Waking Up the Echoes

 Although I've only been back on the Notre Dame campus for a single week, it feels like I never left. Simultaneously, it's possible that I was gone for years and years. I've either been here forever or was gone forever, I can't quite decide. It is terribly comforting to be back in the land of FlexPoints, brown metal-framed bunkbeds from the 1980's, and, of course, my beloved roommate. I have finally readjusted to the idea of modern sewage treatment, potable tap water, sweaters, and streets without a bus or taxi in sight, but Mexico is still lingering in the back of my mind (not to mention in my digestive tract- Montezuma is one stubborn dude). I am looking forward to applying myself academically again and turning my vague ideas about applying to medical school into a reality.
This return to the old daily drudgery (ok drudgery is maybe a bit melodramatic, work with me.) is lightened by my summer prospects. I applied on a whim for a grant through the Kellogg Institute to participate in a service-based medical internship in Latin America and was selected for the Mexico program. If all goes well, I will be spending 8 weeks of my summer break in Oaxaca, Mexico, working in a medical clinic and living with a local host family. I am indescribably excited to return to the country that taught me so much this past semester and that will always have a special place in my heart.
So that's where I am. Settling into a newly rediscovered, familiar routine and taking things one day at a time.
And in case you haven't yet had the opportunity to ask an un-subtle question about run-ins with gun-slinging narcos, the answer is "No, güey."