Hello everyone! 

My name is Prethivika and I’m a rising junior. I’m a biology major on the pre-med track, with minors in chemistry, sociology, and Hindi. I’m beyond excited to be traveling to India this summer for my Himalayan Health study abroad program! 

Fun fact about me — I have three birds at home (2 parakeets and 1 parrot)! In terms of my professional goals, I hope to become either a pediatrician or OB-GYN in the future. Having always been interested in providing free medical services and learning about healthcare in various underprivileged communities around the world, this program piqued my interests greatly. I was particularly drawn to it because of the way it combines studying about the US healthcare system in comparison to that of India. Knowing my future goals, I hoped to expose myself to a healthcare system other than that of the US and get first hand experience of what it might be like, and this program would help me do just that. 

Not only that, but hearing that I would get to spend 6 weeks in Mussoorie made me even more excited. It isn’t only about having to work with people coming from underprivileged backgrounds, but it’s also about learning to work with and adapt to the environment around you. Living in Mussoorie would no doubt teach me a variety of different lessons about such adaptability and change, both personally and professionally. I’m a travel fanatic and love any type of adventure activity, so hearing how this program would combine two of my favorite things (medicine and adventure), I was immediately on board.

I hope that through this program I would get to learn about such factors and just how much one’s environment might affect not only the way they live, but also their healthcare systems. Personally, I would love to be able to grow as a person from this and learn about how to adapt to different environments, and professionally, I want to learn about how best to deal with such major change. In addition, the first aid certification that we receive at the end (hopefully if all goes well :)), would give me the hands on experience that I won’t get elsewhere. And of course, I can’t wait to hike! I’m a huge outdoors person and I’m sure this program will give me the perfect outdoor experience I need to not only work on myself, but to help me better understand the world around me.

I’m so happy to get this opportunity for such a life-changing trip and I can’t wait to see what it brings!