Maria knows her internship will be a perfect fit

After being here for 2 weeks it’s starting to hit me that I will actually be living here for the next 3 months. I think I realized I had hit this point after visiting all of the internships and getting to see how everyone will be spending their time during the week. I really enjoyed orientation as a whole because it was the perfect segway in how to live here in Cape Town. The public transport exercise helped so much because transport was definitely one of my biggest worries since it’s not my strong suit at home. The mini bus taxis are super convenient and are not intimidating after all. 

One of my favorite parts of the orientation was visiting all of the internships. We listened to a brief summary of what each organization, hospital, or school did and how they did it; I could picture myself loving every internship that we visited. It’s going to be interesting to listen to everyone’s stories when they come home at the end of the day since we will all have such different experiences. The description I will never forget was at Caitlin’s internships at Treatment Action Campaign. When Mandla Majola depicted some of the incidents that happen there, my jaw dropped. You can listen to it and you can feel pain for these people but it still makes you feel so useless. I was angry, confused, and heartbroken all at the same time because I couldn’t grasp how and why our world is like this. 

As orientation comes to a close I have the chance to reflect on my experiences. I’m so ecstatic to start interning at Maitland Cottage Hospital. The children are precious and so anxious to get better, so the fact that I will be aiding them in that process is extremely rewarding.  My two main passion’s are to help people get better and the love I have for children so being able to intern in the field of both passions I have is truly amazing; it is the perfect fit and I cannot wait to start on Monday.