Turkmenistan

Currently, this blog will be used for my thoughts, pictures, and excerpts from letters I send home from Turkmenistan. I will be in Turkmenistan from October 1, 2008 until December of 2010. You can send me letters and packages using the address to the right.
Many thanks to my family for posting updates to this blog as I will most likely have limited internet access over the next few years.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

New Semester

Tomorrow begins a new semester, one that will prove to be quite exciting. I started an internship that is really just a volunteer position at United Hospital in St. Paul. I am enjoying it thus far. I've put in nearly 20 hours already. Up till now I've been working in an area called patient discarge escort service. Basically I cart patients around the hospital mostly for admitting and discharge. I get to meet a lot of patients and some even talk with me about the medical procedures they have gone through. That is the most exciting part for me. Thursday I'll begin a new area of volunteering. I'll be working in a Nursing Unit. I dont' know what I'll be doing yet, but I'm excited to begin it.
I'm only taking two real classes this semester: Physics and Death and Dying (religion course). My other courses are the internship, an independant study in German, band, and biology seminar. I'll still be keeping busy though, I will be starting a MCAT prep course in March and have to start studying for it soon. My date to take it is May 31st. The countdown has begun.
I have been applying for summer research positions at many different places. My number one choice would be an internship under a PhD student in German, number two would probably be in Boulder, CO doing cancer research and then all the other positions fall under those two.
That's about all for now, I'm still chair of MPIRG's Homelessness and Affordable Housing Task Force, I'll be planning the Famine for this spring, I'll be leading a group of HU students to New Orleans for reconstruction work over spring break, and still working three jobs on campus.