As a part of my experience, I enrolled in the Introduction to International Pharmacy Experience class offered through the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren Jonkman. I was given a few articles to read to prepare me for my trip and things that I may encounter in addition to the book you see pictured to the right. Nourishing the Soul of Pharmacy: Stories of Reflection could be compared to the Chicken Soup for the Soul book collection, pharmacy edition. Dr. Jonkman originally handed me the book simply to read the preface about a strategy for properly documenting a meaningful reflection on an experience. |
The formula starts with an account of a situation, transitions into an emotional response or reaction, continues with insight developed as a result, and ends with planning how this can change practice either personally or as a profession. I was enticed by the excerpts used as examples to display how these steps are applied to writing and found myself reading the entire novel. And I am definitely glad I did! Turns out there are many different styles of reflection that all involve those different components, but vary in the order, details, and tone portrayed by the writer. Through analyzing the writing of others, I hope to be able to convey my thoughts on this blog in a clear manner so that you, as the reader, are able to feel like you are on this journey to Turkey with me.
An excerpt from the appendix states:
An excerpt from the appendix states:
"Some students clearly convey that, at their sites, they are tourists. They visit as some Americans do foreign countries: they bring with them the baggage of their own culture and merely skim the surface of the alien culture, sampling but not interiorizing. They marvel at the unusual, dutifully visit important sights, take the required pictures, and write an interesting travelogue, but they return as the same individuals who began the trip."
My goal for this trip is to do the exact opposite of what is described above. I want to immerse myself in the Turkish lifestyle and soak up the wealth of pharmacy information I will be surrounded with on a daily basis. Although I will be armed with a camera and hope to see some of the sites I have Google image searched for the past three months, I'm more interested in the people I am about to meet and the stories they have to share. So, this evening, beginning at 7:30pm I will be flying from Pittsburgh to Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany and finally Izmir, Turkey (arriving at 6:30pm tomorrow evening).