I’m not quite sure yet what it is. It could just be that I’m nervous and anxious and entirely out of my element right now. There’s something that’s making me sick, with fever and sweats and a searing headache. I can’t put my finger on what’s wrong because I have absolutely no idea what could be wrong. Which just goes to show how little I know about being a doctor so far. If I can’t even figure out what’s going on in my own system, how in the world am I going to figure out what’s going on in yours? Forgive me, though, I’ve gotten away with myself again. I tend to do that when I’m exhausted and have so much to say in so little time.
It all begins with a dream, a dream that I had as a little girl. Cure cancer. And I was going to do it from a hut in the jungle, if you can imagine that. I was smart enough to know that drugs and cures came from the exotic plants in the jungle. I was intrigued by the jungle too. All those shows you see about people doing cool shit in the jungle. I guess that’s where I got it. Humungous bugs and alligators and tarantulas. Such interesting stuff. Then I got in to medical school and found a way to finally get to the jungle. Not to cure cancer mind you. That dream is gone, along with the incredible nature of cancer which is not, in fact, a singularly curable disease. Calling it cancer is entirely wrong in the first place. There are so many different types which have so many different features. But I digress.
The hardest part about this whole trip is the language barrier. I want to learn Spanish. And I’ve always wanted to improve my Spanish. Here I am, nearly fourteen hundred dollars deep in plane tickets to the middle of the jungle, and I have not a clue how I’m going to survive with what little Spanish I currently know. Which is stupid. So stupid. I should have been more careful. Okay sure, I’ve been relearning the language lately and am doing a pretty decent job. The problem is that my vocabulary is incredibly narrow. I need to expand, and soon. Like, oh I don’t know, maybe before I embark on this trip. This is my one chance to complete the dream I’ve always had. When in the future will I get to do anything as exciting as this? Maybe not until I’m old and decrepit and finally making enough money to start paying off loans, in which case I won’t be spending it to travel to exotic countries!
And that brings me to where I am now. Learning a language on my own, with the help of good ol Rosetta Stone. A good program really if you can get past the outrageous prices associated with it. That, an incredibly awesome website (http://studyspanish.com/lessons/regverb3.htm) and some really amazing people who work at my clinic. Oh, and some good old fashioned motivation would be nice. Just throw a teaspoon of each into the bowl and stir, and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll find yourself a courageous (or is it cocky) wanna-be hero, spending her summer in the depths of the jungle surrounded by exotic animals and plants galore!
You’ll soon find that this could be an incredibly interesting blog. It all depends on how this summer proceeds. The internetless atmosphere of the jungle will keep me from rambling online while I’m down in Peru, which may be a good thing. I’ll be journaling though, don’t you worry! When I return home, which involves a day of boats rides, two days of flying, a day of rest and two days of driving across the country, I will probably pass out and delay putting my journals onto the world wide web. But! After that time, I will eventually become less motivated to study, and will need to find something else to do to distract me. And it is at this time that I will likely inform you all of what it’s like to live in the jungle for a month, surrounded by students that you have never met, speaking a language that you barely know, practicing medicine that you are only mediocre at providing.
Lastly I will inform you all, in case you even had the slightest doubt, that carrying extra batteries and storage space will be a priority so that I can continue my role as paparazzi even as I trek through monsoons and avoid coming down with malaria. Keep me in your thoughts; I embark on July 3rd, arriving in South America on our Independence Day, which is of course entirely irrelevant to my trip. I will then return to society and good hygiene on July 27th, arriving back in Philly on the 30th, to start another rollercoaster adventure through the wondrous second year of medical school.
Adios!
