Next Destination: London

I’m a planner by nature. I’ve been planning my next steps and researching how to get to where I needed to be since I can remember. From middle school to high school to college, I knew what I would be doing almost every step of the way, but deciding to move to London for a year was completely out of the blue. 

In March 2021,  I sat in front of my computer debating if I really wanted to spend another year in the same state I grew up in and at the same college I spent four years at (no matter how amazing they were), to pursue an MPH (Master of Public Health). I decided to do a google search for post-grad opportunities in Europe, somewhere I had tried to satisfy my craving for through a study abroad program in Ireland but was stripped of due to COVID-19. 

Fellowship? I was too late. Job? Long visa process. More school? Did I want to? I decided that if I was going to commit to a master’s, it had to be something I was really passionate about. This led me on a whole other introspective journey, compiling my seemingly infinite passions to see what exactly my direction was towards the end. I hadn’t taken time to think beyond getting into medical school.

Thus started my journey of seeing a whole new path for myself, seeing beyond the mental block I had placed in my mind that was getting into medical school. I finally could see what direction of healthcare I wanted to impact and how I could get there. I decided Global Health was my direction and Europe was my destination. However, it still didn’t strike me as something real. 

I was in the middle of the semester and working on my undergraduate thesis and really wanting to escape, which led me to think more about life abroad. After weeks of procrastinating and joking, I decided to sit down and write a personal statement and submit some applications. I submitted four and had resigned myself to not getting in in the first place as I waited patiently for the decision on my extremely last minute applications. I ended up getting into a school!

Now I’ve crossed an ocean and left my friends and family behind to move to England for a year-long MSc in Global Health & Social Justice. I decided that even if it meant postponing my end goal, I wanted the opportunity to explore my other interests and gain a more global perspective prior to committing to a brutal, albeit rewarding, career in medicine. I’m filled with excitement for the immersive conversations I’ll have, the new city I’m lucky to live in, and the people I hope to meet. I’m also missing my friends and family terribly, not having to deal with immigration and visas, and being surrounded by familiar things. Adjusting and moving on to the next adventure are hard but necessary parts of life that I am warily, but excitedly, approaching. 

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