Baltimore and Johns Hopkins

Life has been a little tumultuous since I last posted, but I unfortunately don't think I have too many good stories to tell from the last month. Work has been a little stressful, since my medical clinic (Outside In) began a 4-year long project funded by a grant in which we work with a mental healthcare non-profit organization to try to improve health outcomes among the mentally ill. I was hired in part to be the care coordinator for this grant, and since February was the month that we officially "went live," there have been lots of kinks to work out and lots of small tasks to do. February also happened to be the time when I was finally able to implement most of the steps for our clinic to track Pap smears among our female patients and make sure that we have a Pap smear from within the last three years on file for every patient aged 21-64 with a cervix. This project has been wonderful since I was given a lot of autonomy regarding its organization and now implementation, but I still have my normal load of referrals and English-Spanish interpretation work, so the addition of the new grant and the Pap tracking have meant that I'm just way behind in my work, which is stressful when my clients call about the status of their cases and I haven't even touched them for a week. I don't mean to complain about work here, but it's been too hectic for my taste lately. I would happily work more hours to get all of my assigned tasks done, but due to funding (AKA since non-government organizations had limited budgets and can consequently be cheap skates), I'm strongly discouraged from working more than 40 hours a week so that I won't get paid 150% of my normal wage. Despite my griping, however, I really love my job and still feel so grateful that Outside In took a chance by hiring me on.

Baltimore was spotted with beautiful churches that were
reminiscent of European ones I've seen.

The most exciting thing that has happened to me since my last blog post was indubitably my trip out to Baltimore, Maryland. In deciding that I want to go to medical school, one of my decisions is how to fulfill my premedical requirements. The fastest and most efficient option is to enroll in a post-baccalaureate premedical program, of which there are a few in the country. After looking at a fair number of them, my top choice became Johns Hopkins for a number of reasons, including the reputation and rigor of the program, the unparalleled options of being at a school with such an enormous, established hospital, the price, and other things. I was fortunate enough to be granted an interview at Johns Hopkins after applying (but not fortunate enough that they paid for my airfare!), so I flew out last Saturday to Baltimore, Maryland, a place I honestly never really thought I'd go.

Isn't this a quaint block? Baltimore, Charm City, really
does have its own charm.

All right, it's not that bad at all! You can see some nice
tall buildings and the harbor from this vantage point.

I spent all day on Sunday exploring Baltimore with one of my best friends from Spain, Ali. In the craziest of coincidences, it turned out that Ali, who is from San Francisco, and I, from Wyoming, were both scheduled to be in Baltimore at the same time. Ali had an interview there with an immigrant rights organization where she applied for a job, and I of course had a campus tour, a lunch with a current student, and an interview at Johns Hopkins. So Ali and I spent the entire day catching up and exploring the city. I started my day by listening to "Good Morning Baltimore," the opening song in the John Waters musical Hairspray. It just seemed too appropriate for the moment not to.  Ali and I then walked around downtown, walked around the historical Mt. Vernon district, walked along the harbor, and even went up to the top floor of the highest building in the city to get a view which, I hate to say, wasn't very impressive. (After seeing the high-rise view of Barcelona with my parents, I'm pretty hard to please with these top-of-building views.) Nevertheless, despite the fact that most people have negative things to say about Baltimore, I was pretty impressed with the city. Much of the architecture was really beautiful and reminded me of Europe. There were more quirky shops and restaurants than I thought there would be, and Ali and I ate sweet pumpkin with yogurt and spicy okra at a really delicious Afghan food restaurant called The Helmand. The city was much better than I was anticipating it being, and I could definitely spend a year of my life there quite happily.

The enormous and beautiful Johns Hopkins Hospital,
frequently ranked #1 in the nation by the US and World
News Report.

All of which brings me to my big news: I found out a few days ago that I got into the Johns Hopkins Post-baccalaureate Premedical Program! I apologize if this is the first time you are hearing this. I've been trying to call and speak with people personally about this, but I just haven't had much time and opportunity to do so yet. I found out on Thursday during my lunch break that I got in, and I can't describe to you how excited I am to go. The day before I found out that I was admitted, I had received two textbooks that I bought online, one called Principles of Human Physiology that I will use in my Introduction to Clinical Medicine class at Hopkins, and another a calculus textbook to help me brush up and prepare for Calculus II coming fall semester. I was reading the physiology book on Wednesday night, totally enthralled in the body's intricacies and chemical wonders, hoping with all of my might to get into Hopkins. The following day, I learned that I did. You can imagine how ecstatic I was.

Me in front of the original building of the Hopkins
teaching hospital. Can you believe I get to study here?

I won't go off for too long, but I just feel such overwhelming gratitude that I have the opportunity to continue my studies in this way. It is such a privilege to be able to get educated, and I've learned through my own life experience and education that I really value education that gives people practical, applicable skills, which is how I view medical education. I know I'm going to be extremely busy (I have 20 credit hours of math and science classes each semester) and likely quite stressed out and tired at points, but I honestly see this as the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm so grateful to be an American who can learn from scientists and doctors of the past and study things like how luteinizing hormone begets ovulation and how enzymes break down proteins into usable amino acids in the intestinal lumen. I am so excited that Johns Hopkins is giving me the chance to get the education I need to become a doctor. I can't wait to join a field of people endeavoring to ameliorate or at least understand human illness and suffering. (Speaking of which, an article in The Economist called "Cured of HIV?" talks about the research of a Johns Hopkins scientist, Deborah Persaud, who may have completely cured an infant of human immunodeficiency virus thanks to antiretroviral drug therapy. Can you believe it? Isn't it astounding to see how science and medicine have taken what was once a devastating plague in the US (and is currently affecting millions globally) and potentially reversed it irrevocably?) Thank you all for supporting me as I totally change direction and pursue something new. I will likely call upon support from all of you, and I thank you in advance for giving it to me. You are the reason I love life and want to make it better for myself and others. I'm about to embark on this path, and I couldn't be more grateful that life has brought me to it.

The elegant, matching brick buildings surrounding grassy
quads of the main campus of Johns Hopkins, where
I will begin my studies on May 28, 2013.