The Beginning

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!