Oh Montezuma...

This day did not start well....the first thing I thought when I woke up was, wow, this feels just like when I had mono. Yeah I was really sick today...in fact we all were. Our best guess is that our drinks had ice last night-oops! I did go to class this morning but the rest of the day I stayed in bed, very weak with a fever and definitely not able to eat. In fact, I think i'll go on strike from eating until my stomach chills out...

Class was very interesting today. I am doing a study with Dra. Magdalena on public health and epidemiology in Mexico. Dra Magdalena is awesome, by the way. She is a family practice doctor and she teaches biology and epidemiology at the medical school. She is smart, dedicated, and very lighthearted. She treats me like a daughter. I seriously think she has taken it upon herself to make sure I have the best possible time in Mexico. The following is an example of a typical conversation with her:

Me: So what do you think I'll be doing in clinicals tomorrow?
Dra M: Don't worry about it we'll figure it out tomorrow! Have you seen the volcano today? Isn't it pretty? Have you gotten picture of it yet? Did you have fun last night? Are you making friends here? Have you met any boys? Be careful here! Ok go do something fun, I'll see you tomorrow!

I love her. She is genuinely concerned about the dire state of Mexican healthcare and about raising a generation that can do something about it. She is very passionate about her job and her students. It's hard not to get excited when she talks. And she only speaks in Spanish which was hard for me at first because she speaks pretty fast and uses alot of colloquialisms. It's good for me though, and I'm getting to the place where I can understand everything she says and even add a little. In class today we talked about the relationship between public health and culture. This is where the purpose in my internship really becomes evident...living in Mexico is helping me learn the culture (which is what I love about traveling), which in turn helps me understand the problems in the healthcare system and why people react the way they do to health issues. For example, Mexico is dominated by Roman Catholicism which discourages the use of contraceptives and therefore results in an uncontrollable growth in population. Consequently the system is overloaded with mothers and children who cannot afford healthcare and who are victim to higher rates of pregnancy-related and pediatric diseases than other populations.

Today was not the best day but I started my antibiotics, so hopefuly tomorrow will be better...