Boroughing
On Labor Day I went to Staten Island, the last of the 5 NYC boroughs that I hadn't been to. Considering I've only been here 3 months, I feel like I'm doing pretty well visiting a lot of the surrounding areas: visiting Doug's family in New Jersey, playing golf in the Hamptons, weekending on Long Island, Yankees games and random sculpture hunting in the Bronx, delicious bagel shopping in Queens, exploring hipster Brooklyn, loving Central Park in Manhattan, and finally venturing forth into Staten Island. To get there, I took a gigantic ferry (free?!?!) 25 minutes across the Hudson past gorgeous views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Besides site seeing, I've been writing a paper to be published, getting grants and approval for a new project that I will be head investigator of, and consenting women for the main project I work on. The biggest news is that I'm officially approved to go with the gynecology department to Niger in October! For 10 glorious days I'll be helping a team of surgeons repair women's fistulas, or when during a complicated labor the muscle separating bladder from vagina from rectum can be completely torn apart to disastrous consequences. Doug's dad, the leader of this trip frequently describes it as the biggest hell hole you can imagine, but I think that it will be such a great experience that I'm really looking forward to it. It can't hurt also that it will help my med school application when the time comes, which now more than ever needs a boost.
Besides site seeing, I've been writing a paper to be published, getting grants and approval for a new project that I will be head investigator of, and consenting women for the main project I work on. The biggest news is that I'm officially approved to go with the gynecology department to Niger in October! For 10 glorious days I'll be helping a team of surgeons repair women's fistulas, or when during a complicated labor the muscle separating bladder from vagina from rectum can be completely torn apart to disastrous consequences. Doug's dad, the leader of this trip frequently describes it as the biggest hell hole you can imagine, but I think that it will be such a great experience that I'm really looking forward to it. It can't hurt also that it will help my med school application when the time comes, which now more than ever needs a boost.