So Much Technology!

Merry Christmas!  I hope that all of you had a fantastic Christmas- wherever you are in the world- surrounded by friends, family, or just people you love!

It's still raining here in the Bay Area...apparently it snowed ~5ft in Tahoe these past few days.  I really hope I get to go skiing soon, because that sounds AMAZING.  For all my LA friends, my roommate is driving me back to LA, and I'm going to bring my skis, so let's go every single weekend ok? Awesome.

Christmas really is one of my favorite times of the year.  Everyone is just so happy and friendly and festive.  It's one of those holidays (other than Halloween) that people really get into.  And as I'm one of the cheesiest people ever, that just makes me so happy.  I would love Halloween more, but I'm a humongous chicken, so it's hard to really enjoy anything while being terrified of being eaten by a zombie.  Watching Ellen's haunted hallway on Halloween in the comfort of my own bed was enough to give me heebie-jeebies.  so no thanks, Halloween, I think I'll stick with Christmas.

Our new neighbors this year put up a large front yard display, complete with reindeer and a two story light tree, along with a light up sign that says "Tune in to 88.9".  After a few days, I came to the realization that the christmas channel 88.9 is LOCATED INSIDE THEIR HOME, and that the light show syncs with the music.  Mind. Blown.

This led me to think about how incredible technology is these days - ipads, computers, cell phones, etc - and how reliant we are on everything.  As many of you know, my phone died on me this past week, so I've pretty much been living out of my computer.  There were so many little things that I had to adjust to, and I never realized just HOW much I use my phone on a daily basis.  Here are just a few of the things that have changed in my life since having a smart phone:

1) Using my phone as an alarm clock: Having your only reliable source of time, and the only thing that gets you out of bed in the morning die two days before your exam really is not a fun experience.  So I went to Target to buy one of those small alarm clocks, but once I came home in the evening, I realized that I had bought AA rather than the AAA batteries that the clock needed.  So, I scoured the apartment and realized that there was NOTHING IN OUR APARTMENT THAT USED BATTERIES!  So the first night, I set my "internal clock" to wake up for the next morning's review session.  I basically told myself right before I fell asleep that I was going to wake up in seven hours.  Surprisingly, this worked!  The next day, my classmate told me about these online alarm clocks that you can set on your computer.  However, my laptop installed updates in the middle of the night and restarted, which turned out to be a fail and I had to rely on my internal clock anyways.  Don't ask me why I didn't just go buy some AAA batteries for the alarm clock.

2) Using my phone as a music player:  When I went running, I felt super vintage because I had to dig up my old iPod Shuffle (yes, I have the original one circa 2005), and use my analog wristwatch to check the time and listen to music.  I'm pretty sure that the last time I updated my ipod shuffle was sometime prior to 2010, but I really enjoyed listening to songs by Green Day, Lady Gaga (Fame album), and there was also some Britney/Backstreet Boys on it too!

3) Using it as a social media device: After a week, I'm still having a little bit of withdrawal (edit: a lot), but I miss not being able to check in on foursquare everywhere I go!  Also, I can't seem to figure out how to look at other people's instagram on my computer!  Although, now, when I wake up in the mornings, I can't check my phone, so I usually just get out of bed.  It's so productive that I get an extra 10 minutes every morning hah

4) Probably most important, Using my phone as a source of  communication!  It was definitely a little difficult to get picked up to go back home, and not have a phone, but we made it work!  Also, since I only use Google Voice to text, I have to wait until I get home to text people or respond to texts, which is not particularly efficient.

After this week, I'm kind of thinking about reactivating the texting plan on my phone, but  hopefully my new phone will be super reliable and not die randomly a year and a half in (I PROMISE I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING LIKE DROP IT ON THE FLOOR OR IN THE WATER OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT).
But hopefully my phone will arrive tomorrow, and I can just go back to being a hopelessly addicted smartphone user.  Does anyone else have the Samsung Galaxy S3?  I'm super excited to be able to bump phones and share playlists, videos, and photos with you if you do!

