insomnia --> ramblings

can't sleep.

it's now almost exactly a week until i leave for the airport on the longest flight of my life to the farthest place i've ever been in my life. alone. completely alone. i mean, there's about 60 others in the program but i know no one.

this will be a whole new set of challenges for me. at least i don't have language barriers to worry about too much like i did in the dominican republic. trying to communicate there was really tough with the limited spanish i knew.

however, i have no idea what to expect as far as culture goes. perhaps it won't be all that different as cape town is more or less pretty westernized i think. but when i travel around the country doing different things, what then?

it also got me thinking...i'm really fortunate. i mean i've had to fork over a lot of money for this trip and my dominican republic trip last winter, but i'm so glad i was able to find ways to fund this endeavor. i'm living my dream of seeing the world. i never thought that coming into college, i'd have the opportunity to travel to the carribbean let alone AFRICA to do research.

speaking of research...i guess i should write down what it is exactly i'm going to do for two months, cuz unfortunately, its not all fun and games.

the email i got was as follows...

Dear Edward,

I am very excited to inform you of a great offer that was extended to you, by the Tyberberg Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Clinic. Congratulations!

As basic background, it’s a very well known hospital and the University of Stellenbosch's teaching hospital. The Infectious Diseases clinic caters for HIV, TB and other patients. They continuously have research projects on the go.

From our previous placements with them, our pre-med students had the opportunity to shadow doctors in the clinic, attend ward rounds but most importantly work on very pressing research projects which revolved around observational studies as to the changes, improvements, and general status/health of patients before and after treatment.

1. 1) Creation of patient friendly identification treatment chart

2. 2) Characterization of patient subgroup referred to the Infectious Diseases for antiretroviral treatment at an advanced stage

3. 3) Three patient case study of TB immune reconstitution disease causing dysphagia

4. 4) Investigating upper right quadrant pain and/or tenderness in patients with immune reconstitution disease to determine incidence and associations.

now the first thing sounds like complete bitch work...which is why i asked about it and found it's already been completed so i don't have to do it :]
i do realize now that my actual laboratory research background won't really be utilized i think, which is rather unfortunate but the daily interaction with professional doctors and patients is much more valuable i think. i mean...the whole point of being a physician is to diagnose and recommend a course of action right? that's exactly what i'd be getting to do while focusing on AIDS/tuberculosis treatment research on the side.

and the best part is, if i can conclusively finish those initial tasks, i'm free to pursue whatever research i feel would be pertinent (with the consent of my advisor that is). i've never done independent research before...we'll see how this goes.

and now, the reason i started a blog in the first place since i haven't done that since my high school days. i don't even own a digital camera in this day and age. well, i do but its pretty much nonfunctional and has a fully charged battery life of 10 seconds. i dont plan on buying one anytime soon either--i need the savings to get a new computer actually. the only pictures i have during my dominican republic trip was those i leeched from everyone else through facebook.

i want some way to preserve my memories...and i figured a friend of mine (tom lewkowitz in palau!) is doing a blog and i thought it was a good idea. my other friend annie did a similar thing during her stay in new zealand. so now it's my turn. ed oh in south africa baby.

if anyone wants a diamond, let me know. ill see if i can smuggle some back ;)
2:30am. not tired one bit. fuck