I began this blog while I was working on a master’s in public health in Philadelphia. After just a few months into the program I found myself in awe of the essential and life changing information (nerd alert). It occurred to me over the coming months that being a citizen of the earth should be free, and everyone should have access to basic knowledge about policy, the environment, health, and what it means to be a student in Public Health today. Being able to read ingredient lists, understand political debates, and think critically about social issues as well as everything around me has changed my life and what I plan to do with it. I basically spent two years paying the big tuition bucks to examine life and health on so many levels, and then went out to gain some life perspective as a student in a big city (with a LOT of airline miles). Turns out, some people wanted to read about that.

In the summer of 2013, as I began my journey through medical school I was certainly worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep this site up, or maybe that I shouldn’t (after all, who cares what a pre-clinical med student has to say). So it took a time out for a few months while I acclimated to my new life. A ways into the school year I was talking to one of my best friends about how everything was going, about how I was still unsure where I would fit in, in the medical world, and how it can be hard letting so many people get to know you and shape your professional self all at once. Her advice was simple, and probably the best I have ever received “never loose your sparkle”.

It turns out that those magic words immediately gave me the little boost I needed to continue being exactly myself in this new chapter of my life. I have not forgotten what’s important, I stand by all the things I learned as I became an MPH, and it didn’t take long for me to decide that Courtney’s Conversations should still exist–maybe in an even better way.

My not-so-undercover detective work has proved to me that most medical students are actually really interested in what is going on in the outside world (some aren’t…let’s not kid ourselves) and having a place to go to keep your humanity in check might be pretty helpful. So who better than me to create a fancy place to share what I know, and what I’m learning about in life and in health. Thus, Courtney’s Conversations 2.0 is born!

I hope everyone that stumbles across my glittersphere takes away something they did not know before, and gets a little reminder that there is more to life than the daily grind.

~Courtney