#noplacelikehome

It's so nice to be back in the Bay Area after a semester at school - despite the fact that it's basically flooding here and nearly zero visibility on the freeway, nothing can really compare with sleeping in my own bed and being welcomed with tons of home cooked FOOD.  One of my new year's resolutions should definitely be to learn to cook some new things, so that I'm not constantly eating salad + whatever looks good in the frozen section at Costco.  Another resolution is to take better care of my cell phone, I'm getting a new one sent to me on Wednesday, and because I don't ever think it's worth my time to back anything up, google may or may not have saved everyone's contact info. That being said, I did take pictures of all the food I ate over the past month, but sadly, unless I uploaded them onto facebook, those are definitely gone forever.  So you'll just have to paint lovely pictures by yourself (or look at the pictures that I borrowed off google)!

I'm officially 1/8 towards M.D. degree!  I can't believe it!  It was definitely a hectic semester (and by no means getting easier anytime soon), but just the fact that I got through the "Foundations" part of the curriculum, I feel a HUGE sigh of relief, and am definitely looking forwards to systems! In just a few short months, we went through pretty much all of basic biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, pathology, immunology, microbiology, and most of gross anatomy.  Whew!  I think my favorites were definitely microbiology (parasites, viruses, bacteria) and gross anatomy.  It's a pretty exhilarating feeling to hold a human heart or a lung in your hand (despite being dead & preserved) and be able to see the incredibly INCREDIBLY complex network of blood vessels  and nerves (although for the most part, we weren't all that good at dissecting out any nerves... ) that is inside of your body, and seeing different pathologies and how the body has compensated in order to continue functioning, such as sprouting new access routes between arteries and veins, or enlarging heart wall muscles.  Despite its ups and downs, through all of the amazing opportunities I've had to learn from the dedicated faculty, shadow in the ER & labor delivery, learning how to suture, etc, this semester, I'm now convinced I made the right decision to go into medicine :)

On the plus side, I now know how to check blood glucose and take blood pressure, so if I see you over the next few days, I'd be more than happy to take your blood pressure!  However, I am unable to offer you any reliable medical advice regarding the number I give you :/

Now onto food reviews! I wrote a lot of these around 7am when we were roadtripping back up to Northern CA yesterday, hah

1) The Edison (Downtown LA): After our exam, a bunch of people in our class went to this bar in downtown called The Edison.  The third and fourth years also had their shelf exams (the exam they take after each of their rotation), so they were there to celebrate too.  The Edison is a 1920s/speakeasy themed bar, in a building that used to be a factory or a powerplant of some sort.  It was actually really cool!  They also have “absinthe fairies” – complete with light up wings - pushing around little carts bottles of absinthe.  If I didn’t think I would die, I would definitely try it and let you know how it is.  Anyways, every hour, they have these faux circus/rope acts, where they hang up a rope or triangle of some sort and have someone do acrobatic tricks on it.  It's what I imagine Cirque du Soleil to be like, although one of the girls in my ICM informed me that Circque is "oh my gosh so SO much better than this".  But still, it's cool - they're kind of like the male version of the go-go girl dancers at clubs.  Unfortunately, it was a little crowded, and we kept getting jostled because they had to clear out space everytime for the acrobatic show, so that was kind of annoying.  Also, there is no place to put down your drink after you finish it, and you have to make your way all the way back to the bar.  All in all, I really liked it - everyone is well dressed, and the drinks are strong.

2) Au79 Cafe (Downtown Pasadena): As always, new boba place is a must!  I checked out this place called Au79 Café in Pasadena.  It’s across the street from Pasadena City College, so it’s customers are mostly the students there.  I’m a little undecided about how much I like the place.  On one hand, the boba is well made, and you can adjust the sugar level in your tea (1/4, 1/2, etc).  However, they put all drinks in their blender, and so you end up with this large layer of foam in your cup.  Nobody likes foam in their beer, so why would we like it in boba?  That was -50 points.  But, if you’re a student, they give you 10% off with your student ID, and during their “happy hour”, 8-10pm, all drinks are 15% off.

3) Intelligentsia (Old Town): Another café I studied at for FMS4 is Intelligentsia, which is an (artisan) coffee shop in Old Town Pasadena.  This was my favorite quote on yelp: "Brooklyn in the middle of Old Town Pasadena.  New York décor, California-sized space.  Exposed brick and casual hanging lights give this space a hipster cool. "  The place is a little confusing, as there aren't really any signs when you walk in, but order on the right side of the bar from one of the baristas, and pay in the middle where the cash register is.  If you order coffee, it can take awhile because they brew a single cup at a time by pouring hot water directly over the fresh ground coffee.  All the bartenders wear vests and suspenders and newsboy hats, which gives it kind of a vintage/hipster vibe.  Also, Abed from community frequents it a lot (!!), so if you go, I think he goes every Friday afternoon.  Another sighting to add to the celebrity list, which is always a plus, so the place gets five stars from me   

