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Day 2: The Big Bagel

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Had an amazing day today sightseeing in New York City! We were able to pay tribute at the NYC AIDS memorial as well as the 9/11 memorial! We shopped around the various trinkets of Chelsea Market and had no shortage of delicious bites (from bagels to delicately overflowing cream puffs). We were also able to stand tall and proud at the newly established Fearless Girl statue, managing to cram the entire group into a beautiful photo (beauty of course, is measured by the time we waited for the picture itself). Most importantly, we spent the day getting to know each other through funny jokes and 10 second  naps on our fellow AB comrades' shoulders. To add to the festivities, some of us saw Taylor Swift's house. If you were wondering, she was not there. 

Dinner today was a home style grilled cheese and gently spiced Tomato Soup prepared by Nidhi and Alan, with help from Ben. We ended dinner in a delightful dessert of dark chocolate cream puff cream as well as cookie dough. 

Finally we had the chance of having our first reflection as a group, which culminated in an interesting discussion of health from various viewpoints of virology, public health, sociology, history, anthropology, and even behavioral science. Sanyukta began the conversation by mentioning a study that explored the connection between colonialism and HIV/AIDs outbreak. Although this is not a concrete connection, it fueled a discussion regarding the impact of history and those with power on developing nations. Next, we discussed the impact of education or lack thereof, in creating a stigma against diseases and leading to the diseases themselves (i.e. the fact that birth control pills themselves are not effective protection against STIs). The lack of education is often paired with an ignorance to the disease or issue at hand, and thus we expressed our frustrations with some individuals on Washington and their distance from the issues that they make decisions about. 

Furthermore we discussed how the HIV epidemic differs from other diseases as it is caused usually by the actions of the patient. For example, a community may rush to the aid of a local cancer patient, while it takes some individuals years to claim that they had HIV.  We also expanded on the QUILTBAG community and exploring its association to the HIV epidemic. Additionally, we touched on how HIV has become easier to manage over the years due to Anti retroviral therapies. However, these therapies must be taken every day for the treatment to work. We are excited to see how these multi-faceted discussion points manifest themselves over the course of the week in Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center. We are also excited to meet all of the clients we will be serving!

 Signing off, 
Ashley & Sanyukta

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