Bye-bye City of Angels, Hello City of Brotherly Love
To all my LA people: I love you and miss you all a lot. I really do.
Well, I'm here in Philadelphia. I flew in last Monday, August 1. My last week in LA was really great. I'm so happy that I got to spend time with my closest friends one last time. On the Thursday, Ty, Liz, Merrill and I went to Dolce in Hollywood (Ashton Kutcher's restaurant)and it was really good. The food was actually really tasty, which is suprising for a celebrity hangout. And the decor was pretty awesome too--there was flames behind all the alcohol bottles in the bar!! Friday I went to dinner with Alicia and Saturday night Mel and I went to Javan for persian food (yum!) and then saw Fantastic Four and Must Love Dogs. Sunday was a last family dinner in westlake with everyone and it was really fun. The whole time it was great, but it never really hit me that I was really leaving. In fact, even now I get that I am here for good, but one part of me still thinks that I am on vacation and will be going back to LA soon.
On Monday, John and I flew into Philly and got to the apartment. All my bags I checked on were heavy so we had to pay an extra $75 for the bags. oops! :) Tuesday I met one of my roommates (Jillian) and Saturday I met the other one (Jaclyn). Both are really great! I'm so happy that I ended up living here in Alden Park and living with them. Our apartment is huge and we each have our own rooms. Both Jaclyn and Jill are really similar to me and seem chill and know how to have fun, which is great because you never know with med students! I'm very happy that I ended up with good roommates, though I've never had a problem in the past with it either :)
Mom and Dad flew in on Tuesday with Maddie and stayed at The Omni in center city. They were here until Sunday and it was really fun because we got really nice dinners every night and they bought me everything I needed for my apartment, including a really nice new TV/DVD/VCR for my room. I think we spent around $2500 on stuff and that wasn't even on big furniture because I already have all that which they bought me last year. But, it was really fun cause we got all the stuff for the kitchen that we needed and stuff! On Thursday, we drove to New York City which was awesome. It was hot and humid, but we walked around and went shopping and chilled it was fun. John and I saw the spot we sat for New Years this past year :) hehe, good times. We were there for 2 nights and got 2 really fancy dinners. The first night's dinner was a super nice place, but the food was only okay and the second night we went to a place called Gotham which is a fantastic restaurant. It's really fancy with a multiple course menu, so we got a lot of food and it was all absolutely delicious. We had to cut dinner a little short though in order to get to Lincoln Center on time to see the musical "Light in the Piazza." The musical was entertaining, but not too spectacular--I've seen many many many better ones.
We drove back on Saturday and stopped to buy more stuff for me. That night we went to South Street in Philadelphia for dinner, which apparently is the cool place to hang out in the nights. Then mom and dad left on Sunday, which was kind of a bummer, but John is still here which is really nice. It's great to have a familiar face when you're in a place where you know nobody.
This past Monday was officially my first day of medical school. Well, it was orientation, but still. We have orientation until tomorrow and then classes start for real on Monday. I actually have really been suprised by med school thus far--the people are much cooler than I expected. I honestly expected everyone to be really geeky and stuff, but that doesn't seem to be the case. everyone is really nice and friendly, which is a good relief since orientation has been so boring with all the speakers. One cool thing is that they planned events for us every night--Monday was bowling night at a bowling bar (like Lucky Strikes in Hollywood). It was pretty cool, though I suck at bowling. Jillian and I pretty much had the worse scores in bowling history! awesome :) tonight there was a pool party with food and drinks. There were med alumni and faculty there, but then they left pretty early and it was just first and second years with $1 beer--we played flip cups...it felt like the beginning of college all over again! everyone who was there was fun and chill. tomorrow night there is a pub crawl and friday night there's some party/club thing. so it should be cool!
another thing that i like about med school is that it kind of reminds me of high school in the sense that it's small, but also mainly that nearly everyone is white, smart, relatively well off and they're all good kids basically. i know that's not all high schools, but that was how mine was. it's good to know that you are surrounded by all good kids, even if they act stupid sometimes--you know they really are good.
John leaves on Sunday evening and then I probably won't see him again for a long time, which will be weird. I think once he leaves it'll really hit me that I'm staying here for good. But, at the same time, I'm really glad he was here during this orientation week, because I had him here but I also met a lot of new people. So now when he leaves, I'll still know a bunch of people and the roomies and I get along really well, so it'll be fine. I actually like living here so far. I'm not as homesick as I thought I would be. I think this is going to be a really great experience and I have a feeling med school is going to be really fun (minus all the ridiculous amounts of work). Though the weather here kinda sucks--it's hot and humid. supposedly september is a really great weather month and then it just gets cold.
So, classes begin Monday and our first block is solely devoted to anatomy for 7 weeks. Which means every single day for the next 7 weeks, I will begin my day at 8am dissecting human cadavers...a wonderful start to the day ;) it'll be really cool though and I am SO excited to start! but dissecting first thing in the morning doesn't sound too appealing, especially cause it's everyday. plus, 8am is an ungodly hour for me. i'm so not a morning person. and we're all going to smell everday which is just gross. but what a learning experience it'll be!!
we got our first pair of scrubs this week. that made me happy! and we got fitted for our white coats!! it's fun being in med school and being surrounded by med students and doctors. everyone is so intelligent and i have so much respect for all the doctors. i can't wait to begin learning...i'm sure i'll regret saying that in a few weeks when i'm studying my ass off...