4) Daikokuya (Little Tokyo): One of my littles came to visit me the week after Thanksgiving, and we went to get ramen in little Tokyo.  A bunch of my friends recommended this restaurant called Daikokuya, so we decided to try it out.  We ended up waiting an hour and half to be seated, since the restaurant is really small - it only seats about 20-30 people.  Be prepared to wait if you go, the lady on the phone said 30 minutes when I called, but boy was she off!  I got the Daikokuya ramen (I think there are only 2-3 options on the menu anyways), and it WAS good, but I'm not sure if it was extra flavorful and yummy because I was so deliriously hungry after waiting for so long, or because it was actually good...  However, there are also locations in other parts of LA, so I’ll probably try the one in Alhambra next time, which is supposed to have 1/2 price pitchers during happy hour and a much MUCH shorter wait time. 

5) Fig & Olive (West Hollywood): I went for brunch with one of my old college roommates, who is also working in LA this year! First of all, the restaurant is beautifully decorated and arranged!  I imagine the ambiance is also fantastic when it's dark out, but on a sunny Sunday morning, the high ceilings and windows make you feel like you're in a Mediterranean/Greek area, with plants and olive trees in the dining area.  I borrowed some images off of google below:

So much olive oil!  We were seated right next to it, and you can see the chefs working behind it in the kitchen!

To start off, each table gets a bread dish with three different types of olive oils.  I think we had two different dark ones from Spain, and a lighter one from the US.  I think depending on the day, or maybe how the waiter is feeling, you will get different types of olive oil, hence the huge assortment on the wall in the picture above. We both ordered the South of France poached eggs with Salmon.  I had kind of been craving Lox earlier in the week, so I figured anything with Salmon for brunch would be good.  Although I was completely off and that it had a sauce of a totally different flavor, it was still delicious!  Next time I go, I definitely want to try all the crostinis, which I think is what the restaurant is best known for.  The restaurant was so well put together in terms of service, presentation, and decor, it definitely gets five stars from me as well! 

 That's all for now!  Hopefully I'll have time to blog again a few more times over break!  Happy holidays :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I'm so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful friends & family in my life, as well as all of the new experiences and opportunities that have been presented to me over the past few months.  I hope all of you are with friends and/or family this weekend, and have a wonderful meal to look forward to tonight!

It's been a while since I've updated (per usual), but I've been super busy this section!  I finally feel like I'm settling into the whole med school thing, and actually feel like I've had a little too much fun these past few weeks!  After this long weekend, it's definitely going to be studying 24/7 for me...

As much as I love the Bay Area, I'm really starting to love LA.  There's always so much to do!
I went to a Laker game when they played the Warriors two weeks ago, and I finally got to see Kobe/Gasol play in the flesh!  And to top things off, they won the game! (after being on like a four game losing streak).  Unfortunately, we were sitting way to far away to see any celebs, but hopefully, next time!

Kobe!

Also, we got our Annual passes to Disneyland! (I actually think I wrote about this last time..) But anyways, we went again last week, where three more people in our class got annual passes too!  I'm really excited...by the end of the year, we'll turn the class of 2016 into Disney lovers, if they aren't already :)  Christmas at Disneyland is just wonderful.  They play Christmas music, and there are christmas trees everywhere!  There is even a Christmas parade, and an over the top, completely Christmas-ed Small World.  Makes me so happy!

Finally (and this should probably have been first), I've pretty much been completely indoctrinated into a Trojan.  (Fight on!)  THERE IS JUST SO MUCH SCHOOL SPIRIT IT IS OUT OF CONTROL.  Everyone, including the administration, signs all of their emails with "Fight On!", everything is RED, and we have this awesome fight song to top it all off.

USC Fight Song!


Oh, and we can't forget about the tailgates.  Mornings before the football games, the quad at the undergrad campus is literally A CITY.  I'm assuming every D1 Football school is like this, but seriously, who shows up before 8am to tailgate?  AND HOW CAN A SINGLE SCHOOL SINGLEHANDEDLY CAUSE THE TRAFFIC IN DOWNTOWN LA?


At our last tailgate, we were served breakfast AND lunch.  AND the open bar, where we all had a little too many mimosas and screwdrivers to start out our morning (and no passing out afterwards, it was off to the game to cheer on the team!)

