Happy and Healthy in 2015!

December 01, 2015

Enjoying ice cream on one of our many road trips

I've been living at home for the past year and a half, focusing on restoring my health. I am happy to say that, thanks to the discovery of the low FODMAP diet (which I highly recommend to anyone experiencing gastrointestinal distress), I am feeling so much better! It was a long, frustrating journey as I experimented with different treatments, from various diets, medicines, procedures, and alternative therapies. I am so grateful to my mom for being so supportive through it all and helping with doctor visits, expenses, and cooking... lots of cooking. Ultimately, I am really glad I came home and took some time to recuperate, because recently I've had enough energy to work, travel, and plan my future (which is a lot more fun than being chronically ill!)

Perks of living at home: sharing Mexican food with visiting

friends and dressing up for trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Mad Science at the San Diego Science Festival

I have still been tutoring elementary and high school students in San Diego county. I really love getting the chance to work with students individually and share learning techniques with them. Teaching is still my #1 passion and I feel so fortunate to get to do it as often as I do. I also have been working as an instructor for Mad Science, which is a company that teaches hands-on science curriculum to elementary students. It's been super fun but also quite challenging trying to manage classes on my own. It certainly takes a lot of energy but the payoff is definitely worth it. Mom and I also started a Girl Scout troop this fall, so we've been busy planning our own activities to share with the girls.

This year I got to travel quite a bit. I went somewhere every month, starting with Death Valley in January, a trip to Florida and the Bahamas in February (to visit my grandparents who were escaping the Pennsylvania winter), Santa Cruz in the spring to see friends, Las Vegas in April to present my research at a regional conference, a roadtrip to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest in early summer to see friends, my Mom's property, and orcas from San Juan Island, Santa Barbara/Channel Islands and Los Angeles in August to visit schools, meet potential advisors, and explore the cities, Joshua Tree to visit a former foreign exchange student who was in town, and most recently, Chicago for a national conference. Hoping to go somewhere international soon, but I want to make sure my health is 100% restored before risking that (since Costa Rica may have triggered my initial problem). Until then, the states have plenty to offer!

Death Valley

Pristine beach on Grand Bahama Island

Washington Park, Portland, OR

Mt. Shasta

Fulfilling one of my dreams... Seeing orcas in the wild!

View from Mom and Tony's
beautiful property in WA.

Sacramento

Hanging with friends: Kaelle, my psychology buddy, and Leah, my college roommate.

With Lorena, our student from Switzerland, and a very friendly horse!

This fall I have been focusing on graduate and fellowship applications. I have continued to collaborate with the memory lab I was working with at UC Santa Cruz, and have been volunteering in a cognition lab at UC San Diego for the last year. I have also been TAing for a research methods class taught by my former community college professor. These experiences have made me certain I want to pursue a doctoral degree in cognitive psychology. I am interested in gaining a better understanding of factors that affect our ability to learn, especially how we think we learn and our level of motivation or effort. I submitted 5 applications to schools in both California and in other parts of the country, and plan to attend the school with the advisor who best matches my interests... which means I might have to move to a place that actually has seasons! Growing up in California, this is a very scary thought, but it might be good for me. Nothing is certain yet, we shall see.