NOVEMBER

I had a great month exploring more of New Orleans with friends, getting to go home for Thanksgiving break and seeing family, having delicious home cooked meals and relaxing. I just returned to New Orleans  last night feeling recharged but also sad to be close to the end of such an amazing semester. Our coursework for November was especially interesting to me, consisting of cardiovascular, renal and pulmonary modules. These were more challenging topics for me because there is a lot of understanding the physiology of the heart, nephrons, and vasculature, but overall fascinating.  My older sister is a first year PA student and we've been discussing a lot of similarities in our courses. Over thanksgiving break she was studying EKGs and cardiology, which we just finished up last week, so it was fun to pick her brain about that. I was also so excited when I was watching TV one night and saw a commercial for the Trelegy inhaler for COPD treatment, which I had just done a presentation on last week in Advances! I love being able to apply my knowledge to everyday life. 

As for community service, I returned to covenant house this month and assisted with preparing for their annual Sleep Out fundraiser. This overnight event aims to raise money and awareness while showing support and solidarity for youth that experience homelessness. People can either volunteer to sleep out on the street for a night or sponsor the individual or teams of volunteers that do. The funds allow for all of the resources that CHNO regularly offers, such as a 24/7 safe space to sleep, hot meals, clothing and health and educational services. The last time I was at Covenant house I was organizing the clothing room, but this time I was with a larger group of volunteers, some who had participated in the Sleep Out before. It was great to be surrounded by people that were regularly volunteering with Covenant House and sharing stories. I look forward to going back next month. 

In addition, I enjoyed our class community service project that was introduced by one of our classmates Uma, who has been quilling and making fun designs on cards. She shared this idea with the class and we spent an afternoon creating cards, listening to music and spending time together. The cards will be delivered to children at the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home for the holidays. My creation is shown below!

Finally, I mentioned in last month's post how I am video krewe leader for Nola Books N Brains. We are meeting some new undergraduate members this week and getting started on making videos in the next month! 

Hours Completed: 4.5             Total: 7.5/12