New Beginnings in the New Normal

    Hello again, long time no speak. We were lucky to have 6 weeks of Christmas break after rounding up our final module right before thanksgiving. The semester is starting to pick up and looking back I am happy I had some free time to engage in my favorite hobbies and spend some much-needed time with family. I perfected my peach cobbler recipe as well others, my friends and family were definitely pleased with that. As a teenager, I enjoyed knitting a lot so I decided to take up the challenge of making a Bernat baby blanket. Although those projects were exciting, towards the end of the break I started to get excited about the coming semester. I am already looking back at that moment and laughing at myself.    

    We kicked off the semester with the Endocrine and Reproduction module. This was definitely a tricky one and I am glad it's over. the concepts here were detail-heavy and we mostly focused on how our hormones play a role in obesity and diabetes as well as targeted therapies for the disease. It was interesting to learn about various research and therapies involved in treating diabetes and how getting gastric bypass surgery may help with weight loss leading to reduced blood sugar. The role of insulin in our metabolism will always give me shivers. This semester definitely has a lot of presentations packed in. I am happy to have knocked out two out of the four I have for the semester. New electives like Neuropharmacology, Environmental Signalling, and Endocrine Pharmacology have been added to our curriculum and it is definitely interesting to see how these fields influence one another when it comes to studying pharmacology. We are currently in the middle of the Neuro block and so far I find it more interesting than the previous block. It is definitely a lot of detail and balancing but I am happy to be in an academic environment and program that challenges me.

    I am finally starting to feel at home in New Orleans and I wanted my community volunteer work to reflect that. My goal with my service projects this semester is to enhance my leadership skills and give back as much as I can to the New Orleans community. The city has its ups and downs but it is starting to feel like a warm jacket on a cold winter day. I have always been interested in sustainability and this month I signed up to volunteer with Recirculating farms in New Orleans. Due to the pandemic, I have to fill out some forms showing that I am COVID free as well as completing a volunteer training program. Unfortunately, I have not completed any hours with them this month, but I am excited to start this project at the beginning of February. I also signed up to volunteer with the COVID vaccine roll-out, I will be helping check-in and other non-medical activities as the time proceeds. I am also in line to get the vaccine so things are slowly looking hopeful on the other side.