Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Feels Like Freshman Year

So a week and a half after moving into my new apartment, we STILL don't have internet.  So I finally got around to stopping by the nearby Starbucks (only 0.5 mi according to google maps - being in downtown Pasadena is so convenient!) to get some studying done as well as blog!  Sorry to everyone who I have been not so consistently texting/facebooking/emailing back, since I barely have any data to use on my phone. 

Pasadena is amazing!  Behind the Starbucks is a huge Macy's, and from the window where I'm sitting I can see a ton of different delicious restaurants that I can't wait to try over the next few months, despite my meager med student budget...sigh.  But I am all moved in, so message/text me if you want my new address!  Snail mail & care packages welcomed & I will love you forever :)  On Colorado Ave (downtown Pasadena), there is literally every store imaginable - from food & dessert places to clothing/retail stores, bars, lounges, shops, grocery stores, you name it!   The 24hour fitness is huge (4 floors) and it's less than a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  I think other than going to school, Costco, and getting good boba in Alhambra I don't think I'll need to drive anywhere :) 

Last week, I tried two restaurants, which were all delicious!  

The first was Sitar Indian Cuisine, where I went for a lunch buffet for only $8.95!  It was pretty basic, but had a good variety of all the Indian dishes that I love and are served at pretty much every Indian party I've ever been to  - Chicken Tikka Masala, Bengan Bartha (eggplant), Daal, Naan etc etc (sorry for any spelling errors!) We were originally planning to go to Tender Greens, which is a gourmet salad place right across the street, but it didn't open until 11:30 (seriously, what kind of lunch place doesn't open until 11:30???) so I'm really happy I stumbled onto this new place.

The other place is Beany's cafe, which is this little place that has delicious salads, and sandwiches, but also has an asian fusion menu which features pretty authentic $5 PHO. My roommate actually found it first, and then took us there again over the weekend!

On the downside, AT&T SUCKS in Pasadena.  I have like 0-1 bars from my room.  So phone conversations with my parents have been really choppy.  I have to repeat everything 2 or 3 times, which is annoying.  Also, they have been really bad for our wifi.  We actually received our wireless router, but the wireless BROKE after less than one day.  So they are sending us a new one, which will take about a week.  I'm really frustrated with the company right now, and a lot of people have been telling me to switch to Time Warner because apparently cable is better than DSL?  Fun fact for all you technologically illiterate people - cable is supposed to be a lot more reliable than DSL internet!

So anyways, after a week of 100+F unbearable heat, I FINALLY STARTED MED SCHOOL YESTERDAY! It's been really intense - although we only had a few hours of class, we had two 8-5 days back to back (Monday was actually 7:30-6) and last night the second years hosted a happy hour at a bar in downtown LA, which has been absolutely exhausting.  The bar was nice, albeit located in a super sketchy area - Casey's Irish Pub, and it has pool tables, darts (which I spent about an hour last night becoming a darts master), and even a ping pong table outside!  I suspect that the ping pong table is meant for...beer pong, although my classmates were playing real table tennis last night.  Or maybe that is just my leftover college mentality.... My class is huge!  It's ~200 students, which is actually pretty awesome because this means that I have so many new people to meet!  Everyone has really cool stories about their lives & their paths to med school - I think I'm one of the youngest in my class, the average age for first year Keck students I think is closer to 25.  Being born in April, I'm always used to being near the older end of my grade, so these first few days have been kind of shocking for me, to have peers from class of 2011, 2010, 2009, etc etc.  Last Friday, we went to a BBQ hosted by one of my classmates - he's ~30 and worked as a chef before med school, so he hand-made the hot dogs from scratch, and they were super super DELICIOUS. 

Overall, it's been a great first week and half (aka no traumatic traffic moments driving through LA) the weather is cooling down, and white coat is this Friday!  Come visit me!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

End of Summer


In just four days, I will be moving away to start med school! I'm super excited, although I'm a little sad that summer is almost over!  I pretty much did nothing this summer except veg out, sleep, and watch tv - something that I can't remember doing for pretty much my whole life.  summers at challenger (where I met my biffle Tasha!), CTY, swim/waterpolo with double practices and weekend tournaments, followed by a summer working a Blockbuster, and then three summers in Baltimore doing something med school related, I've always been really, REALLY busy.  So this year, I decided to start my summer with pretty much nothing at all planned.  And it's been great, although I'm kind of getting to the point where I'm running out of TV and my parents are starting to drive me crazy....
SO CLEAN, right?

So first, I went to Taiwan for two weeks, to visit my mom's family, in Taipei.  While it's incredibly hot & humid from May-September, we managed to arrive during the two weeks when not one, but TWO major typhoons came through.  So to escape from the seemingly endless rain, my mom and I spent the majority of the time lounging at my grandma's apartment (w/ AC) and eating.  Also, we went shopping a lot!  Public transportation in Taipei is probably one of the best I've seen anywhere!  I think it combines all the best qualities of big US city subway systems - it's cheap, has AC in most places, is REALLY CLEAN, and runs very frequently.  


Lunch at Costco - Seafood pizza, clam chowder, and mango shaved Ice. Yumm!
It took us 10 mins via public transport to get to Costco, so we went twice too.  Costco has always been one of my favorite places ever, but now knowing that they have awesome international Costco just solidifies my undying loyalty to this company.  (BTW. did you know that they sell...everything?  They do custom men's suits, and vacations, and cars, and even coffins!)  While the food is nowhere near Michelin stars, it's pretty decent.  They even sell sashimi!  



So, other than going to Costco, I also went with my aunt to the open air market!  There is so much delicious food to eat there!  They also have everything from live chickens to clothes and shoes and hair accessories.






fried taro cake
Fresh fish!
Fresh seafood!
Beef noodle soup!

soy milk & rice milk
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Shark meat?

my aunt & her shopping cart, with all the delicious vegetables she bought! =)
 Anyways, after Taiwan, we took a family vacation to Eureka, CA over July 4 weekend.  For those of you who don't know where that is, it's about 5 hours north of SF on Highway 101.  It's about 1 hour from the CA-OR border.  It was very relaxing, and there are a lot of great places to go hiking by the beach!  Here are some of the pictures I took, although they really don't even come close to how beautiful the scenery really was :)  




I spent the rest of the summer watching TV and reading.  I started reading some of the books from USC's summer reading list, here are some of the good ones that I recommend!- 
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman



The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot




Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder


Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle

Maybe if I feel up to it later, I'll add some summaries, but these are definitely all books that every aspiring med student should definitely read!!

Whew!  That's all for now.  How about all of you?  What exciting things did you do this summer?  And if anyone has additional book recommendations, definitely let me know! =)