September Service

For the month of September, I had not started my community service hours, though I have gathered a few ideas. One would be to volunteer with Glass Half Full, or to volunteer at the Children’s Hospital, which I’m in the process of applying for. I may also volunteer for some events with my environmental club as they come up, so there’s a variety of options for me to choose from.

Since I’ve been focusing more on learning and studying for my first month in the program, I’d like to talk about some things that I learned. First of all, I learned a lot about basic biological processes, especially considering I have never before taken a biology class. The singular biochemistry class I took in my undergraduate curriculum was more focused on chemistry and random facts rather than mechanisms and deductive reasoning like these courses tend to favor. I was a bit hesitant going into this program because of my lacking biology background, but so far I’ve found it to be quite unnoticeable in terms of my learning curve. I’d even say I’m more motivated now that the fear of confusion and failure is gone (for the most part).

Aside from that, I’ve really enjoyed learning about specific drugs and their pathways in the human body. I feel more certain about how to use everyday over-the-counter drugs, despite never having thought twice about them before. I’m also able to differentiate between the different types of basic drugs, which I’d always group together in my head prior to these courses. I think the independent studies focusing on one or two specific diseases and treatments have been some of the most interesting parts of the curriculum, as well. I especially loved learning about malaria and gout, both of which I’d never fully understood.

All in all, I believe I’ve had a fantastic introduction to what the rest of my year is going to look like, and I’m definitely excited to keep moving forward!