Well I wish I was writing to say that I was in India, but I am actually still in Des Moines. Because of weather our flight from Des Moines to Chicago was delayed almost 2 hours so we would have missed our connection in Chicago. The earliest flights that Courtney and I could get on that would get us to India leaves on Monday. So we will now be flying out on Monday from Des Moines at 12:45 and going to Newark and then having a 15 hour plane ride straight to India. We are scheduled to arrive in India on July 2nd around 9:30 pm. Please pray that these new travel arrangements will go smoothly so we can finally get to India and start our adventure.
Right now we are both hanging out in Des Moines at one of the pharmacists and friends Courtney works with because all of her stuff is packed away and in boxes at her house. Last night we ended up going to a drive in movie of White House Down and World War Z. White House Down was good and I fell asleep during World War Z so I'm not really sure how that was.
It hasn't been too bad to be stuck in Des Moines. I would obviously rather be in India right now, but it is better to be stuck her for a couple days then in a random airport in either Chicago or Munich when we would have missed our connection and had no open flights until the 1st. Your prayers for safe and now uneventful travels are appreciated and I will hopefully be in India the next time I post.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
India
I'm all packed to head to India tomorrow. I was going to take a picture of what my bags looked like, but decided that it looked exactly the same as my luggage picture from when I went to Ethiopia so you can check that out if you are interested in what my suitcases look like (except this time I don't have the smaller suitcase).
I believe my bag is exactly 50 lbs after having to take out some clothing that I didn't think was necessary and putting some food into my carry on. I'll be flying out from Des Moines to Mumbai with stops in Chicago and Munich. It will be about 21 hours of travel all together so it will be tons of fun. It honestly shouldn't be that bad since I'll be with Courtney so I will have someone to talk to.
While I'm in India I will do my best to update this blog as much as I can and when I remember. I'm still not 100% sure what we will be doing over the 8 weeks that I am there. I know that I will be staying at Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences in Loni. We are staying with other international students and eating and doing most of our activities on campus. I will also be getting a certificate in social medicine and doing some clinical things as part of my rotation. There will be 4 other Drake students with me the full 8 weeks and 2 more students joining us for the last 4 weeks.
It's crazy that I'm actually going to India and still doesn't feel like I will be there so soon. I'm feeling more excited than nervous so I'm feeling good about that.
Here's a couple of pictures from google maps of where Loni is located in India so you can get an idea if you are interested in the location.
I believe my bag is exactly 50 lbs after having to take out some clothing that I didn't think was necessary and putting some food into my carry on. I'll be flying out from Des Moines to Mumbai with stops in Chicago and Munich. It will be about 21 hours of travel all together so it will be tons of fun. It honestly shouldn't be that bad since I'll be with Courtney so I will have someone to talk to.
While I'm in India I will do my best to update this blog as much as I can and when I remember. I'm still not 100% sure what we will be doing over the 8 weeks that I am there. I know that I will be staying at Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences in Loni. We are staying with other international students and eating and doing most of our activities on campus. I will also be getting a certificate in social medicine and doing some clinical things as part of my rotation. There will be 4 other Drake students with me the full 8 weeks and 2 more students joining us for the last 4 weeks.
It's crazy that I'm actually going to India and still doesn't feel like I will be there so soon. I'm feeling more excited than nervous so I'm feeling good about that.
Here's a couple of pictures from google maps of where Loni is located in India so you can get an idea if you are interested in the location.
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| The red A is Loni |
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| Here's the distance between Mumbai and Loni |
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Bethany's Wedding
On Saturday my cousin Bethany got married to a guy named Khord. The wedding was on a farm and was supposed to be outside, but due to the rain had to be moved inside. It still worked out really well and they made the best of it and had a beautiful ceremony and reception. I had fun hanging out with my family and taking tons of pictures per usual at family events. I uploaded the majority to facebook, but will add some here so you can have a small taste of the fun that was had. So Khord welcome to the crazy Hanson extended family.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Rotations
I'm almost done with my first rotation, which is really crazy to think about. I've been at the Department of Corrections Central Pharmacy. My last day is Wednesday and I think I had a pretty good first rotation. It was a nice ease into the rotation experience and the people that I have been working with are really great. The pharmacy moved while I was there so I helped move and set up a pharmacy, which was an interesting experience. Also getting to learn more about the DOC has been interesting for me to do.
My next rotation is in India and so I will try and update my blog a little more while I am there so people can follow what I'm up to. I'm not promising that I will be good at this, but I will do my best. I fly out of Des Moines in about 2 weeks on the the 29th of June. There will be 4 other Drake students will me for the full 8 weeks and 2 more students are joining us the last 4 weeks. On Wednesday Courtney and I went shopping for stuff that we would need and today I went and exchanged some money. It's crazy that we're leaving so soon and I'm still not really sure what to expect, but I am excited to learn more about India and experience their culture and learn more about how they do healthcare.
