Hello New Orleans!
After a long and arduous 14-hour drive from Chicago, I finally
made it to The Big Easy! This is my first time stepping into the state of
Louisiana so I was beyond excited to start a new chapter of my life here. Being
a big fan of seafood, music, and warm weather, there was just no way I could
pass up the opportunity to go to school in New Orleans when I got accepted into the
Masters of Pharmacology Program. NOLA has not disappoint! I’m happy to
say that my experience here has been wonderful so far. NOLA is an exhilarating
city, filled to the brim with culture and activities on a weekly basis. After
being here for about 6 weeks now, I finally got the hang of
working diligently on school work during the week and enjoying what the city
has to offer on the weekends. It's a great routine to be in.
We are currently on our third
block of the semester, focused around neoplasia, cardiology, and thrombosis. A
topic that really grabbed my attention was the discovery of angiogenesis inhibition
as a way to combat tumor growth. The work that Dr. Judah Folkman pioneered was
truly inspiring and revolutionary. It taught me that if you really believe in
something, no matter how many people disagree with you, you should see it to
the end or until you have convinced yourself otherwise; and not let other
people decide for you that you are wrong.
Currently, I am not one hundred
percent satisfied with my performance on the block exams. My challenge is that I
try to learn and memorize all the information presented to us when I should
really be looking at the learning objectives and focusing on those topics. This
has always been an issue for me as a student, I want to know every little
detail and in that process lose the view of the “big picture”. This is something
I will continue to work on every day and hopefully my exam scores will reflect
my positive progress.
All in all, I am very happy with
the decision to come to New Orleans and enroll in the Masters of Pharmacology program.
My experience so far, academically and personally, has exceeded all of my
expectations and I cannot wait to see what’s in store. Cheers!
My favorite food on the planet, oysters. I would eat them all day and night if I could.
Of course I had to try out the fried oyster salad as well. Not bad! But raw oysters are still the way to go!