Anyways, back to med school things.   At LA County, you meet some of the randomest people.  One week, I interviewed a patient who had just released from jail the day before.  Admittedly, I was a little nervous when he first revealed this to me (read: I almost jumped up and ran out the door out of fear!), but I figured that he looked a lot weaker/sicker than I did, and I could probably run faster if anything actually did happen, so I toughened up a little and stayed.  Turns out, he had a pretty exciting story, and according to him, had been on minimal security at the prison anyways, so not really a threat.  Just goes to show that you can never assume anything about anyone!
Also, a lot of people get hit by cars.  At the hospital, MVA = man v. auto.   I shadowed in the Emergency Room two weeks ago, and it was super super exciting!  I got to watch the orthopedic surgeon put dislocated shoulders and splint fractured legs, help situate patients when they were brought in by the fire department on backboards, etc. (Yes, this is considered scut work, but for a MS1, it's pretty darn exciting).  Also, the fourth year student taught me how to do a FAST exam, which is where you use the ultrasound to identify any internal bleeding or organ damage in a new trauma patient.  Luckily, the patient that we examined had all his organs in place!


Ok, that's all for now!  Unfortunately, no restaurant reviews this time...I'll try to visit some new restaurants before I blog again! =)


Oh, and PS. Turns out Khloe and Lamar aren't getting a divorce, STAR magazine is no longer a reliable source of celeb news!WHEW!

Celeb sighting Tally: 4
1. Psy
2. Dot Jones (Coach beiste from glee!)
3. All of the Lakers

@ The Happiest Place on earth! =)

DISNEYLAND IS A MAGICAL PLACE.  

For reals though.  You start to feel the magic and the excitement as soon as you exit the freeway, and then you seriously just need to dance your way through the parking lot to the shuttle. And then when you arrive, everything is just so so so happy.  You would think it's super cheesy to have dancing characters and happy music playing 24/7, but it's really not. 

Here are eight things that I noticed during my day at Disneyland on Sunday (because i couldn't think of 10):

8. Disney is probably one of the most amazing companies ever

How do they think of everything?  Everything seems so organized and planned!  They have like a bazillion workers at each ride to direct you, and they sell everything that you might possibly ever need.  They even have really well orchestrated streetcrossing processes during the parade.  Also, CARSLAND is so awesome!  It looks almost exactly like the movie! Actually, all the characters in the rides look so realistic!

7. Sleeping beauty's castle is actually pretty small.  It's so much smaller than what I remember.  (Everything is so much closer than what I remember, and I don't think I was all that much shorter the last time I was there!)

6. The rides in fantasyland are kind of scary (especially Snow White & Pinocchio)

5. You are never too old to chase after Disney princesses

4. Kids today are so civilized!  

I remember when we were younger, we used to run after the Disney princesses and mob them to take pictures with them and take their autographs.  Now they have LINES? And designated waiting areas??

. 

3. World of Color is so amazing.  It's like light/water shows on crack.

2. Even the food is magical!

Seafood gumbo from the little hole in the wall store in the Bayou area :) Soo delicious!!! Just like what I would imagine the Gumbo from Princess and the Frog to taste like.  Next on my list, the nice restaurant inside the Pirates of the Carribean ride!

1. Disneyland is really truly the happiest place on earth! :)

Anyway, although I'm totally exhausted and dehydrated today (although that could also be due to aftereffects of roofless...confounding factor! har har), yesterday was so much fun.  And I have an annual pass.  So I am totally down to go with you whenever (except Saturdays & holidays)

Post Exam update

Dear Readers,

I just realized that I haven't updated for almost two months!  eek!  Med school is really getting kind of crazy, so it's been hard to find time to write.  We just got out of a fairly brutal exam on Monday and Tuesday, so the last three or four days have mostly involved recovering and preparing for our third block.


this is a good depiction of how we feel about the exam;

http://whatshouldwecallmedschool.tumblr.com/post/23638955819/that-one-time-you-think-you-are-ready-for-the-exam


