Erin Miller

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be Manhattan-bound this fall. I have been admitted to the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia. If anyone who may read this has any great ideas for living arrangements in the city that will accommodate both me and my 55lb standard poodle, I would love any tips I can get. I hope that the admission-decision-season is going well for everyone who applied and I wish everyone the best of luck.

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I leave for Honduras in 86 hours. I will be volunteering at a hospital in La Esperanza for four months. After a layover in Houston, I will arrive in Honduras February 5. I will be volunteering through a program called i-to-i. The first day or so in Honduras will be spent completing program orientation, and then I will move to my project site. La Esperanza is a small town in the mountains of Honduras (pop about 13,000). I will likely work in the physiotherapy area of the hospital, though past volunteers have gotten involved in just about everywhere. I will be living with a host family, likely with the doctor that coordinates the volunteers at the hospital (a big change, right, living with a doctor family:) The family has three daughters ages 9, 8, and 4. I am excited to have a chance to live out of the country again for awhile, and to experience a new culture. I am sure the experience will benefit both my Spanish and my understanding of public health, especially in developing countries.
La Esperanza is four hours from the capital of Honduras by bus.
Lonely Planet map of Honduras
La Esperanza is over on the left just a touch above the capital.
The climate is one of the coldest, and reportedly most comfortable, in all of Honduras. The town is located about a mile above sea level so average temperatures are reported to be about 80-87 deg Fahrenheit year-round, with the temperature dropping substantially in the evening.
Weather in La Esperanza, Honduras
Denver has experienced 41 straight days of snow-pack. The snow from the blizzard before Christmas is still plastered all over the city. The highs will be in the 40s for as far as the eye can see and lows have been in the single digits. It is currently -2 with the wind chill. I think that Honduras will be a nice change.
I have gotten yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations. I started my malaria medication on Monday and to my great disappointment, I have not yet experienced any hallucinations.
Over the last few days, I have been frantically collecting twice as much stuff as I can take and worriedly deciding which half I will bring. I am excited and also nervous. Nervous to be moving somewhere I have never even seen and living with people I have never met, but also to be leaving the people (and dog, Spoticus) behind. Both my mother and my boyfriend, Dan, are planning trips out to visit. Spot says that she will just slip quietly into my suitcase and come with me, but I am not sure how that would go over with my host family.
I hope that you are all enjoying your daily adventures wherever you are. I will post updates on mine here whenever I get a chance. Feel free to send emails and keep in touch; there is an internet cafè in town.
If you want any more information on my project, you can check out the i-to-i site here:
i-to-i project in La Esperanza

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I have a question and I am hoping that someone who might read this might have some suggestions. I am leaving in a week to volunteer in Honduras and to live with a host family there. I need a few ideas for small gifts to bring over to my host family. They have three daughters, ages 9, 8, and 4. They need to be small (because I have to pack them) and cheap (because going to Honduras is expensive.) I’d love some ideas for things that reflect fun aspects of American culture.

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