I’m Sarina: a doctor-in-the-making, fully-trained yoga + meditation instructor, pizza connoisseur, and eternally wanderlust world traveler.
Hi! I’ve returned to this blog nearly 7 years after I started a premed blog for a somewhat-funny-somewhat-sad reason: it took me that long to go from premed to med student! (read my premed blog here for an intricate description of the time I delivered a baby at 18). Life has had a hell of a lot of twists and turns for me, but in retrospect, I wouldn’t change my journey into medicine for the world. In undergrad, I hoped to smooth sail straaaaight into the med path after graduating McGill.
Well, I’m now in my mid-twenties and grateful to admit that the whole “starting med school at 22” thing did NOT work out. In retrospect, it would not have been a dream as much as a total nightmare.
Thanks to my gap years, I: traveled solo to ~20 countries (for a total of 40 & counting… naturally, I’ve eaten pizza in every single one), backpacked some continents, worked 3 amazing positions as a research scientist (read: I saw the world’s largest prostate removed via robotic surgery, created my own lab method for detecting intestinal parasites in Madagascar, helped design a self-assembling vaccine for ovarian cancer, realized my innate talent for performing splenectomy on mice, and more), became a fully certified hot yoga + meditation instructor, attended grad school at Harvard – or should I say, Hahhh-vahd (because YES I get this all of the time and YES, if you say this to my face you will be met with a massive eye roll), and for my ~last act~ right as the COVID outbreak started, I traveled alone to the Himalayan Mountains for a strong dose of spiritual refinement.
Long story short, I’m in medical school! #MADE #IT
What’s even the point of a #hashtag? Anyway, I did everything I ever wanted to do in my time off, and because of that, I’m more than okay with having to trade in the spontaneity (well, if you know me you know that’s impossible, but I do have to tone it down) for a more routine lifestyle.
I started this blog because I wanted a place to document my journey. I have so many unanswered q’s: i.e. which specialty I’ll end up pursuing, where I’ll begin my medical career, etc. As a meditation + yoga instructor, and former Arts student, I have an unconventional way of thinking and doing things that I feel can benefit others. For now, I’ll end with 3 fun facts 🙂
1) I have a sister who’s over 8 years younger than me, but we’re best friends. She’s completing her first year of undergrad at Northwestern! If she doesn’t mail me some deep dish pizza, she’s fired… which brings me to ~numero dos~ I LOVE PIZZA. I made it my goal when I was little to try pizza in every country- my current count is 37. I also love pineapple on pizza, sue me. 3) *tries to think of something non pizza-related* *realizes a good slice of life has been dedicated to pizza (ha, get it? I have friends, I swear)* I’m a huge fun of all things ’60’s-’80’s! People often call me an “old soul” and my heart honestly does belong to an earlier generation. I love the music, fashion, and lack of social media of those times. My all-time favorite song is Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd).
Med for the Mind 