Week dos summary

This week I was joined by a group of about 20 nursing students from Minnesota. Two of them lived in the house with me, which was nice to have other people to hang out with during the evenings. [By the third week, an undergrad student joined us from New Mexico. It was basically a sorority house!] I also felt more comfortable going out later at night now that I had other people (at no point did I ever feel unsafe while in Oaxaca per se, but better super safe than sorry). There is a nice amount of night life concentrated on one block and a large amount of people out and about at all times, which added to our fun (and safety).

 On Saturday, I took a bus to Monte Alban. One of the larger, popular ruins about 10K from the center of Oaxaca. I decided not to use a tour because I wanted to be able to visit at my own pace. The place was absolutely breath taking and I definitely recommend it. The views are spectacular and the rich history is mind-blowing. They also have a museum with a cute café overlooking the mountains. ! The bus and entrance didn’t cost much and gives you two hours before picking you up, which is plenty of time. Do it, do it, do it!!!

Side note: while at Monte Alban, a man decided to give me a "personal tour" and shared some interesting history with me. This was nice until he wanted to lead me to unpopulated areas and I decided that is not how I wanted my trip to Mexico to end. The message here is it's fine to travel alone as long as you always remember: safety first!

Arrival

Last night was a blur of flights. I left LAX at 11:45pmàGuadalajara around 4amàMexico City at 7ish amà finally Oaxaca City at 12pm (which has a +2 hour difference from CA). Even though I was exhausted, I was too excited to go to sleep once I got here. 

Ice drink with "tuna" flavoring.
Turns out the tuna is a fruit,
 not the fish.

I’m staying with the Cuevas family in a lovely home – two homes actually! My room, bathroom, and essentially living space is at the Senora’s sister’s which is right next door. And then I just go to the Cuevas to eat. As soon as we got home she fed me spaghetti, chicken, beef tortilla, AND fruit. I couldn’t finish the fruit, I thought I was going to burst! Also, that was the best tortilla I’ve ever had. Why has the US been depriving me of legit tortillas??  Talking about things the US has been lying to me about: Spanish. It is spoken at a 100x faster speed than I’m used to from American-Latinos. I’ve said “Si” to a lot of questions I probably should have said no to. Hopefully I’ll get used to it soon!

The tourist road

I spent the last 2ish hours walking around downtown as the Cuevas live about 10-15mn walk from the center. Oaxaca, at least the amount of it I’ve seen, has such an authentic feel. Which is a powerful thing to have kept since it is packed with tourists. I held myself back from buying EVERYTHING today, but will probably do so by this weekend! Unlike most, I didn't travel here with a group so I hope I make some friends through the program to hang out with. As much as I love traveling alone, Oaxaca has the feel of the kind of place you want to share with people. 

Overall, so far, so good. I’m still kinda trying to understand my living situation because I don’t just want to be a moocher. But it seems as if the family is comfortable with me just doing whatever I want to do and then calling out to them if I need something? I don’t even know where anyone is right now. I also forgot that the program technically only has the families providing breakfast/lunch so I may have to go fetch my own dinner at some point, if I feel hungry. I’m still full from that brunch!

PS. I’m SUPER glad I took a refresher Spanish course before coming! Today would have been so much more intimidating if it had been the first time I’d heard Spanish in 3 years.

Santo Domingo

A little bit more about me

Hi! I am Camille, currently MS3 from USF MCOM and I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico for the month of January 2016 through CFHI's program Realities of Health Access and Inequities.

 At USF, I am part of the SELECT program which focuses on aspects such as leadership, patient-centered care, and emotional intelligence. Three years in, I believe it has reshaped my outlook on medicine so it was interesting how these lenses shaped my experience in Oaxaca. Due to some circumstances, I decided to take a year off from school, allowing me to explore other medically-related interests that I would otherwise not have time for in med school. At first, I was afraid to take a year off (and increase time to my graduation countdown!) but the time ended up creating a wonderful silver lining and taught me to always be open to creating new opportunities!

My main interest for the last couple of years has been Pediatrics. I worked with children in undergrad, and all around end my day on a better note if it was spent with children. Another goal I have is to work with Doctors Without Borders, or similar international health projects. My family's background has made me call many locations around the world "home," but I also have studied and participated in research projects abroad. I love exposing myself to new cultures and it appears I was meant to spend most of my time in airports. And, of course, I love to help the neediest of populations so programs like MSF and CFHI are right up my ally.

Although my school has several mission trips throughout the year, I never got around to participating because they are usually during our 1-week breaks. I really wanted to find something that would allow me a longer immersion with the community I visited, which is how I found CFHI. This trip with CFHI was my first time practicing medicine abroad and I am thankful they helped me out financially with a scholarship!

This trip had an immense impact in my life, and I could definitely see it changing the way I interact with future patients. These next few posts are excerpts of my journaling throughout my experience. While they do not contain every single moment, I think they would be enough to show what my daily life was like for anyone considering this program. Overall, I 100% recommend it!!