My next rotation is in India and so I will try and update my blog a little more while I am there so people can follow what I'm up to. I'm not promising that I will be good at this, but I will do my best. I fly out of Des Moines in about 2 weeks on the the 29th of June. There will be 4 other Drake students will me for the full 8 weeks and 2 more students are joining us the last 4 weeks. On Wednesday Courtney and I went shopping for stuff that we would need and today I went and exchanged some money. It's crazy that we're leaving so soon and I'm still not really sure what to expect, but I am excited to learn more about India and experience their culture and learn more about how they do healthcare.
Beginning of Summer
Now that I have 4 weeks of summer to reflect on I have done quite a bit so far. I don't have quite as many pictures as the end of the school year because I have been slacking on my picture taking so I apologize for that. Here's a bulleted list with some explanations of things that I've been up to so far this summer:
- Watched my dad graduate from Hawkeye and then went out to eat at Peppers
- Went to zoo brew with Courtney
- Made dinner with Courtney, Meron, and Emily at Meron's house and watched the Bachelorette
- Had happy hour at Granite City with Courtney, Meron, and Emily and caught up on how our rotations were going
- Went camping with my family for Memorial Day at Saylorville (it rained most of the weekend which wasn't that cool)
- Started my rotation
- Went to Minnesota to visit Chris and met some of his friends and hung out with him
- Hung out with Erin, Marc, Courtney, and Chris at Jethros, Blue Moon piano bar, and the farmers market (was also my first farmers market of the year)
I've had a pretty good summer far I just wish it would be a little nicer outside and not rain quite as much. Some other highlights include watching the first season of Arrested Development on Netflix, getting to the 51st level of Candy Crush.
End of School Year Rewind
Since Traci recently reminded me that I haven't posted in quite some time I decided that I would do a couple recap posts of what I've been up to lately. I really don't have an excuse of why I haven't blogged. I mainly just forgot about it.
The end of the school year was full of a lot of time spent with friends, which was really nice.
For relays weekend it was great to spend time with friends who came back to Drake and just seeing people that I haven't seen around Drake in awhile. Intervarsity sponsored a free taxi service and so Courtney and I helped out by passing out cards on Thursday night at one of the bars. We had some nice conversations with people and all the students were really excited and appreciative of the free taxi service and the ability to get home safely. The actual relay events were also a lot of fun and the weather was really nice so that is always a plus. I also went along with some friends to all 4 campus bars, which was something that Courtney, Erin, and I have been talking about for the past year. We finally did it and had fun. I also ran my first (and probably only) half marathon on the Sunday of relays.
I also spent quite a bit of time with the ladies from yellow house. We did a lot of random hanging out those last few weeks of school, which was a good time. I'm really glad that these girls came into my laugh during pharmacy school because otherwise these last couple of years would have been quite a bit worse.
Some other highlights of the end of the school year included:
The end of the school year was full of a lot of time spent with friends, which was really nice.
For relays weekend it was great to spend time with friends who came back to Drake and just seeing people that I haven't seen around Drake in awhile. Intervarsity sponsored a free taxi service and so Courtney and I helped out by passing out cards on Thursday night at one of the bars. We had some nice conversations with people and all the students were really excited and appreciative of the free taxi service and the ability to get home safely. The actual relay events were also a lot of fun and the weather was really nice so that is always a plus. I also went along with some friends to all 4 campus bars, which was something that Courtney, Erin, and I have been talking about for the past year. We finally did it and had fun. I also ran my first (and probably only) half marathon on the Sunday of relays.
I also spent quite a bit of time with the ladies from yellow house. We did a lot of random hanging out those last few weeks of school, which was a good time. I'm really glad that these girls came into my laugh during pharmacy school because otherwise these last couple of years would have been quite a bit worse.
Some other highlights of the end of the school year included:
- VEISHEA: introduced Courtney to the celebration and also hung out with Isaac, Carina, and some of their friends
- Had my cousins bridal shower in the great town of Castana
- Courtney's parents were in town and we went to the Flying Mango (a restaurant where we have wanted to eat at since freshman year)
- Mother's Day picnic with my family and grandparents
- Pinning ceremony: all the of the pharmacy students got a pin and nametag before we went to go on rotations
- P3 party bus: after our last final most of our class went together on a party bus
- Finished my classes and took my finals now I'm done with classes forever
I think those are the only big things that happened in the last few weeks of school or at least what I can really remember. It's crazy to me that the school year ended 4 weeks ago and that I won't be in school anymore. It still hasn't fully sunk in to me yet. Here are some pictures from the end of the school year events:
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| Courtney and I at the parade |
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| Siblings at the parade |
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| Erin, Laura, and Nikki downtown |
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| Some of the members of the old FYS reunited downtown |
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| Chris and I at the relays |
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| Pharmacy girls during relays |
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| Erin, Courtney, Nikki and I at the library |
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| Friends after the half |
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| Family after the half |
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| Grandma and me |
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| Chris and me |
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| At Flying Mango |
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| With the mothers |
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| With the grandparents |
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| Family |
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| Party bus |
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| Pinning Ceremony |
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