My life in an e-mail

Ok. I figure if you made it to my blog page, you've probably received the update I sent out. But just in case, here's my life summarized in one e-mail:


นไก! --that's "Howdy!" on a Thai keyboard

I hope life is treating you well! It's been a while since I've sent an update--so here goes my attempt at putting the past year of my life in an e-mail.

First of all, this is my new, grown-up e-mail: storey.p@gmail.com.

Also, I'm starting to keep a blog of my travels: http://philipstorey.blogspot.com/I have stories and pictures posted. Hope you enjoy.

I just finished four years at Vanderbilt in May. I can honestly say that I could not have had a more wonderful college experience. My Senior year was great--more work than I wish it had been but also lots of fun (which seems to be the curious balance of Vanderbilt). Much of my time and energy was spent on my thesis and on Manna Project. For my thesis, I researched the role of language in the health care of the Latino population in the U.S. I spent the first semester shadowing in two clinics in Nashville--the Cayce Clinic and Nuestros Ninos. Both were very eye opening. The Cayce Clinic is a safety net provider build next to the government housing projects in east Nashville. The projects are primarily inhabited by African Americans but the patients that the clinic receives, interestingly enough, are 80 percent Latino. And none of the doctors speak Spanish. The employees of the clinic should have been on a reality TV show. With a strained mix of African American, Latino, and Caucasian employees, a break room with "How to Solve Office Conflicts" on the table, and weekly battles, the clinic was a hoot. I learned a lot about how language--or the lack there of--can negatively effect patients.


When I wasn't working on my thesis, Manna Project International took much of my energy. I directed the board of Manna Fit, MPI's fundraising event at Vanderbilt. Seven months of hard work concluded in a benefit dinner that was successful beyond what we had ever imagined--we had 400 students in attendance and raised over $15,000 for development projects in Central America. I had worked on the dinner the previous year and we had been very happy to raise $2,500. The first year our focus had been raising money; the second year, our focus was to raise awareness about service opportunities, followed by the goal of gathering funds. Interestingly enough, by changing our goals, we also raised more than six times as much money as the previous year.

After most people graduate from college, they get a job or continue with school. Like many things I do (sorry Mom), I decided to do something different. Some people would say I'm trying to avoid the "real world"; they probably have a point, but I also hope to see much of it. The next two years will primarily consist of travelling and studying abroad. After two short weeks at home, I took off for Southeast Asia with my wonderful girlfriend, Carmen. We landed in Singapore and have spent the past month working our way up the Malay peninsula. Outside of dodging attacking leeches and scorching sun burns, the trip has been amazing (Check out my blog for stories). One of the highlights was working for North Andaman Tsunami Relief--an organization originally founded for disaster relief, which has now taken on the task of community development. We will continue up Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before we enter China in August. I will be effectively in Chinese boot camp for four months: I will be living in a Chinese speaking dorm with a Chinese roommate taking 30 hours of Mandarin instruction a week. Should be fun :)

After seeing family for the Christmas holidays, I will leave for Sydney, Australia to study international public health through Rotary International's Ambassadorial Scholar program. I originally caught the travel bug to see the world during the youth exchange that I did with Rotary after high school. I am very grateful and excited to be able to again go abroad through Rotary. Hopefully, I will serve them through the program and in the future. After gallivanting around the world, it's back to the States to apply for (and hopefully attend) medical school.

Well, that's my life in a nutshell...or at least an e-mail.

Much love,
Philip