Today's world is so fast-paced. Moments of genuine connection and true humanity can get lost in the sea of stimuli and experiences our brain takes in at any given time. Which is why I'm glad that I have this prompt for my final Laidlaw blog post, because otherwise I'd probably have forgotten about the conversations I'm going to talk about herein.

After getting back to work from my sick break last week, I made some progress on updating the logic in the ambulance simulator and started getting involved in the AI advent calendar that some of my peers in the Laidlaw cohort worked on previously. And, finally, data access issues started getting resolved, and while I still have limited data access I've started to make some insights.

I guess I say all this to set the context for a few conversations I've had over the last few weeks. You see, I've been thinking about working to become a medical doctor after undergrad finishes, and I was partly just worrying myself sick over the last few weeks. Since getting back, I've gotten to have a few insightful conversations with people about how I can use my remaining time here to explore my career decision while still contributing effectively to the team and not overburdening myself. Much of the team I'm working in is international, so a lot of people have told me different things about how they ended up in Germany, and in particular in this lab, and those stories were all really helpful. From learning about German work expectations, and how those differed from my own, to hearing about how the team I'm in started out and got built, these conversations have given me confidence that I have not been working aimlessly over the last few months and clarity on what I can do to contribute to the team over the next few weeks. More than anything, it's given me the strength to work hard and keep my composure.

My LiA structure is a bit unique, so while this is my last journal I will still be here in Germany for three more weeks. Next Monday, I will be visiting an emergency dispatch center, and I am really looking forward to that. Wherever I end up beyond that, thank you for following me on this little journey.