savoy096

Medical students study. A lot. But, at some point your brain becomes soggy and mushy and cannot possibly absorb one more fact! At least, this is my experience. And when that happens, what do you do? You take breaks, and have fun doing things totally unrelated to medicine! Before this semester began, I was under the assumption that I would be panic studying 24/7. Don’t get me wrong – medical school is challenging. There is an immense amount of material to learn. But it’s not wise, or healthy, to live in a constant state of stress. Learning to balance personal and professional life is a struggle faced by so many people in Western cultures, and it definitely begins in professional education. Part of what I love about MSIH is all of the opportunities that exist here – but there will never be enough time to take advantage of all of them. So, here’s a list of my top five favorite things to do, besides study. ;)          Tjida, during our Sea to Sea trek...

Sunset in Beer-Sheva Language is something that is really important to me. I spend a lot of time thinking about the words I use, ways I can communicate with people more effectively, and increasingly – the way that language can be a barrier to medical care. As a person with very little exposure to Hebrew before moving to Beer Sheva (save a few YouTube videos to learn the alphabet), language barriers are something I experience on an everyday basis. This can be amusing, sometimes frustrating, and occasionally it leaves me feeling vulnerable and homesick. While Hebrew classes are built into the curriculum here at MSIH, learning a language takes a significant amount of time and energy. And when you spend most of your day either in lectures full of English speaking classmates, or reading English textbooks, it can be easy to slip into a little English-only bubble. It’s nice and safe and easy to comprehend everything within the bubble. You never want to leave the bubble! But, leave it you mus...

Class of 2021's future female doctors! On this week, last year, I received my acceptance to MSIH. I won’t bore you with my classic story of post-interview anxiety, subject line dread, or petrified email skimming. It was a wonderful day, in an otherwise terrible week. I was truly ecstatic. The initial excitement, however, gave way to anxious analysis. Studying in Israel would mean leaving behind friends, family, my partner, my culture, and my favorite vegan donut shop 1 . In short, coming to MSIH meant experiencing change in nearly every aspect of my life. For me, this wasn’t completely uncharted territory. After undergrad, I had joined the U.S. Peace Corps, and moved to Namibia for two years. There I’d experienced culture shock, language acquisition frustration, novel foods, and the hardship of maintaining relationships with loved ones at home. I knew what it was like to travel to a place that you’d never been before, and learn to call it home. As a person with no previous ties to...