Jump on the Bandwagon...

Since my fellow MS2's had this wonderful idea of creating a blog to talk about their experiences in far away lands I thought that I should do the same thing. I've never had a blog before so I think I'll play around with this for a couple of days before I head off to Guatemala and see if I can make it all spiffy and stuff.

So for those of you who don't know why on earth I'm going to Guatemala for this summer here's the answer: I do what I want. Haha - but seriously? I just wanted to take my last summer opportunity and head off to a Spanish-speaking country and do that whole doctor thing that I signed up to do back in August. After looking around for programs, Kristen was able to come across this cool little program called Mayan Medical Aid. We'll be heading down to a small town called Panejchal in the beautiful Lake Atitlan, Guatemala for 6 weeks. If you've never seen pictures of it, the background in the header is a panoramic view. Be jealous.

As for what I'm going to do down there, I'm not quite sure yet. I think I'll speak a little Spanish, do a few pap smears, get some blood draws, learn the Mayan culture, go climb a volcano, pay off the guards at Tikal and eat some wonderful Guatemalan food. I think that's the beauty of this trip, I haven't really planned anything except for the clinic portion of it. I'm pretty much free to make plans as I please so hopefully I'll make the most of it. If any of you guys have suggestions let me know and I'd be glad to look into them!

So finally, any pre-trip thoughts? I'm basically just really excited to head off to a foreign country for 6 weeks all on my own. I will really miss friends and family back in the States but you guys can keep in touch with me through this blog or facebook or gmail or aim or any other mode of communication that I've subscribed to in my lifetime. I'll even have a cell phone down there for those of you who will be privileged enough to receive a phone call haha. But don't worry, as a consolation prize if you let me know of a gift you'd like to receive from Guatemala let me know and I promise I'll try my hardest to get you it!

Well, enough babbling on this blog...I can see this getting to be really addicting. T-minus 32 hours...