hey dear travel buddies :) You know who you are! Just an idea but how about for our next trip/reuinion we do something other than sightsee? Anyone up for a 2 to 4 week volunteer program this summer? :) I dont care where....

here's one place http://www.cennepal.org.np/

Asia sounds like a good place to start though...what say you guys? Up for a trip to asia this summer?

It's been one of those weeks you know. Just sitting around and actually having a bit of time think about what i want to do with my life. I've gotten so buried in medical school and my fatigue and frustration that I've forgotten why I want to do this. So after my refreshing golden weekend with my group of TCK's and friends I've been doing a lot of thinking and planning. Well, my fulbright is still in the air...any day now... But besides that I've been thinking about residency. It's become clearer and clearer to me that being in the hospital for most of my life is probably not for me. I find the work interesting and challenging, but I far more enjoy my outpatient clinic experiences which gave me more time to get to know my patients. I never thought of myself as a family doctor, but I think that might be the direction I'm going. There are great family med programs out there that would allow me to simultaneous get my Masters in Public Health :) international health focus of course and I can also do fellowships in international health and integrative/alternative medicine. I hesistated quite a bit about family med b/c I thought that unless I were in a rural practice I wouldn't get the challenges and "mental" stimulation I'd like in a career...but then I realized that although cities are full of specialists, as a family physician I actually have the time and opportunity to work on community health and intercity projects with the underserved populations. All these other aspects of healthcare outside the realm of science that have always appealed to me. It all works it seems...I think I've found a residency that fits my needs. We shall see though...I have surgery, neurology, and acting internships in peds, rehab, and family med to get through first, but I'm excited :) I'm already talking with Shaghayegh about starting our own private practice with an integrated health approach and rotations overseas...maybe y'all can join me :) Ok off to bed...need to shut my brain off for awhile. ¶ 23:10