Technical difficulties...

Hey all, I've been in Brownsville, TX since this past Friday. Today is the 7th day without on my computer. First I was unable to access internet on campus, not having the correct log-in student status and all, and yesterday as soon as I received access my computer decided to up and die. I'm getting to know the IT guy at the School of Public Health here and he said he's hoping it will be back among the living by tomorrow. So that accounts for the past week of not blogging. Que lastima! But onto the good details:

I started working at the School of Public Health on Monday. I have two long-term projects set up. The first will be designing and helping to implement a Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program for mothers and their "tween-age" daughters here in Brownsville. This program was pre-tested this past year and they are looking to change some parts of the sessions and add new material on "sexting" (here's a link to a news article) and cyberspace privacy. The sessions will run at the end of July and beginning of August. I'm excited to still be here in Brownsville at that point, so I can help with the sessions and see the final product.

Secondly, I'll be working on developing an evaluation for radio-novelas which are being aired on various radio stations here in the Brownsville/Matamoros area. Radio-Novelas are Spanish soap operas done over the radio, these are becoming frequently used throughout Public Health. Some of the radio-novelas I'll be working on discuss diabetes and prostate cancer within the form of a soap opera.

I am one of 10 interns working for the School of Public Health this summer. We are all split up among various projects, some working in the lab, some working on H1N1 Influenza A (Swine Flu), diabetes surveying, High School Science Promotion Project, and other community focused projects. I'm quite amazed at how active this school is within this community.

Just this week, I've taken part in surveying individuals from a diabetes cohort, data input from the swine flu outbreak, a diabetes patient education program, a tour of the County Health Department, a tour of the Clinical Research Unit, and met way more people than I can remember names for (but I'm trying). The school is very involved in a Farmer's Market here in Brownsville, which I'll be going to check out this Saturday. This week has been a wonderful introduction to many of the programs that the school is involved with.

The weather here is gorgeous, nice and hot, with a little bit of rain. Today's high was 94 degrees, yes that is Fahrenheit :) Ok, so I can't lie, it does get very hot here, sometimes even a little unbearable for me, but as compared to the Michigan winter extreme, it's great!

This is already too long, if you've made it this far, thanks! More details to come on the city and the school itself. Although I will say, I'm sitting in a computer lab in the School of Public Health and I am two blocks away from both bordercrossing points here in Brownsville. In order to go anywhere I pass signs that say "TO MEXICO" or "Carrying firearms into Mexico is not allowed." I am constantly reminded by the proximity to Mexico from street signs, food, stores, language, and mostly the stares that I get from a lot of people. Many more stories to come with pictures too, keep reading!

Here's also a blog that I wrote Saturday, May 30th.

Welcome to Brownsville, TX!!
I’ve made it,
1,644 miles
112 gallons of gas
31 hours
And countless billboards
And I’m finally here.

I’m all moved in and only found 3 cockroaches (my mom thinks they’re only palmetto bugs, but we all know they're really roaches) in my room… ewww, gross!! My mom and I cleaned my room from top to bottom, quite literally last night, so now they should all be gone. Oh and I have a pet, isn’t he cute! Supposedly he’s a duck, but he looks a bit like a rooster too. He sits outside of my door, I’ve named him Bob.
I’m living in the dorms here on campus, which when someone described them as a motel room, I thought they meant small room, bed, dresser, and bathroom. Instead they really meant motel room. These are old motel rooms that the university took over and made into dorm rooms, they even still have the metal tissue holder by the sink, the hairdryer on the wall, and the connector doors between rooms.

My mom and I have tooled around for the past two days and I’m starting to get a bearing of the city. The university is one block from the Texas/Mexico border. On our way to the grocery store we passed right by the border check point.

Today, we went to South Padre Island; it’s about 30 minutes from Brownsville. It is a little, primarily tourist island, i.e. nice beach and good food.

My mom is flying home tomorrow, it’s been fun spending the last week with her and I will miss her lots. Hi Mom, I love you!