Monday, May 20, 2013

One Week Away!

Exactly one week from today I will be somewhere in the air getting ready to land in Africa for the first time! I don't actually think that this fact has actually hit me yet, as I'm still really only beginning to settle into the post-finals routine of relaxation. Of course my blissfully stress free week in Chicago has already been bombarded with Botswana Ethical Review Board woes. Let's just say that getting research approval from another country, especially via email is not an easy feat. Though I must say I think the process of writing my grant and getting approval for it has actually taught me a lot.

For example, in the beginning of the grant writing process, I hated and quite literally dreaded getting criticism on my writing because I thought that criticism meant that I wasn't prepared to handle actually performing a research study at all. However, through the almost 12 revisions and re-writes of my grant that eventually ended up getting approved and funded, I learned that it was those critiques that made me think more critically and comprehensively about the task that I am preparing to take on during my clinical work in Botswana. And while I am still in the process of trying to get ethical approval to actually conduct the research in Botswana, with their ethics committee actually using phrases such as "this proposal is not well done," I find my self calmer and more confident then ever that I do have the tools to make this research study happen and that is something that I'm would have never been able to say if it had not been for all that constructive criticism way back when in December.

And so in this last week I'm packing and packing away...well not actually packing yet, more like just packing outside of my suitcase so that piles and piles of rolled up shorts and shirts are sprawled across my bedroom floor. I find my self not wanting to actually put my clothes in the suitcase just yet (for fear that they'll be unnecessarily squished for longer than absolutely necessary--yes clothes have feelings too) and because I love the anticipation of the packing process. Imagining what I'll be wearing when I meet new people in Gaborone for the first time or what my living quarters will look like where I'll be unpacking all my stuff to live there for the next two months. It's all part of the preparation and excitement of getting on that plane and knowing that I'll finally, finally be setting foot in a place that I've been talking and reading about constantly for the past four years.

Writing this is making me more and more antsy to start packing, perhaps it's time to drag out the backpack and start filling it with tools needed to have a successful summer in Botswana--a place once filled with the remnants of an unimaginable summer in Thailand and Cambodia from last Summer.

As I look down at my wrist that still carries the white string placed on me at a Buddhist temple in Cambodia meant to bring good fortune, I can't help but wonder what little memories I'll bring home with me from this trip!


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