Hello Summer 2017!

Hi! I know it's been quite a while since my last post. I am now officially halfway done college, which is so hard to believe. Time really flies! I can hardly believe it's been almost two years since I got back from my year in Indonesia, and it's even harder to believe that I'll be applying for medical school next year!

As you might have guessed, I would love to be traveling or studying abroad this summer. However, that won't be the case this year. I decided to switch things up and do an internship closer to home. I'll be doing an independent study (I haven't done my research proposal yet, so I'm not quite sure exactly what it will be on). I haven't done an independent study yet, so it's actually perfect since it never hurts to get some extra research under my belt before I apply to medical school! I'm excited to try something different than what I've done in the past, and I hope that I like it...I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

The Life of a Pre-Med Student

Hello! I'm sorry that it has been sooo long since I made a blog post. Another semester has begun, and it's already almost time for the first round of exams to start. As with last semester, I'll fill you in the classes I'm currently taking: Organic chemistry II, genetics and evolution, calculus, global health, and taekwondo. In other words, I'm taking 3 pre-med requirements, global health, and a fun class to make sure I don't use being busy as an excuse for not getting in enough exercise. Jokes aside, I am actually enjoying my classes so far and feel as if I have some of the best professors I've ever had (but then again I haven't had any exams yet...).

By the way, I declared my major last semester, and that felt great! I am now officially a neuroscience major with minors in chemistry and global health. For anyone who knows me well, I'm sure none of that is surprising since those are (some of) the things I have been interested in for as long as I can remember.

I guess I better get back to being a student!

Victoria

P.S. My sister and I decided to start making videos for our non-profit that tie more into our experiences. Here's the first one! It's about applying for college. (I know. I know. We're a little late...)

Another School Year Begins (& Pictures from Russia)

Hello! It's been a little while since my last post, so I figured it's time for another update. As promised, this post will include pictures from my time in Russia earlier this summer. I'll post them at the end so that they're easy to look at.

Anyway, here's a little update on my life. I just moved into my dorm last night for my sophomore year of college...I can't believe time has gone by so fast! That means it's been a little over 2 years since I arrived in Indonesia for my exchange year and over a year since I returned home. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I am able to return to my second home. Until then, I'll be at school studying neuroscience, so I guess I can't complain! In case anyone is interested, my classes this semester include Japanese, statistics, organic chemistry, and cognitive neuroscience.

Additionally, I still plan on posting videos about exchange, pre-med life, etc. on my organization's YouTube channel, so I will most definitely be posting them here when I do. As always, if you have anything you want me to talk about in a video, feel free to let me know!

Believe it or not, this picture was taken at
about 3 am...look how bright it is!

Yummy Georgian food!

Outside the walls of the Kremlin

Ну, погоди!

This cat has its own chair at the Peter and Paul Cathedral!

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

This is the oldest church in Russia 

Yes, this is a grocery store

Greetings from St. Petersburg

Здравствуйте! As promised, I am writing from Russia. I have completed 4 out of 6 weeks of classes so far, so that means I'll be going home in just over 2 weeks! Even though I've been learning Russian for less than a month, I've learned A LOT already. The class I'm taking is an accelerated one that combines the first two semesters of college Russian into the 6 weeks that we are here. I remember commenting on the first day as we were doing our homework that I would "worry about the correct way to write all of the letters over the weekend" since we had just learned the alphabet in class that day. (The reason I made that comment is that handwritten Russian is cursive, so some of the letters look completely different from when they're printed). Little did I know that we would be learning verb conjugations the very next day. After some practice with those, learning some vocabulary and a few other things, we moved on to cases and learned them (all of them) in one class. Since then, we've gone over aspects (which required us to learn past, simple future, and complex future verb conjugations) and much more.

On a more interesting note, St. Petersburg is known for having "White Nights" in the summer, which have been interesting to experience. The sun currently sets at about 10:30 PM and rises at about 3:30 AM, although it never really gets completely dark!

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I must have gotten distracted because that's the last I wrote from Russia. I'm back home now and thankfully the jet lag hasn't been bad at all. I think I have my previous trips back from Asia to thank for that! Anyway, I'll be uploading another post later with mostly pictures since this one already has quite a few words. I am also excited to say that I will be posting more videos on my organization's YouTube channel about my experiences studying abroad, finding opportunities to do so, and about life as a college student, how I got there, etc. I will be sure to post them here as well, and I really hope that someone will find them to be helpful!

Thanks again for reading my blog, and I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last posted!

Victoria 

My Next Adventure

Halo! First of all, I want to say congratulations to all of the YES Abroad finalists for 2016-2017! I wish you all the best on your upcoming journeys. Enjoy every moment. It all seems to go by so fast! As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Semangat!

Next, I want to talk about my next journey! I know in one of my last posts I said that I will be going to Bolivia this summer, but my plans have changed for a number of reasons. Instead, I will going to Russia to study the neuroscience of multilingualism and the Russian language. Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE neuroscience, learning new languages, and experiencing other cultures, so I am super excited because I really don't think I could find a program to fit my interests any better! I'm so glad that my school offers such cool opportunities! I leave in about two months and will be spending 6 weeks (mostly) in Saint Petersburg. Just like when I went to Indonesia, I don't yet speak the language, but I have some time to study before I go and will be taking language classes while I'm there this time around.

I'm so excited to see what this summer will bring, and I plan on keeping anyone who is interested in my adventures updated through this blog, Facebook, and Instagram.

Sampai ketemu lagi,

Victoria

I Finally Made Another Video!

Hi! I finally made a video about how I was able to spend my senior year in Indonesia, graduate on time, and apply for college while abroad. A lot of people have asked me about these topics, so I decided to make a video! If you have any questions or ideas for future videos, feel free to let me know! 

Victoria 

Hello 2016

I got to wear a kimono and learn some traditional dances!

Halo semuanya. Selamat tahun baru! I apologize for not writing for quite a while. I had a crazy end to 2015 and an even crazier start to 2016.

To quickly sum up 2015, I successfully completed my first semester of college (ah it went by so fast!), traveled to Japan as a part of the Kakehashi Project, and got to spend Christmas with my family! Here are some pictures from Japan:

Selamat datang di Jepang!

Beautiful Kuji 

As for 2016, I'm already really excited for this year. My second semester is going well so far, and I'm really excited about all of the courses I'm taking (I finally get to take my first neuroscience class)! I actually just had two long weekends in a row because of MLK Day and then snow that came on Friday, so I definitely can't complain! I actually started off the year by speaking at some schools in South Carolina for Think Before You Type, and it was really amazing to see how engaged the students were during our presentations. I also recently found out/decided to go to Bolivia for an internship this summer. (It's kinda a long story though, but the short version is that I was in between going back to Indonesia for an internship and doing one in Bolvia. I ended up choosing Bolivia because I felt more connected to the work that I will be doing there, and plus it never hurts to improve another language!)

I can honestly say that I'm enjoying this semester 495089383 times better than the last one though because it's just so much more fun when I already know people and am more settled in. Even though I said the same thing last semester, I feel even more strongly about the fact that this is the perfect place for me to spend the next few years of my life. There are so many amazing people to meet, really interesting things to learn, and so many incredible opportunities. Here's to many more great days ahead!

Victoria