Gracias

We are back in the states. What an amazing month! We not only had the opportunity to learn more about the language and the culture, but we had the rare opportunity to test ourselves in ways I never thought I would, and to see medicine in a completely different form compared to the fast-paced, high-tech practices in the states. We seemingly have everything here, or at least comparatively we do, so seeing the clinics and the schools was so humbling, and a chance to really appreciate the blessings I was born into. Things were not as I thought they would be, they were better- I had the opportunity to travel with nine amazing people, to meet a truly selfless family who opened their home to us, to see the lives of a beautiful culture, and to be reminded that no one should take what they have for granted. This trip was eye opening in so many ways, and it is something that I will carry with me as we begin our next big adventure, getting one more step closer to becoming physicians.

I beg young people to travel. If you don't have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown. Eat interesting food. Dig some interesting people. Have an adventure. Be careful. Come back and you're going to see your country differently, you're going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You're going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It's not what Tom Friedman writes about; I'm sorry. You're going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can't get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people-Americans and Europeans-come back and go, Ohhhhh. And the light bulb goes on -Henry Rollins