I am so excited to say that I will be returning to Argentina this coming July! After my wonderful experience in December, I have decided that I will study abroad in Buenos Aires for the fall semester. The school semester is a little different in Argentina. My classes will start in July and I will return to the grand ol' USA in the beginning of November. This time, I will be going with a program though the University of Oklahoma. There are 17 students going and we will all be studying at the University of Belgrano. I will be taking 4 Spanish classes and 1 International Area Studies class. I can hardly wait to immerse myself into the culture again.
When I arrived back to the United States after my 3 weeks in Argentina over the winter break, I made a radical decision. I CHANGED MY MAJOR!! It was a tough decision and really scary to drop 9 hours of class that I had been enrolled in, but looking back on the semester, I know it was the right thing to do. I am still a Spanish major, but I am also majoring in International Area Studies. You might be wondering, so why did Kelsey go and shadow doctors in Argentina then and give up on being pre-med? Well lemme answer that for ya...I still absolutely love helping people and medicine, but after experiencing the culture and people in Argentina, I decided that I could not spend many more years studying in medical school because I wanted to return to a spanish speaking country as fast as I could! Therefore, my current plan is to finish my undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma and apply for the Fulbright Scholarship my senior year. If awarded the scholarship, I would hopefully be teaching English in Spain for 8 months and then return to the U.S. for graduate school. I would love to then study public health, but all of this is definitely subject to change!
While it will be hard to say good bye to everything I know for 4 months, I know that this is the path the Lord has set before me. I will be able to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House in Buenos Aires and I have already talked to the director, who is ecstatic to have a new American volunteer soon! I know the Lord will move in mighty ways while I am there and I can not wait to be used by Him. To Him be all the glory!
P.S. Check out this sweet blog with tons of pictures of Buenos Aires, Argentina! http://www.akworld.net/webblog/
