Going into my second year, I was ready and excited. I had an incredible first year and I was looking forward to what I would experience in my second. Granted, there were still some nerves as I was also heading into the dreaded organic chemistry course. Overall, however, I was eager to start another journey at the University of Cincinnati. The year did not go anywhere as planned with the unexpected spread of COVID-19 and the ensuing quarantine of the second half of the spring semester. It has been an incredibly interesting year with an experience like none other.
My second year was a difficult year wracked with family health issues and struggling with personal relationships in conjunction with mental conflicts. The summer prior my mom had spent weeks in the hospital and was still in poor health and recovering by the time the fall semester started. During the semester, she had one of her kidneys removed and it was difficult not being there for her. I struggled with it completely and even considered taking a semester off to help out with the family. Luckily, she recovered, and I was able to continue with my education. During this time, I felt like I could not rely on my friends which was further exacerbated by anxiety, an affliction I continue to fight against. I became closer to different friends and put some distance between some of my closest friends from first year. Managing all of the changes in these relationships along with my mom’s health issues was particularly difficult. From these experiences, I have grown so much and have gained more strength. It has given me more determination to stay on my path and persevere no matter how hard things could get.
At the end of my first semester, tragedy struck again, and my brother suffered three heart attacks on the other side of the world in Japan. This occurred the same day as my last final of the semester and I was wracked with guilt as I felt selfish for only thinking about getting an A in organic chemistry while my brother was dying. Logically, I knew that I had no way of knowing and there was nothing that I could have done to help him when he was on the other side of the ocean, but it still stuck with me. After hearing about this incident, it pushed me to be more mindful and think about my own health and what I could do better. This developed an even greater interest in health and wellness within me as I became more mindful about my diet and started exercising. It was a vast change from my rather sedentary lifestyle. It helped me to consider more deeply what exactly health is and the art of medicine. One class that really helped me define this was the Life of Medicine class I took in the spring semester with Dr. Richard Becker. This class was so extraordinary as the topics discussed were more about the reasons, I am interested in medicine rather than the repetitive and structured science classes. I still enjoy those science classes, but the Life in Medicine course reminded me of my passion which sometimes science classes can cover.
The second half of the spring semester, the world seemingly ended as COVID-19 spread and everyone was sent into quarantine. Quarantine was exceedingly difficult and the transition to online classes was challenging. It was far from how I imagined the spring semester of my second year was going to happen. The year ended well, however, as I handled all of my classes and ended successfully. My first year in university may have been a learning process on adjusting to classes but my second year has been a learning process on myself as I went through difficult experiences which forced me to reflect even more on myself as a person and the relationships I had formed around me.
My second year was a difficult year wracked with family health issues and struggling with personal relationships in conjunction with mental conflicts. The summer prior my mom had spent weeks in the hospital and was still in poor health and recovering by the time the fall semester started. During the semester, she had one of her kidneys removed and it was difficult not being there for her. I struggled with it completely and even considered taking a semester off to help out with the family. Luckily, she recovered, and I was able to continue with my education. During this time, I felt like I could not rely on my friends which was further exacerbated by anxiety, an affliction I continue to fight against. I became closer to different friends and put some distance between some of my closest friends from first year. Managing all of the changes in these relationships along with my mom’s health issues was particularly difficult. From these experiences, I have grown so much and have gained more strength. It has given me more determination to stay on my path and persevere no matter how hard things could get.
At the end of my first semester, tragedy struck again, and my brother suffered three heart attacks on the other side of the world in Japan. This occurred the same day as my last final of the semester and I was wracked with guilt as I felt selfish for only thinking about getting an A in organic chemistry while my brother was dying. Logically, I knew that I had no way of knowing and there was nothing that I could have done to help him when he was on the other side of the ocean, but it still stuck with me. After hearing about this incident, it pushed me to be more mindful and think about my own health and what I could do better. This developed an even greater interest in health and wellness within me as I became more mindful about my diet and started exercising. It was a vast change from my rather sedentary lifestyle. It helped me to consider more deeply what exactly health is and the art of medicine. One class that really helped me define this was the Life of Medicine class I took in the spring semester with Dr. Richard Becker. This class was so extraordinary as the topics discussed were more about the reasons, I am interested in medicine rather than the repetitive and structured science classes. I still enjoy those science classes, but the Life in Medicine course reminded me of my passion which sometimes science classes can cover.
The second half of the spring semester, the world seemingly ended as COVID-19 spread and everyone was sent into quarantine. Quarantine was exceedingly difficult and the transition to online classes was challenging. It was far from how I imagined the spring semester of my second year was going to happen. The year ended well, however, as I handled all of my classes and ended successfully. My first year in university may have been a learning process on adjusting to classes but my second year has been a learning process on myself as I went through difficult experiences which forced me to reflect even more on myself as a person and the relationships I had formed around me.