The first winter break away from home can be weird – you may have plans to vacation with your family or you might have nothing in mind to do.

Ideas for what to do over the three weeks you have off from classes: do an alternative break trip like Buck-I-Serv; volunteer; sleep in more; go travel; read books; pursue a new hobby; learn a new skill like driving; or practice new language skills, etc.

For the first week of winter break, I participated in an alternative break trip with MUNDO, an OSU student org. I went to Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

To summarize the week-long adventure, I learned about the environment in which immigrants grew up and what they faced as newcomers to America in the 1800s. I witnessed the diversity of L.A. just by looking at people passing by on the street. Many people were dressed in nice clothing and had great sense of fashion. The culture here is more laidback and casual, but I still feel out of place among the people because of the heavy importance they put on wearing good clothes and having makeup on. Many people walked dogs outside, which I do not see a lot of in Ohio! Things are also more expensive in L.A. than in Ohio (tax was 9 or 9.5%)
As for the more grim concepts I came across, I realized homelessness was a more prevalent problem in L.A. I frequently saw homeless people, almost on a daily basis, around the shopping centers.

I stayed at a hostel with other students. (I learned so much from the trip, and it was a very different experience for me and I was constantly encountering things and people I had never seen before. I was the only first-year on the trip and the only one who had never been on a plane before!)

We went to:

-Hollywood Walk of Stars (I saw stars of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Halle Berry, Muhammad Ali, etc.) ,
-Griffith Observatory (panoramic view of the whole city),
-Grand Central Market (food stalls),
-Fashion District (clothes and goods for cheap in an outside marketplace),
-Universal Studios CityWalk,
-Warner Bros. Studios (we got a tour and I saw Harry Potter props and Bat Mobiles, to name a few things),
-Museum of Tolerance (eye-opening three-hour long interactive tour that made me cry multiple times and taught me so much about the Holocaust and hate crimes in modern days),
-Chinese-American Museum (self explanatory. Free admission)
-Chinatown (Learned how there was a historical Chinatown and how it had to be rebuilt, relocated to new place. Also learned discrimination of Chinese since they came to Cali. for gold rush.)
-Olvera Street (one of oldest neighborhoods in L.A.)
-HomeBoy Industries tour (a place that helps people in gangs and who often used to be in jail turn their lives around through classes, job training, GED prep, etc. Heard stories firsthand from people who actually were involved in gangs and drugs and illegal activity)
-L.A. Regional Food Bank to volunteer (we sorted 6,900+ pounds of produce within 3 hours! We learned about the food insecurity and hunger issue in L.A.)

+other places. See more in my PowerPoint.

This link brings you to a 200+ page slideshow on Google Slides documenting more details about my trip across the country.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-VpA2QI_Zkl6Qx8FvsTSPXI5QhycIVZQawiyYYlZL3s/edit?usp=sharing

The trip was a mix of fun and education. I would recommend this trip to others because you will see different cultures and how their established neighborhoods have changed over time. You learn about how diversity can result in conflicts when people get frustrated with economic and social changes.

My second week of winter break, I finally went home to Cleveland, my hometown!
Then I had the chance to submit my grade reports to the scholarship committees I received scholarships from. I also worked on applications for my major, for a sophomore class honorary, for a study abroad scholarship, and more. This gave me the chance to read magazines and watch movies to relax.

My third and final week of winter break, I continued to work on applications and resumes. I actively searched for job and internship opportunities for the upcoming summer, and made copies of what each application required. Some internships only seek junior or senior students. As a freshman, I had a hard time finding companies or programs that would accept me based on my rank in school.

I also had an interesting time engaging in a three-day mini internship right before I had to go back to OSU!

I have a mentor for my entire undergraduate career thanks to College Now Greater Cleveland, and she is in the health education field, which relates to my interest in the public health field. As part of a scholarship program I am in, I have to meet with her a few times a year and also regularly talk to her online. She reached out to me via text during my break to see if I wanted to intern with her at her workplace, a nonprofit health center that’s served Cleveland since 1985, mostly the underserved populations, including the homeless and poor and those without health insurance.

