Long-delayed update

My apologies to people who read my blog on a regular basis! I know I said I'd update regularly in Atlanta....and I didn't. Hopefully, as I sort out med school stuff (blogging about it will probably help me make my ultimate decision I think), I'll update more frequently.

So I got back from Atlanta last weekend and have been home for a week. I'm home for one more week before heading back up to Austin. My internship was everything I wanted it to be, and probably one of the more awesome things I've gotten to do in my life. If you want specifics, ask me about it. I could probably talk at you about it for hours. I'm good at that anyways. I definitely miss it, the city, and all the people I've gotten to know, even if I did come home a little heartbroken, disillusioned, and let down, feelings which should soon pass I hope. After this summer, I will have seen or met all three Clintons, Barack Obama, Bush, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in one year. That's hard to believe.

I'm sitting in the loft of a cabin in Tucson, where I'm with the familia for the weekend. The scenery is beautiful and the place is so peaceful. My dad and I are going hiking in some canyon really early tomorrow morning, and I'm looking forward to that. He's one of the best people to hike with, and I haven't done anything very outdoors-y all summer, which is making me crave a good day-long hike through desert and mountain. I always find hiking kind of cathartic, and I've always had an affection for desert thanks to El Paso I suppose.

Back home, I've seen some friends, and gotten a few secondaries in, but have so much left to do. I already have three in-state interviews scheduled for September, and they are ridiculously all within the span of one week (Friday Sept 6th, Monday Sept 8th, and Friday Sept. 12th) Yikes. Southwestern is the first one, and I wish it wasn't. UTSW is a big deal, and it would have been nice to have an interview or two before that for practice. Oh well. If I start getting some out of state ones, I can really start celebrating. But I have to get secondaries out first and that's definitely kind of stressing my face off a little cause I want them out before I hit Austin so I can go in with a clear conscience. It probably won't happen as much as I'd like it to. I've applied to too many schools. Some just because I like their school of public health a lot. Others for the normal obvious reasons. One just for location (Georgetown). I would never consider going to Georgetown if it weren't in the DC area. I have no idea where I want to go or what my top is or how competitive I am for some of these schools. I'll just have to find out. I might cut schools if I get a chance to really think about a few of them.

I'm really looking forward to traveling on weekends. It's going to be fun, and it'll keep things constantly interesting, although it's not like they wouldn't be otherwise. Senior year is going to be fabulous, I feel it. I have big plans for DS (and have a feeling that will take up a lot of my time). Then there's OJs and other orgs I've somehow gotten sucked into taking exec positions for, my 21st birthday, med school interviews and (hopefully!) jet-setting some, thesis stuff (which I really am looking forward to just sitting down and writing), taking Hindi (!!) for real, having a nicer courseload than I've ever had at UT, and just hanging out with friends for this final year. I want to have next summer figured out (it's way early of course), but I am thinking about doing Texas4000. It's just a thought right now, and I need to really sit down and evaluate stuff before deciding on anything.

It's good to have my career sort of lined out, degree-wise. And to know exactly (or somewhat exactly) what I want to do with those degrees. It's a good source of peace of mind, and drive. And it's comforting to have that figured out, especially while it seems as though a lot of other things in life have no such stability.

Well, hopefully I'll get stuff done while I'm home. I'm so ready to get back to Austin in the meantime. It will be worth the wait though, as long as I'm productive here and able to sort of block out all the criticism my mom seems to enjoy throwing at me lately...

Peace.