Life After Magellan

Life after Magellan

                Many people ask me “Why?” Why would you hike 100 miles for fun? Why did you choose Southern California to do your Magellan? Why is your major Neuroscience if you’re interested in Physical Therapy? To these questions, I explain to them that I’m just trying to figure out what I would like to do with my future self by combining all of my interests.  We’re all trying to figure out what we want to do for the rest our lives. Isn’t this the question everyone searches to answer? The Magellan project provides us with a way to combine all of our interests and study something that is appealing to ourselves and I took advantage of just that.

For the first part of my Magellan project, I had the chance to hike a piece of the Pacific Crest Trail and talk with individuals about their muscle fatigue and study my own in the process of doing so.   After doing this, I would definitely like to do some sort of research with muscle fatigue in a lab possibly further down the line as well considering eccentric muscle contraction is a big area of research right now.  I can also see myself doing a larger hike perhaps on the Appalachian Trail after I graduate because I really did enjoy the challenge of hike and surviving in nature.  Although my project did not go exactly as planned, I am glad it went the way it did.  This project showed me how to truly roll with the punches thrown at me.  At the end of the day, not everything does go as planned. The forest fire closure and the extremely cold nights thrown at me on the trail, were unexpected, but I adapted. Overall, I ended up hiking around 50 miles on the trail and had the opportunity to talk to about 10-15 people about muscle fatigue and soreness. I found the results to be not really what I expected.  I found it was split up the middle on the soreness aspect, meaning that about half of the people found themselves to be sorer after walking uphill compared to downhill.  I expected it to be just the opposite with more people feeling sorer after a day of walking downhill, but you also have to weigh in the factor that some people don’t understand the difference between soreness and fatigue. Uphill would cause more fatigue and shortness of breath, but downhill should cause more soreness. The PT I shadowed, Dr. Guthrie, also found my results a bit curious, but agreed with the fact that some people don’t understand the difference between soreness and fatigue.  I told her that I had, in fact, felt much sorer after a day of walking downhill and she confirmed that this is normal.  When walking downhill with nearly 45 pounds on your back, your muscles are actively lengthening while you walk down the hill, whereas when walking uphill, your muscles are using more concentric contractions. Concentric contractions meaning that your muscles contract and then release, rather than actively lengthening. For example, doing a bicep curl.  When walking uphill, both types of contractions are occurring in the body, but more concentric than eccentric.

For the second part of my project, I had the chance to shadow Dr. Julie Guthrie, and after doing so, I feel this is truly the setting I can see myself taking on as a future PT.  The atmosphere in the setting was amazing, with every patient urging to better themselves.  I enjoyed how you could watch each patient progressively reaching to get to each of their own personal goals.  I enjoyed seeing such a diverse area, but could not see myself settling down in an area like that of Los Angeles. However, the project did open my eyes to other areas of the PT world.  I learned of the traveling physical therapist position, which allows you to sign a contract of about 13 weeks at each practice and then travel to another, which I could possibly see myself doing once I finish PT school.  I also had the chance to visit the University of Southern California, which is the number one school in the country for their DPT program.  After completion of this Magellan project, I see myself continuing to take the prerequisites for Physical Therapy school at Washington and Jefferson and preparing to take the GRE next summer.

When first explaining the Magellan to my family and peers, I was timid and my voice showed it. After completing my project, not only am I much more independent, but also a more confident individual.  After navigating not only through the wilderness, but also through one of the most diverse cities in the world, I feel I can handle almost any obstacle thrown my way.  I have learned how to make difficult decisions under immense pressure and learned how to handle stress when things do not go the way they are planned.  I feel I have become a much more diverse individual as well. After staying with a friend from Indonesia, I got a huge taste of culture shock, even though I were still in the United States. The neighborhood she lived in, Anaheim, was one of the most diverse places I have ever been. I didn’t even recognize half of the restaurants along the street and I surely felt like a fish out of water. After this experience, I think that I can relate better to those who come here from another country. Although I didn’t experience exactly that, I now know what they feel when everything around them is a literal whirlwind.  From language to food, I now realize how difficult it can be just to do something as simple as read a menu and order something.  Personally, this project has made me open my eyes to all the possibilities and different ideas in the world around me.  As an individual, I have learned to push myself above and beyond my expectations I once had for myself and have realized that something awesome is right on the other side of fear.