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| Winning teams posing with the championship cup. |
Advice #1: Find a hobby, something to do other than your studies.
It doesn’t matter what it is. Some go to the gym everyday as if their life depended on it. Others play some musical instrument with the school orchestra or a band. Many choose to bake (and if you do, make sure to save me some). I play Ultimate.
Ultimate Frisbee has been a pretty big part of my life since I started playing freshman year of college. So when I got here, I was glad to find out that there was a small but vibrant Ultimate scene in Israel. And I have gotten more involved with Ultimate than I ever thought I would in medical school. This past year I started to volunteer as a coach with Ultimate Peace, a non-profit organization that promotes peace by bringing kids from Arabic, Jewish, Palestinian families to play Ultimate and bridging the gap created by the sociopolitical situation. Every other weekend, or as much as my schedule would allow, I went to different towns to help coach. It’s been awesome getting out of ol’ Be’er Sheva and visiting different villages that most foreigners wouldn’t bother going.
We just had our first systems exam, Hematology. So, I probably should have spent my weekend studying for the exam. But instead, I went to Tamra (an Arab city in the north) and helped run a hat tournament for Ultimate Peace. It was amazing to see how much the kids had improved over this past year. It was a very long day in the scorching sun but it was quite gratifying.
I came back to Be’er Sheva Saturday night exhausted. All of Sunday was devoted to cramming 3 weeks of Hematology. And perhaps I didn’t do as well as I could have had I stayed here and spent the weekend studying. But these little excursions are what have kept me sane between all the studies of medical school.
Ultimate Peace is hosting its 3rd annual summer camp this year and they could use some support. I will be volunteering at camp also. If you would like to donate, click on the following link. Thanks in advance!
- blogger of the month Tim Lee