So at USC, we're a "systems-based" curriculum, so for the spring of 1st year and all of second year, we go through body systems (skin, renal, brain, etc).  In the fall, we do a semester of "Foundations of Medical Sciences", where we have four "foundations".  We just finished FMS2, or more appropriately named by some of our classmates as FML2.  And now we're on to FML3.  We do most of our gross anatomy dissections during our FMS's, but leave certain parts to the systems.  For example, we are doing legs & arms during our Musculoskeletal System, and Head & Neck during our neuroscience system (I think).  I really like it because they spread it out so we get to do a little bit of everything over a longer period of time, so there is an opportunity for everything to sink in (aka a chance for me to learn all the material 5-6 times until I finally remember it).  Anyways, so during these foundations, we do everything from Biochem & Genetics, to Immunology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, etc etc.  I'm particularly looking forward to FMS4, when we do all the Public Health things, so I can finally put my undergrad skills to good use.  I've accepted that I probably will never use my History of Medicine knowledge ever again, but it was nice to learn about it nonetheless.


So after the exam, I've been trying to catch up on shows.  It's a little disorienting since I'm SO behind on everything, and some shows are on hiatus, and other ones have too many episodes I've just kind of given up.  But here are my thoughts on the few that I've kept up on:

1) The Voice:  I think this season is the best one yet!  There are a few superstars on each coach's team (Christina, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton & CeeLo), that at this point, it's really anyone's game.  They introduced a new concept called "the steal" this season, where during the battle rounds, coaches can steal up to 2 singers that are being sent home from other teams, so everyone got a chance to snatch up some good singers.  I've never actually watched any season long enough to get to the live shows, but I'm actually pretty excited to see some of these competitions go down, and see if the singers who switched teams will be so motivated that they end up winning!

2) Bones:  Bones has not been as good this season, unfortunately.  The cases are still super fantastic, but I think the drama is not as great anymore.  Bones and Booth kind of have these married couple fights, which is great that they're still together (since that is what I hoped for for the first like 6 seasons), but obviously, it does not make for good TV.

3) Once Upon a Time:  This season has been good!  Emma & Snow got sent back to the fairytale land, so this season is all about Charming and getting them back!  Also, the Evil Queen Regina has a mother who is EVEN MORE EVIL THAN SHE IS!  Also, there is Mulan, the strong Asian woman princess, and Aurora (sleeping beauty) - who is not actually my namesake, but I still identify with her nonetheless (FYI - my sorority nickname is Aurora, in case you were confused)

4) Elementary: I started this new show about a modern day Sherlock Holmes, with Lucy Liu (again, strong asian Woman) as Holmes, which has been kind of cool.  I actually just really enjoy like detective/CSI type shows, so me liking this is a given

5) How i met your Mother: Ted's going to meet the mother this season.  I can just feel it.

In kind of unrelated news, I went to CVS last week, and according to STAR magazine, Khloe & Lamar are supposedly getting divorced.  I'm not sure if I 100% believe this, but I'm hoping it's not true, because I'll be really really sad.  Like REALLY sad.  After Kourtney supposedly kicked out Scott, and now Khloe and Lamar are over, I may not have any reason to keep up with the Kardashians anymore :( I was really cheering for Khloe & Lamar.

Anyways, I need to go to bed now because I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow!  But I'll do more life updates next post (other than TV)!

Happy reading!

NO MORE FREE SYRUPS???

Second post this week!  Anyways, while I'm waiting for the next webcast to come up (and there's not enough time to watch last night's episode of the Voice), I figured I would blog again!  

Speaking of TV, I basically watched soooo much tv this weekend.  There's a ton of season premiere's coming up Sept/Oct, I don't even know when I'm going to have time to watch them all!  Here are the show's I'm looking forward to this fall, let me know if there are any you agree/disagree with!

1. BONES (Season 8): For those of you that didn't watch the season premiere last night, it was definitely not what I was expecting/hoping for!  All I can say is, Christopher Pelant proves to be a very VERY formidable opponent for Bones

2. GLEE: Now that Rachel's off to NY, Kurt's off to _____ (Leaving this blank if you haven't watched last week's episode), Santana, Mike, Finn are MIA at the moment, I'm hoping that this season will have a lot more good songs, new drama, and less political-y stimulating moments.  Personally, I thought last season took a little dip when they started making each episode seem like Public Service Announcements.  But I thought the premiere foreshadows really awesome things to come (while making me become slightly emotional).  FYI: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Kate Hudson, and if you haven't heard Marley/Rachel's rendition of "New York State of Mind", GO LISTEN TO IT NOW.  If that doesn't make you love glee, I don't know what will.

