![\"AmsberryP1100932\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/files\/2014\/11\/AmsberryP1100932.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI flew down to Argentina in June of 2012 to volunteer at a private hospice center and do research for my Honors thesis. I arrived in Buenos Aires on June 27th, and I spent several weeks in the nearby city of Pilar, Argentina. There, in Pilar, I spent many hours volunteering at a private hospice home that cares for terminally-ill patients who wouldn\u2019t normally have access to hospice services. I met with hospice nurses and volunteers, and had many daily encounters with patients. Each day I was able to deepen my connection with the hospice guests and, knowing that their time in this life was limited, I had some very profound conversations. Looking back, the overall experience in the hospice environment was extremely peaceful and surreal.<\/p>\n
I am writing my thesis on the global view of hospice care and the role that culture plays in making end-of-life decisions. My observations from Argentina opened my eyes up to many universal aspects of palliative care and medical care overall. This research is particularly interesting for me, because I plan to apply to medical school soon and study to become a physician. Medicine needs culturally competent professionals, and I hope that I can be such a person when I am finally meeting with patients and practicing medicine.<\/p>\n
Along with volunteer and mission work in Argentina, I was able to travel a bit too. I spent a few days in the northern province of Salta, where I was able to enjoy some hikes and warm weather. I spent a lot of time conversing with local Argentineans. However, it wasn\u2019t always easy \u2013 there were many points where my rusty Spanish language left me lost in conversations. One of my favorite memories was when, instead of saying I was excited to \u201cget to know\u201d Argentina, I accidentally used the Spanish word for \u201ccook.\u201d The people I was talking with gave me a blank stare as they pondered the prospect of \u201ccooking\u201d their country\u2026<\/p>\n
This summer experience was amazing, because I didn\u2019t go down as a tourist. I went down to be a part of another culture and to learn something. And I loved it. I want to send a special thanks to all the gracious donors of the HC scholarship fund. The few weeks that I spent in Argentina made me realize how valuable time is, and I feel like the whole experience has given me a renewed focus in life. Time to live it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius In high school language classes, I developed a passion for Spanish culture. My studies in bioengineering here at Oregon State have spurred a strong interest in medical care. So, when an opportunity arose to experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,1635],"tags":[213005,204545,523],"class_list":["post-1217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","category-experience","tag-abroad","tag-honors-experience","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2215,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions\/2215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}