Island Med Student

Christmas day is rapidly approaching. This will be my very first Christmas spent outside of the United States. I must admit that I am not a very religious person. To me, Christmas is more about spending time with my family. I truly hate how commercial Christmas has become. I’d rather eat a bowl of rusty nails and broken glass than visit a shopping mall around this time of the year. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with any of that here in Dominica. The only signs of Christmas here are some few and far between Christmas lights hung up on houses, and a miniature plastic Christmas tree in our school’s library.

A few days ago, my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. The adorable mother that she is, she wanted to send me something in the mail, probably because she wanted to remind me of being home. I ended up giving her a list of some toiletry items that I can’t find here, like waxed dental floss and hair styling supplies. Of course, she excitedly put together a package for me. But, I realized when she asked me what I wanted for Christmas that I already had everything anyone could ever ask for.

I truly believe that I’m the luckiest girl on the planet. I have everything that I could possibly dream of. I have a wonderful, accepting and loving family. I have an adorable, caring and supportive partner in life. I have the most amazing and exceptional friends (really, you have to meet them “¦ you can’t imagine how great they are). And to top it all off, I’ve just completed my first semester of medical school on one of the most beautifully breathtaking islands on this planet. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Only five short months ago, I was about to embark on one of the greatest adventures that I’ve ever undertaken. I traveled thousands of miles from home, leaving everything safe in my life, in an attempt to follow my passion of becoming a doctor. I simply cannot believe that I’ve made it through my fist semester. I’m really on my way to living out my dreams. Although it required some blood, sweat, and many tears, I “dug down deep,” as I tell my 10-year-old local friend Rennady to do, and made it all the way. Here’s to getting what you want for Christmas! If there were one piece of advice that I could give to everyone out there, it would be, “follow your passions,” and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t.

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