3.  HIMYM: Can he meet the mother already????

4.  The Voice:  there's a new twist this year!  - During the round where the coaches whittle their teams down to 10, they have the opportunity to STEAL THE SINGERS!  As I personally think Christina & Blake's team are developing a little weaker so far, it might give them a chance to steal one of CeeLo or Adam's superstars!!!

...and so many more. 


Anyways, the main reason for blogging is because Starbucks is changing their rewards program!!  So, for those of you that don't know, Starbucks has one of those frequent buyer programs.  If you hang out with me at all, I've definitely tried to sell you on the idea and turn you into a coffee addict like me.  Basically, each time you go to Starbucks, you get a star, and 30 stars = gold.  Which means free drinks, free refills on ice coffee/ice tea, and free syrups.
Today, they announced that they are changing the system - 

Before	Now
15 stars = 1 free drink	12 stars = 1 free drink OR free food
Coupons come in the mail as postcards	Coupons load directly onto your card/mobile app

HOWEVER, they are getting rid of free syrups!
I can't decide which I like better - coupons on my phone, or my free syrups... :/

Too much school, not enough Celeb stalking yet...

Hello! =) I promise I didn't forget about all of you!  I know it's been almost a month, but I promise to try to update more frequently from now on!

So yesterday, I took (and passed!!!!) my first real med school exam! So, for those of you who don't know, at Keck, we do four "Foundations of Medicine" during the fall, and and the end of each one we take a big exam.  So the first foundations was Genetics, Biochemistry, Microanatomy, and Physiology.  Some people have explained med school to me as trying to drink water from a fire hydrant  YES IT IS A LOT OF INFORMATION.  I think what it feels like for me is to take a full semester courseload, then 1) do it in 6 weeks, and 2) take the final exam for all four classes at the SAME time in the same exam.

Despite the crazy amount of information that's been thrown at me over the past few weeks, I'm really having a great time!  Everyone is so awesome & nice (and share their study guides and teach me things I don't understand), Pasadena is amazing, and most importantly, I think each lecturer does a really awesome job of tying in the concepts they are teaching with what diseases can result. I've been working to get away from my undergrad mentality of MEMORIZE EVERYTHING, and having practical examples to associate with things has really helped me understand what I'm learning a lot more.  Additionally, the overwhelming amount of support and collaboration that happens here has really made me realize just how cutthroat and competitive Hopkins is.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the school, but I feel kind of bad that I've spent the past three years telling the unsuspecting Asian families on my campus tours that Hopkins's academic environment is really not as terrifying as its reputation makes it out to be.

A few noteworthy events since med school started (& pics are on facebook for most events include): White Coat Ceremony, first celebrity sighting (Psy was in the audience at the Dodger v. Giants game - go Giants! ),  starting anatomy lab, and starting to see patients at the hospital!

Getting to go to the hospital to see patients, even if it was just to talk to them and start to get their history, is INCREDIBLY rewarding.  Every Tuesday morning, we have a course called Introduction to Clinical Medicine, where we go to the hospital to learn how to take a patient history and do physical exams.  Since it's only been a few weeks, we start out slowly and pretty much sit and talk to the patients for an hour.  My ICM instructor is a third year surgical resident who also is a Keck alum, and he does an awesome job of telling us what is expected out of a patient interview, and teaches us about the types of diseases that our patients have, and he really makes my group feel comfortable about asking him questions, and especially makes me feel a lot less nervous about going to talk to the patient.  I'd love to write about my interactions and feelings about my first patient, but I'm not sure if that violates HIPAA (even if I remove all patient identifiers ha!), so I'd rather err on the side of not :/ but trust me, it was amazing, and getting to talk to patients, even if I can't diagnose or treat, or it's not the patient population I ultimately want to work with, really reminds me why I'm here and why I decided to pursue medicine.

Since I haven't posted in so long, I just wanted to blog briefly about a few of the food places I've been to in LA :)

First, the good...

- the taco stand on the corner of Soto St. and Alcazar St.
Every day, these people set up a stand on the corner of Soto & Alcazar, behind Keck Hospital, and sell tacos for $1.  It looks incredibly unsanitary and unsafe, but THEY ARE AMAZING.  They literally pull the carnitas out of the stew and then put it in your taco, and the sauces are delicous!  A few tips - the carnitas & chorizo are probably some of the yummiest & juciest meats I've had, and I was recommended to have the lengua next time, so another one to consider.  Also, the man only speaks Spanish (and speaks like a hundred words a minute - trust me, i already tried to practice my conversational Spanish with him), and you'll probably need to get 3-5+ tacos to make a meal.

