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Hi everyone!

My name is Nitin Seshadri, and I will be an intern at Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai this summer. I’m a rising senior from Somers, New York majoring in Neuroscience with minors in Health Care Management and Chemistry.

With my flight to Delhi just one day away, I am eagerly packing my bags and getting ready for ten amazing weeks.

What I’m excited about
Broadly, I am most excited about visiting Madurai, my project at Aravind, and getting to know my fellow interns.

I am particularly interested in visiting the Madana Gopala Temple. Two fun facts about this temple: One, my mom was born in Madurai, and the house she lived her first few years in (before her family moved to Delhi) was right next door. Naturally, she was extremely excited for me when I said that I would be traveling to Madurai for my internship! Two, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Pillared Temple Hall” exhibit originates from here. I got to see the exhibit last year, so I am excited to see the rest of the temple when I get to Madurai!

Of course, I’m looking forward to the project I will be pursuing at Aravind. I applied to the CASI-Aravind internship to learn more about healthcare delivery outside the United States, and it will be a great opportunity for me to learn about medical practices and challenges in India and to understand the impact of Aravind’s services. I hope to add to my knowledge about healthcare delivery in the U.S. that I’ve learned from my healthcare management classes and other experiences, while also improving the experience for the people that Aravind serves.

I also can’t wait to get to know my fellow interns. Whether through traveling to new places on the weekend, working together at Aravind, or simply spending time as a group, I think that we will all form strong connections over the course of the summer.

What I hope to get out of this summer
First and foremost, I hope to gain a deeper appreciation for Aravind’s healthcare delivery system. I’ve previously heard it described as the “McDonald’s of health care” in the sense that Aravind has been able to serve a large patient population at high quality and low cost. As a pre-medical student, I want to take what I will learn into medical school and into my professional career to make healthcare more affordable and improve healthcare access, especially for those who are underserved or marginalized.

Second, I want to learn more about India and Indian culture. This will my third time visiting India, but the first time I will be on my own and old enough to truly immerse myself in the surroundings. I previously visited my grandparents some years ago, and before that when I was a year old. I am ready for new experiences this time around!

Third, I want to visit new locations, try new foods, and keep myself active. I will be in Madurai for ten weeks, and I’m hoping that I can do at least one of these things every week. (Perhaps a topic for a future blog post?)

Concluding notes
I want to end by saying that these are just my expectations for what will happen over the next three months. It’s equally possible that I will discover something that I did not expect, learn something that I never thought I would, or form a lasting connection with someone who I wouldn’t otherwise have met. I’ll be posting more about my experiences over the summer, so stay tuned!