My first day at the health center, I got a tour of the facility (one hallway is for dental services, like x-rays, oral surgery, etc.) There’s one section of the building dedicated to primary care (family medicine, child health care, women’s health, chronic disease management, physical therapy, annual physicals) There’s also behavioral health specialists for people struggling with substance abuse, mental health problems, or other issues.

This health center is so great because whatever problem a person comes in with, the professionals can help or at least find and connect the patient with a resource in the neighborhood! Patients often come from low-income backgrounds, and they aren’t forced to pay for treatments if they really are not able to. Care Alliance has a sliding fee scale for payment. For example, if a patient has trouble finding healthy food, Care Alliance actually can provide assistance with that as well, so people can get vouchers for food at farmers markets twice a month.

Also, they have a Mobile Clinic (one van). They send a team of specialists out and about in the city to build relationships with the homeless and persuade them to get treatment. There’s outreach for people who live in shelters, treatment centers, or transitional housing! I had no idea health centers could be so comprehensive and that involved in a person’s life. I also gained knowledge about the existence of this service and became aware of the shelters and housing in Cleveland.

One specialist has been with this team for 20-30 years! I am glad to have the honor of being around employees who care about the health of Cleveland’s citizens and getting them the access to healthcare they are entitled to have.

After my tour, I spent three-four hours entering in data into online spreadsheets. The data involved patient/client demographics (zip code, race, ethnicity, gender, and a risk behavior profile, asking if they engaged in sexual behaviors with males, females, or transgender people, or used intravenous drugs and/or shared a needle with someone. It was interesting to get a quick glimpse of what kind of population of patients Care Alliance dealt with. I learned more about people’s sexual behaviors. Patients ranged in age from 16 to 61. I spent the entire day doing this, and in total I entered in 50 or so sheets of data.
Fun fact: In 2016, Care Alliance had 7,600+ patient encounters for free HIV testing!!

The second day of my internship, I focused on two major projects: Sock Kit Making, and Donor Letter Mailing. In the morning, I prepared Ziploc bags with heavy winter gloves and pairs of socks for homeless people. With one pair of gloves, I put two pairs of socks. However, there were more socks than gloves, so some kits had four pairs of socks. I produced 90 bags total, helping out 90 people!

In the afternoon, I assisted an external affairs associate with researching donor addresses to add to their online database. The addresses were put onto labels that would then go onto envelopes. I assisted with placing the printed labels on the envelopes and stuffing inside donor receipts. Care Alliance has an annual Let’s Talk Turkey fundraiser around Thanksgiving time and at this major event/fundraiser, people bid on items during the silent auction portion, and the funds go towards Care Alliance to continue to serve people with medical and dental needs, among other health-related issues. In 2016, they raised $115,000! There were 508 bidders, 94 donors, 44 staff, and 46 sponsors, like Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

The third and final day, I helped an HIV specialist with preparing HIV test sheets that are filled in with patient demographics and test results. I also sat in on a session that a few staff members were conducting to prepare for the GRE test for graduate school. I got to learn more about the staff and their goals. Two of them were biology majors during their undergraduate years; one also minored in Public Health. The staff in Care Alliance all work very hard, and almost all are minorities! This inspires me to keep working hard because I too can be successful like them, and this health center is a friendly welcoming environment that I would feel comfortable in. I enjoyed getting to know the people here.

This mini-internship was an unpaid experience but what I learned about health access in Cleveland and how nonprofit health centers operate and the scope of their services will be invaluable to me and a price cannot be put on knowledge. My mentor, Carly, invited me to come intern with her anytime I was back in Cleveland. For spring break, I will most likely return to help out some more. Other staff members told me they will miss me and will be glad to have me back!

Winter break is ending but I know that spring will be just as eventful, if not more!