them, we would not be trying to do great things.  We learn from our failures.  Through failure, we become better.  We become better at what we are doing and we become better people.  It is only through failure that we are able to appreciate achievement.  Without struggle, we would not be able to understand how good it feels to succeed.  Many people quit when they hit failure or struggle.  It is a true test of character how people act at these times.  I had many struggles when it came to gymnastics.  But I pushed through them, and I was able to achieve more than most people would ever believe.  My first year of medical school was definitely a struggle and included multiple failures.  However, I made it out and I am now a second year and absolutely loving it!

Next is "the sweeter if long delayed".  I did not become a scholarship gymnast overnight...  That was definitely a success that was long delayed.  I started gymnastics at 2 1/2 and went to college at 18.  That is 15 1/2 year of being delayed!  But that moment I signed that letter of intent could not have felt any sweeter because of all that hard work and time that I put into it.  Furthermore, becoming a doctor, and the time of doctor I want to be will definitely be long delayed.  4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and then residency.  Right now the residencies I am looking at are between 5-7 years.  We are definitely talking about long delayed. However, I can only imagine how at each step the success will feel.  Treating my first patient as a residence.  Eventually treating my first patient as an attending.  I know in that moment, I will look back at all the time and hard work and again, be so happy I did.

I guess I feel the most important thing in life is to work hard and to never give up if you would like to do great things in this world.  I truly believe God put us on this earth to do great things.  He will most definitely reward our working through failures and struggles.

Day 10

Success is sweet: the sweeter if long delayed and attained through manifold struggles and defeats.
~ A. Branson Alcott

I really love this quote. I am not sure any truer words have been spoken. Again, I am absolutely exhausted. Tomorrow I will write about my life as it pertains to this quote. This sort of message in near and dear to my heart and I hope I can do it justice when I am less sleepy.

Day 9

I am so very tired tonight. Had a full day of class and started at 8am. Had a very hard workout. Then studied and completed work all night. Wanted to write something, but I will write more tomorrow. I am so happy though :)

Day 8

She knows what she wants,
She knows how she feels,
She knows what it means
To feel something so real.

She misses his touch,
The brush of his lips,
The fire in his eyes,
Enlightening her heart.

The fire went out,
Her heart went cold,
Winter came and went,
Summer drove on.

Days turned to weeks,
Weeks turned to months,
Until she realized,
She only needs love from The One.

Happy,
Fulfilled,
She is ready for
The next big thing life brings.