Getting Through, One Dissection at a Time

The past two weeks have been busy with joining Rotary and Rotaract meetings, starting my anatomy class, and of course, learning more about Cape Town! This post is going to be sort of a catch-all for some of the cool and interesting experiences I've had recently.

Last Thursday, I attended a Rotaract meeting. Rotaract is the college 'version' of Rotary, and the club meeting that I joined was associated with UCT. The members were at all stages, from first-years to postgraduate students. There were several community projects that they mentioned that were interesting, such as bringing roses to a retirement home for Valentine's Day and collecting old clothes and stationary to donate to kids in need. I also was able to join a Rotary meeting this past week, where we had a speaker who discussed climate change and it's effect on South Africa specifically. Today, I attended a mentorship orientation for a mentorship program called Life Choices run by the Rotary Club of Claremont. This program matches Rotary members with a disadvantaged seniors in high school who live in the Cape Town community. We work with our student to get them closer to their goals, share new experiences, and even just lend an ear to what they might be going through at the moment. I'm really excited to start the program and meet my mentee! I've been a mentor in the past at USF, and I also just really enjoy working with students in general.

As far as academics go, this past Monday, our anatomy class started our dissections with cadavers. For a quick background, my undergraduate degree is in Biomedical Engineering (BME), as is the Masters degree I'm pursuing. BME is the study of using and applying engineering skills to medicine. Because of this, my Master's program here at UCT requires that I do dissections in the anatomy lab. This week and next, we are learning and dissecting the upper limb. At first, I was very nervous to dissect the cadaver. I had never done something like that before and I didn't know if I could do it! It has been a bit tough, but each day my group and I learn more about the process and get more comfortable with it. One thing's for sure, I'm definitely learning a lot and getting a lot of 'hands on' experience.

On a lighter note, this week UCT hosted a 'Plaza Day' on the rugby fields of the main campus. This event was meant to welcome all the students back for the year and show off all of the societies and organizations that are available to join. There was also food, games, and music! It was fun to see all of the different groups the campus had to offer. There was even a mountain and skiing club (although I'm not sure where they go skiing, because it doesn't snow here)! Below you can see some of the setup from Plaza Day.

Finally, as if you haven't read enough here, I want to end this post by giving you some more reading. My goal this year is to read at least 3 books a month, and I joined a local public library near me to help me reach this. The library has a great mix of fiction novels, and there are many South African novels to choose from. I recently finished a book I checked out called Tsotsi by Athol Fugard, and I absolutely loved it. I don't think I can give a summary without giving too much away, but I highly recommend it. It's a pretty solemn book but it has a lot of twists and really made me think after I finished it. If you aren't into the reading scene, it's also a movie, which I plan on watching too. If you do watch or read it, I hope you enjoy as much as I did!