T-3 days!

Hi Troops,

We're officially at T-3 days until departure to Peru! Right now we've just finished our penultimate exam (last one is on Friday at 12pm) for the year and I'm so excited/exhausted. Friday is going to be crazy. Exam starts at 12pm and lasts until 4pm. At 4pm I will promptly run home, make sure everything is packed, wait for roomie, and get in my car and drive four hours to West Palm Beach (aka home). Friday my parents will drive me to Miami in the morning, we get on a plane at 5pm in Miami and our route is as follows: Miami, FL->Bogota, Colombia->Lima, Peru->Cuzco, Peru! Yeah, I'm tired just typing it. Speaking of packing...I need to get to that today.

So a little about our Peruvian adventure. The University of Florida College of Medicine (known from now on as UFCoM) has had a summer research program in Cuzco, Peru for a number of years. A group of 10 students (5 in June and 5 in July) work at a clinic, La Casa Hogar del Campesino, and conduct research. This year our project involves developing a database to chronicle the patient traffic at the clinic. This way we can aid the clinic in better allocating their resources to coincide with the main problems they see on a daily basis.

This blog will chronicle the experiences of the June group. Since most of them will likely be making appearances in entries and as guest bloggers, here's a little introduction to these wonderful people.

Annelys-That's me! I'll likely be adding most of the entries. You can read all about me in the blogger section.

Monsy-Roommate extraordinaire! Monsy and I are roommates in real life, and by real life I mean in medical school (which ironically is nothing like real life). Like me, Monsy is a native Spanish speaker and is looking forward to an incredible adventure. Seriously, Peru is all we've talked about in our apartment for months.

Erick-Our resident expert on all things Peru! Erick actually grew up in Lima, Peru and is the other native speaker in our group. He's also the only boy in our group so you know he's looking forward to spending a month in an apartment with four girls ;).

Marilyn-Another fluent Spanish speaker, Marilyn has had previous adventures in Spain. She's has become our Machu Picchu expert, given that she's coordinated and planned a hike there for some members of the group.

Veronica-The only non-Spanish speaker, but Veronica has been very proactive about learning Spanish in the months leading up to the trip. She's excited about experiencing Peruvian culture!

That's all for now. My three loads of laundry are done and I should really get to that packing thing. More to follow soon!

Adios,
Annelys