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Name: Alyssa
Three words to describe yourself: determined, stress-prone, social
Alyssa is from Marietta, GA and has lived there for twelve years. She was born in North Carolina and lived in Alabama, but was too young to remember living in those locations. She says she has "a bad sweet tooth" and does not have a favorite dessert. When Alyssa was younger, she wanted to be a veterinarian, but her mom convinced her otherwise. She became interested in knowing how the body worked and how people contracted disease, so she turned her attention to becoming a doctor. After watching House and other medical shows, however, Alyssa noticed that she would cringe at the scenes showing surgery, so she "couldn't be a surgeon". Instead, she would like to be a medical researcher with the CDC and is interested in pathology. When I asked her about college in general, Alyssa said that the best thing is "getting away from parents" and the "social aspect", while the worst thing is the "stress level" and taking "fifteen hours of classes plus RHA [meetings]". She has traveled to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Hawaii and said the Bahamas were "beautiful, but it would be scary to live there . . . people harass you". In Hawaii, Alyssa found it strange that "they have chickens running around everywhere" including the airport. Purple is her favorite color and she enjoys pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks!