A Month into the Program

October 5, 2016
by Raisa

Community International Living in LA

Hello, everyone! For my first ever blog post as an international student ambassador, I wanted to share with you how my first month as a Trojan went. Being an international student I basically had to uproot my life in the Philippines in order to move to Los Angeles so I could attend the on-campus post-professional Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy program here at USC. Migrating from one country to another is not as easy as it sounds, it sure was exciting but not easy. One month before my flight, time sped up so fast it literally felt like everything happened in the blink of an eye. The hardest part of the move was saying goodbye to my friends, workmates, and family. Then the day finally came when I said goodbye to my homeland of 24 years and embarked on a new exciting adventure.

Arriving in Los Angeles was both fun and scary, this city was a new environment, similar to home but at the same time different in many ways. It felt good to have a change of environment. To mark our entrance into the medical profession the division held a white coat ceremony for all new students. The white coat ceremony was a rite of passage that all OT students go through, the white coat symbolizes both the responsibility and the privilege that we hold as occupational therapists. During my ceremony that’s when it all sunk in, I was finally a Trojan!

Once class started I did not feel so alien to the city of LA. I met my classmates from the MA-1 program and we all got along really well, it was nice to form a support system in a new environment. For the first month of classes, I was delighted and eager to absorb all that USC has to offer. I will not lie, the first few weeks of class will take some getting used to. You will have to acclimate to the methods of teaching, medium of instruction and for some of my classmates’ language posed a big issue to learning. There will be sleepless nights and books you will read over and over again but don’t worry. The good news is that all that work will be worth it! In my 4½ weeks into the program, I have learned many new concepts that will shape how I will hold my future practice. The best part is that I am re-learning concepts from my undergraduate degree but I am learning them from a different perspective. It is both refreshing and eye-opening to study different occupational therapy concepts from a different point of view. One month into the program and I am falling more in love with Occupational Therapy! My first month as a Trojan has been exhilarating and I cannot wait to share with you what else USC has in store for me.

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