Thursday, June 7, 2012

Ecuador 2012- Nazanin

Nazanin pictured in the center

       After an amazing week in clinic, we spent our last day zip lining and eating delicious organic food at Tucanopy. On the ride back from zip lining, as I was trying to fight sleep, to avoid getting popped with pop rocks by Dr. Wilson and Darren, I started thinking about how I got here. It was just a typical 'walking around/slacking off/pretending to do work' kind of day in operative lab when I walked up to Cayce's station, and she asked me if I wanted to go on a mission trip to Ecuador. Without any hesitation, my answer was YES!! Couple of days later, I emailed Bryan for the first time, and a week later, I attended my first lunch at BCM. Although at the time I didn't know it, slacking off in the lab and habit of automatically saying yes to trips was going to have a great impact, not only on those in need in Ecuador, but also on myself. I'm not exactly sure when, but I think it was during first couple of gross anatomy lectures when I lost 'it'. And by 'it' I mean the purpose, the bright light at the end of the tunnel, the reasons why I was doing what I was doing everyday. This trip to Ecuador helped me find 'it' again. In his inspirational devotional, Dr. Wilson mentioned outliving our lives, and that was the greatest reminder, that we are all blessed with great talents and with that comes great responsibility. 'Reaching out to less privileged' is no longer just words on my personal statement to get me in dental school. I know that on July 5th, not only I will start school with more knowledge and experience in dentistry that I expected to gain, but also with confidence that this is what I am meant to do, and dentistry is my way of making a difference. I hope to continue this journey under leadership of the greatest mentors I could have asked for. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve and grow.

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