Meet Prathima Harve
Medical Student, Class of 2024
Describe your morning – what time do you get up, what do you do first, next and what is for breakfast?
I usually get up around sunrise to start my day by watching the sun rise (although this is a lot easier to do August through May!). I exercise and shower, then start doing things for school - I try to do the less taxing things first while my brain is still waking up. I usually skip breakfast, but if I do eat something it's trail mix and fruit.
What happens next? What do you do for lunch?
I meal prep all my food for the week on Sundays. I primarily cook Indian food but try to throw in Mexican/Italian/Mediterranean into the mix. Recently I've been looking into bowl recipes for easy lunches to bring to school. New favorite meal is my homemade rendition of a Chipotle bowl!
What do you do for dinner?
Leftovers!
How do you end the day and what time do you go to bed?
I try to step away from all electronics for the last hour of my day. In this time, I either read or do some bedtime yoga with my boyfriend. I'm definitely a bit of a grandma when it comes to going to bed early and am usually sound asleep by 10.
What art are you doing and when do you do it?
Unfortunately, art has been really difficult to keep up during school. One of my goals for this year was to spend 15-30 minutes every day sketching to a favorite song. I haven't been too strict with this but have a few drawings stored away in a little sketchbook. I discovered how much I love putting music into visual art while I was home for my gap year during the pandemic: I painted pictures for every song from Harry Styles' album Fine Line. Combining music and art is very therapeutic; it's such a creative outlet with absolutely no boundaries since two people can hear the same song so differently! The art I've included on this page is some of the Fine Line work, as well as some pieces from my undergraduate thesis (Hindu-based tarot cards) :)
What are you reading?
Right now, I'm reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's been on my TBR list for much longer than I'd care to admit, but the wait was well worth it! It's a simultaneously challenging and inviting read - it's interesting to see the struggles our culture has in reality portrayed in a setting that is just dystopian enough that we can read as an observer rather than a participant. Also, I hear the TV show is excellent. Next on my list is How Much of These Hills is Gold - another one that's been waiting a long time to land on my shelves!
What are you streaming?
After finishing Schitt's Creek, I was very skeptical that I'd ever find a TV show good enough to compete. Then Kim's Convenience came along! It's a show about a Korean family who lives in Canada and owns a convenience store. It's ripe with first & second-gen humor, immigrant life, and (of course) family drama. There are so many parallels I can draw between the lives of the characters and my own - 10/10 would recommend.
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling good! Definitely a lot more excited about everything during this past month that we've been in person. There's naturally a lot of stress from medical school, but it's a lot easier to manage with a solid support system who has my back.
What are you looking forward to doing as thing return to “normal”?
Concerts!!! The last concert I went to was Hozier in October 2019. Two years is two years too long to go without going to a concert.