It’s Christmas Time in Dublin!

It’s nearly Christmas here in Dublin! My first semester of grad school comes to a close in 48 hours. Well, mostly-there’s still this pesky thesis proposal that’s been sitting half finished for the past few weeks I need to tackle-but that’s an aside. The first semester was, despite a fair bit of fear mongering on the administration side, quite good. And not at all overwhelming, challenging to be sure, but manageable. The key, as it always is, is not to procrastinate and everything will subsequently go quite smoothly. I’ve learned a lot, and could hold many a discussion on health policy, economics, or epidemiology. And I’m glad to have gotten this education outside the states. It’s given me an exceptionally unique vantage point most Americans trained in the system don’t have. Not to say it’s better, just different. But there’s been this one little thing that’s been underlying everything, and causes great concern for a future career in public health. Continue reading →