Many changes to blog about!

I cannot believe how long it's been since I last blogged. Of course, I don't have that many followers, so it doesn't matter that much. But I'm going to try to write more frequently now, especially since so many things are changing in my life, and exciting things are to come!

As of last Friday, it's official, I'm going to Zimbabwe for my practicum! You may remember that for my Master's in Public Health program, I have to do a field practice placement. Well I chose Zimbabwe because they have an amazing orphan care center in Norton (not too far outside of Harare ) and they do a lot of HIV education work. Perfect! The plan is to work with the organization here in Boston for the next few months to put together a project and scope of work. Then I'll be going in March and April to Zimbabwe to implement the project. How exciting! I'm a little bit scared of the prospect of living in Zimbabwe, but I know it'll also be an incredible experience.

In other exciting news, my sister is pregnant! She's due at the end of April, so I'll be swinging by Paris on my way back from Zimbabwe (because, you know, it's totally on the way) to meet the little one. I'm super excited, it's the first baby in the family!

Then, when I get back in early May, I will be "graduating" from the school of public health! I put that in quotes because I'll only be walking at the graduation ceremony, but won't actually receive my diploma because I'll have to complete graduation requirements over the Summer. I'll be an official MPH as of Sept 2010! Yay! I can't wait to be done and to start my career!

After that, I'll probably take the summer off to write my final paper for school and look for a real job. I'll most likely live with my parents in North Carolina for a little while, since I'll be down there for Philippe's wedding in June anyway. It should be nice to just take a couple months off and not worry about rent and other grown-up things!

I'm applying for an Albert Schweitzer fellowship, which would take me to Lambarene, Gabon for 3 months at the end of next Summer to do public health work at a major hospital there. Fingers crossed that I get it!

So, there you go, my life update in 6 paragraphs. More to come shortly as plans become more concrete. Snuggles for now.