It's really hard to write an "About Me" section without sounding like I'm on an online dating site...

 

For any strangers (and/or potential suitors) visiting my blog, my name is Bridgid O'Brien and I graduated from Boston College in 2013 with a degree in Psychology. I spent the last year in Baltimore, Maryland doing a post-graduate service year through an AmeriCorps program called Good Shepherd Volunteers.  In Baltimore, I worked in the autism/special education program of a residential treatment center for students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders.  I really wish I had kept a blog while at the center because my life was not real life.  I have some great stories and it kills me that I never wrote them down. One of my favorites revolves around the fact that one of my students who has schizophrenia used to see Ellen Degeneres in his closet.  For the full story and a plethora of others feel free to reach out. However, please be aware that I am an awful storyteller because I laugh too hard when telling them. 

 

This coming year, I have the wonderful experience to head to Nong Khai, Thailand with Good Shepherd Volunteers to complete another year of volunteer service. In Nong Khai, I will be working at an assisted living hospice center for patients with HIV/AIDs. I am very excited for this opportunity because my interests lie in pediatric health psychology. While I will not be working with children in Thailand, it will give me great experience in being in the medical field and prepare me for some of the more challenging components of addressing the behavioral and emotional needs of patients suffering from various illnesses and diseases. 

 

I know that living in Thailand is going to be full of just as many challenges as it will rewards, but I welcome them with open arms.  I am very privileged to have had the opportunity to travel to various countries throughout the past few years, but the most transformative trip and one of the biggest reasons I applied to the international program of Good Shepherd Volunteers was an immersion trip to Chiapas, Mexico my senior year at BC. It was here that I first became a witness to the realities of poverty and marginalization in a third world country that plague many nations throughout our world. In my home stay during the last four days of the trip, I had the wonderful privilege of living with four children, Miyumi (6), Miguel (4), Miel (3), and Hiel (1). I took Spanish for five years in high school but my comprehension is at a much better level than my speaking ability. Miyumi often became frustrated with me for not always being able to respond to her in Spanish but we learned other ways to communicate. When I could not remember the words for certain things, I would do my best to try to describe the thing or to point to something to help me describe it. By the end my stay there, Miyumi was attached to my hip and I was her "American Rapunzel". There aren’t many days that I don’t think of those four children, especially Miyumi, and smile. On my last night there, I gave them my sleeping bag and a soccer ball and I have never seen such gratitude in my life. The children pretended they were different types of burritos in my sleeping bag and laughed the whole time in pure joy.  This night made me realize how much we take for granted in the United States and how easy it was to build a relationship with someone even if it is in broken Spanish with lots of pointing and often a lot of awkward pauses.  I believe that there is so much to learn from people of other cultures, specifically those who have much less financially than us in the United States but are so rich in faith and spirit.  I know that my time in Nong Khai will be a lot like my time in Chiapas - fumbling with words, pointing, being patient with myself, and learning from those around me - and I am so excited for all that the year will bring.