- 21 Choices Frozen yogurt
It's like coldstone, but with frozen yogurt!  The only thing that I don't like about Coldstone is I feel like everything I get is waaaaayyyy too sweet, but I think that 21 Choices does a good job of making delicous creations without giving you that creaminess overload.  They even let you taste the creations before you pay for it!  But be prepared for a longgg line, especially weekend evenings, since everyone in Pasadena seems to love it!

- BCD Tofu House
I think this is actually a chain that is also in Korea.  But anyways, they have like a ton of different kinds of soondobu, so it's great hangover food.  Also a plus in K-town, they have a parking lot and it's free!!!

- Ozero Tea & Desserts + Ten Ren
To me (and most people I think), how I judge these places is on their boba - if it's "Q" enough, the sweetness, and if it's freshly cooked (if it's still hot when placed into your drink, the boba will swirl around at the bottom, and when it's cold, it clumps into a mess at the bottom and you'll have problems getting all of it at the end, which is frustrating if your favorite part about the drink is...the boba). But both of these places are great!  Ozero has a location in Alhambra and Downtown, and they give it to you in these thick plastic cups, which if you bring back on your next visit, you get a discount!  Kind of like the refillable mugs at Starbucks.  The only downside is that they run about $5 per cup, I think it's because of the size.
A slightly more affordable option is Ten Ren's Tea Time.  Ten Ren (the brand) is actually a pretty big company in Taiwan, and they make pretty much anything that can be made tea flavored - hard boiled eggs, tofu, etc.etc. In the US, the Tea shops I think are franchised out, so the drinks can be a hit or miss.  Their drinks are more normal sized, and normal priced - $2.50 per cup.  HOWEVER, the store is located near Irvine I think (it's off Euclid St. on the I-5).  But it's become my go-to rest place on the way back from San Diego, because I have horrible endurance and need to take a break driving from San Diego to LA.  I think there is a store in downtown LA that's by the same owner, so I'll have to check it out at some point!  


And, the bad...

- Uncle Yu's Indian Theme Restaurant: http://www.yelp.com/biz/uncle-yus-indian-theme-restaurant-san-gabriel
Sadly, this is the only restaurant that is on my AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COST list because it really was such a negative experience that I can't really think of anywhere else I've been that belongs on the same list as Uncle Yu's.  So it's a strange place...it's kind of a pub-like place that serves Taiwanese  food, but the waitresses are dressed like taiwanese aborigines/native americans.  They wear black tank tops and shorts and these like red/white headbands.  They sort of look like aborigines (if you've ever been to taiwan and been to one of those festivals or watched the culture festivals on TV, hopefully you have an idea of what I'm talking about), but they also kind of look like native americans (ex. pocahantas). Either way, whatever interpretations, it felt a little uncomfortably racist to me.  ANYWAYS, other than the strange environment, the food was ..meh.  We got the stinky tofu, which was ok, although I've had better.  A sure sign the stinky tofu was subpar is that when you walk into the restaurant, you can't really smell it, which means that not a lot of people are eating it, so definitely a bad sign if you're looking for authentic Taiwanese food.  But the food was reasonable, nothing to outrageously bad, at least.  BUT THE SERVICE WAS HORRIBLE.  1. The rice came out last, and 2. we ordered the salt & pepper fried chicken, and it straight up didn't come out until after we cancelled it and asked for the check.  I didn't feel as if the waitresses were very friendly, or that organized.  Multiple people would come by to ask us if we needed to order, or change our order, or whatever.   Therefore, would not come here again, and the search for good Taiwanese place in LA continues....


Anyways, long story short, for all my pre-med friends who are applying this cycle, apply to USC, and when you come interview, I will take you out to awesome LA food and make you fall in love with the school and the city and you will never consider another school every again.  =)

Link to Psy at the Dodgers Game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOkBrH8hnXc&feature=related
This is the best clip that I could find, without too much additional footage of the other audience members dancing....

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!!

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

Add caption

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! =)

First Post!

hello!


So I always planned to start a blog, but never actually followed through... but with moving to a new city and a new chapter in life, I thought it would be nice to share all of my experiences and thoughts with everyone, I thought this would be the perfect time to finally start!  Also, hopefully with dedicated readers, it will help remind me to post about my life frequently!




Happy reading! =)