Hi! Happy New Year! Here's quick update.

Here is what I am enrolled in this semester (which I haven't explained before sorry!):
1.) Advances in Pharmacology (This is where I present [and you will too])
2.) Cellular Control Mechanism (You remember PMAT?)
3.) Endocrine Pharmacology (Estrogen is kind of a big deal)
4.) Environmental Signaling (Estrogen is kind of a big deal in a lot of things you probably own [plus we're doing a fun little project to look at lead levels in soil])
5.) Medical Pharmacology (This is pretty much what you think)
6.) Neuropharmacology (This is also pretty much what you think)
7.) Principles of Pharmacology (This one is harder to explain)
8.) Seminar in Pharmacology (this is a lecture series where different people come in to lecture in a variety of topics in pharmacology)

Here's the school updates. We've taken our first exam in medical pharmacology and and principles of pharmacology. We covered a lot of estrogen, progesterone, signaling, and my favorite, diabetes. I wanted to be an endocrinologist at one time in my life. It was very fun (I really like diabetes), and VERY relevant. Things like this will undoubtedly be seen again and again so I can always appreciate it when get lectures on them. Clinical relevance is given, but I certainly learn a lot about pathways and drugs. Right now, we're coming up on our cell control and neurology block exams.

Here's what I've done with volunteering. I've pretty much done only Goldring this month! You can look back in my previous posts to find out what that is about. Recently, I've been more hands on. For example, last time we didn't have enough participants so I got to partner up and get in the kitchen. In addition, I've been able to give talks about nutritions, finance, and more of what-can-you-do kind of talks at the end of the night (previously this was usually done by the chef). I find immense value in this because I know at the end of my night I've gotten to not only help this community but be able to feel more apart of it.

Here are some life updates. I went to my first Saints game! A playoff at that. Something magical about that and as weird and corny as it sounds, it's hard to describe in words what a playoff game is like (I attended the playoff, not championship (you know if you know)). In addition, I've scheduled my MCAT for May (fun, fun). Of course, I've gotten to take part in some food. You might be asking why I do this so much. Food is, in my opinion, one of the BEST ways to experience culture and there sure is a lot of it here. We'll leave it at that.





(maybe my interest in diabetes is for prevention purposes)

Community Service Hours for this month: 15
Community Service Hours for the year-to-date: 48.5