"informal" photo. amsa office  ¶ 14:51

Reston and DC were like a breathe of fresh air for my weary and disheartened soul. :) I am sitting here amongst some of the most well-traveled, talented, and passionate medical students I have ever met. They've traveled, lived and worked in all over Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia doing everything from MSF, WHO, to starting their own medical programs and consulting for HIV/AIDS programs in developing countries. I realized just how comfortable I felt with this group about 24 hrs into the experience while we sat around baskets of food at an Ethiopian restaurant reminiscing beer from various countries. Says a lot when the foreign beer on the menu is familiar to at least 1 person in the group because of time spent in that country. It's been fun, but I haven't had much time to sit down and take a step back until now. We made our round of visits in DC yesterday from World Bank to Jubilee (talk about opposite ends of the political spectrum). We talked to the president's AIDS commission (PEPFAR) and to Global Alliance. Today we spent the entire day talking and learning about activism, legislation, media, grant writing, and working on projects that we'll be presenting tomorrow. We cooked dinner together tonight, drank beer, ate popcorn, and danced around to Duran Duran of all things. Late night conversation consisted of making elaborate plans to set people, magic tricks, and some late night work on our presentation on the situation in Sudan. What will I do in when i return to cleveland...

Ethiopian Restaurant, D.C. 
¶ 01:38

the end is near!! the end is near!! I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. :) ¶ 01:00