By Jenifer Hernandez-Luna, University of Washington
My name is Jenifer Hernandez-Luna and I am from Yakima, Washington. I currently attend the University of Washington in Seattle, Wa, studying nursing with a minor in nutrition. I recently completed my first year of nursing school and will be going into my second year. During my free time, I love to spend my time with family and friends by hiking, watching movies or eating out. I also like to spend my time relaxing by doing self care and painting. One of my favorite activities is also to try out new coffee shops with my friends! I am really passionate about helping others and being an advocate for people who are not able to advocate for themselves or lack resources. My personal ambitions are to help my community with better healthcare and to provide a better life to my immigrant family who provided everything to me to succeed. My professional ambitions are to become a skilled nurse and keep learning life saving techniques or material to improve my skills.
My project includes two different sections. The first section of my project will take place in Londrina, Brazil where the focus will be on physical activity interventions & cultural exchanges. The second section will be in Sãu Paulo and the focus will be on healthcare system & community health. I was really intrigued by these topics due to the connection to health and the connection to the community and culture. I believe these topics are very important to study and understand the connection to better understand the body and improve healthcare.
My travel plans begin with flying to Londrina, Brazil on September 5th and meeting the rest of my group at the airport. I plan to fly out from Seattle, Washington with a close friend who is also
conducting the same study abroad program as me! From there, we plan on staying at Londrina for about 12 days and then traveling to Sãu Paulo via bus transportation. Our plan is to stay at Sãu Paulo for the rest of the study abroad program and start heading back home on September 27th. Conducting research in a foreign context will allow me to gain a bigger perspective on global health issues and also learn about different cultures and their impact on health.
I am really looking forward to learning more about these topics and also learning alongside new people and environment. I expect to learn about new interventions to improve patient health and also learn new skills that will help me improve my patient care. I am apprehensive about leaving
my family and interacting with a new community that speaks a language that I don’t. This is something that I plan to work on by staying connected with my family as much as possible and trying to learn Portuguese to better interact with the community. I do take this as an opportunity and hope to grow from this experience. I plan to make new connections and learn new material while also exploring the country and trying new things.
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