December Blog: Time Flies

December: 7 hours
Fall Cumulative: 13.5 hours

This month I volunteered at our local farmers market. I was able to assist in marking spots for the vendors and assist with setting up each booth. A few vendors had unique homemade products they were selling and others had produce that was incredibly fresh and vibrant. Better than anything I have seen in a grocery store! Some were selling mushroom products; they had raw mushrooms, ingestible oils, and substrate blocks for people to grow their own at home. I read their flyers claiming the products had immune boosts, anticancer properties, and many other health benefits. It brought me back to our autonomic nervous system and cardiovascular module which had a section on cholinergics that included muscarine from mushrooms. I started asking about the different ingredients in the vials of mushroom oil the vendors were selling, and thinking back on what I have been learning for our upcoming test on GI and Neoplasia. We didn't discuss any anticancer properties of mushrooms, but we did learn several other vegetables like cruciferous vegetables that have been shown to have antitumor properties.

I am very fortunate to be a part of a school that emphasizes community involvement. This is something I have thought a lot about growing up in my hometown, and I am proud of the volunteering I have done in New Orleans. I hope to find even more ways to positively impact the community next semester. The push for community service has really helped me embrace Tulane's motto, "Non sibi, sed suis", which means not for oneself but for one's own. 

I cannot believe the semester is already over. In just a few months, I have learned so much about pharmaceutical drugs, their kinetics, their dynamics, and the human body. I got to celebrate Hanukkah with friends for the first time and meet new students in the other master's programs at a BMSSA social for Tulane. So far this program has challenged me with tough material in the classroom, but I feel confident it is conditioning me for success in medical school and as a future physician. One thing I hoped as I started the semester was to maintain a steady routine of studying, working out, eating, and socializing. I still have a lot of work to do on because as the semester progressed it got more challenging to maintain this routine. Unwinding on this much-needed winter break, I am looking forward to what is to come this next semester, and working hard on time management, fitness, proper sleep, and studying.