Background

Hello friends and family and potential internet travelers,

My name is Sophie and I recently finished my third year of medical school at the University if Illinois in Chicago. In a few days, I will be on a plane to Gabon for 3 months of internship in pediatrics at Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene, Gabon. I plan to write about my time as a way to keep in touch with all the good people in my life, to reflect publicly about medicine as service, and to give people a sense of what practicing medicine in the developing world is like on a day to day basis. I leave on July 28th for Africa, part of a multi-day journey that will land me in Lambarene about 56 hours after I take off from Chicago. Right now, I am excited and apprehensive. Excited because I see this as the capstone of my medical education and because I have never been to Africa before. Apprehensive because I have spent the last months studying for Step 2 and finishing third year of medical school so I do not feel prepared for this. I understand that there is no way to fully prepare, but I have not even cracked my guidebooks. Oh well, that's one of the good things about having flights scheduled, you can't push something back, you just have to get in there and start going. If you are interested in following my time in Africa, please bookmark this page and I will reciprocate by blogging frequently. The next time I write will be next week in transit or when I am actually on the ground! Unbelievable. Until then.