Well, I'm here in Philadelphia. I flew in last Monday, August 1. My last week in LA was really great. I'm so happy that I got to spend time with my closest friends one last time. On the Thursday, Ty, Liz, Merrill and I went to Dolce in Hollywood (Ashton Kutcher's restaurant)and it was really good. The food was actually really tasty, which is suprising for a celebrity hangout. And the decor was pretty awesome too--there was flames behind all the alcohol bottles in the bar!! Friday I went to dinner with Alicia and Saturday night Mel and I went to Javan for persian food (yum!) and then saw Fantastic Four and Must Love Dogs. Sunday was a last family dinner in westlake with everyone and it was really fun. The whole time it was great, but it never really hit me that I was really leaving. In fact, even now I get that I am here for good, but one part of me still thinks that I am on vacation and will be going back to LA soon.
On Monday, John and I flew into Philly and got to the apartment. All my bags I checked on were heavy so we had to pay an extra $75 for the bags. oops! :) Tuesday I met one of my roommates (Jillian) and Saturday I met the other one (Jaclyn). Both are really great! I'm so happy that I ended up living here in Alden Park and living with them. Our apartment is huge and we each have our own rooms. Both Jaclyn and Jill are really similar to me and seem chill and know how to have fun, which is great because you never know with med students! I'm very happy that I ended up with good roommates, though I've never had a problem in the past with it either :)
Mom and Dad flew in on Tuesday with Maddie and stayed at The Omni in center city. They were here until Sunday and it was really fun because we got really nice dinners every night and they bought me everything I needed for my apartment, including a really nice new TV/DVD/VCR for my room. I think we spent around $2500 on stuff and that wasn't even on big furniture because I already have all that which they bought me last year. But, it was really fun cause we got all the stuff for the kitchen that we needed and stuff! On Thursday, we drove to New York City which was awesome. It was hot and humid, but we walked around and went shopping and chilled it was fun. John and I saw the spot we sat for New Years this past year :) hehe, good times. We were there for 2 nights and got 2 really fancy dinners. The first night's dinner was a super nice place, but the food was only okay and the second night we went to a place called Gotham which is a fantastic restaurant. It's really fancy with a multiple course menu, so we got a lot of food and it was all absolutely delicious. We had to cut dinner a little short though in order to get to Lincoln Center on time to see the musical "Light in the Piazza." The musical was entertaining, but not too spectacular--I've seen many many many better ones.
We drove back on Saturday and stopped to buy more stuff for me. That night we went to South Street in Philadelphia for dinner, which apparently is the cool place to hang out in the nights. Then mom and dad left on Sunday, which was kind of a bummer, but John is still here which is really nice. It's great to have a familiar face when you're in a place where you know nobody.
This past Monday was officially my first day of medical school. Well, it was orientation, but still. We have orientation until tomorrow and then classes start for real on Monday. I actually have really been suprised by med school thus far--the people are much cooler than I expected. I honestly expected everyone to be really geeky and stuff, but that doesn't seem to be the case. everyone is really nice and friendly, which is a good relief since orientation has been so boring with all the speakers. One cool thing is that they planned events for us every night--Monday was bowling night at a bowling bar (like Lucky Strikes in Hollywood). It was pretty cool, though I suck at bowling. Jillian and I pretty much had the worse scores in bowling history! awesome :) tonight there was a pool party with food and drinks. There were med alumni and faculty there, but then they left pretty early and it was just first and second years with $1 beer--we played flip cups...it felt like the beginning of college all over again! everyone who was there was fun and chill. tomorrow night there is a pub crawl and friday night there's some party/club thing. so it should be cool!
another thing that i like about med school is that it kind of reminds me of high school in the sense that it's small, but also mainly that nearly everyone is white, smart, relatively well off and they're all good kids basically. i know that's not all high schools, but that was how mine was. it's good to know that you are surrounded by all good kids, even if they act stupid sometimes--you know they really are good.
John leaves on Sunday evening and then I probably won't see him again for a long time, which will be weird. I think once he leaves it'll really hit me that I'm staying here for good. But, at the same time, I'm really glad he was here during this orientation week, because I had him here but I also met a lot of new people. So now when he leaves, I'll still know a bunch of people and the roomies and I get along really well, so it'll be fine. I actually like living here so far. I'm not as homesick as I thought I would be. I think this is going to be a really great experience and I have a feeling med school is going to be really fun (minus all the ridiculous amounts of work). Though the weather here kinda sucks--it's hot and humid. supposedly september is a really great weather month and then it just gets cold.
So, classes begin Monday and our first block is solely devoted to anatomy for 7 weeks. Which means every single day for the next 7 weeks, I will begin my day at 8am dissecting human cadavers...a wonderful start to the day ;) it'll be really cool though and I am SO excited to start! but dissecting first thing in the morning doesn't sound too appealing, especially cause it's everyday. plus, 8am is an ungodly hour for me. i'm so not a morning person. and we're all going to smell everday which is just gross. but what a learning experience it'll be!!
we got our first pair of scrubs this week. that made me happy! and we got fitted for our white coats!! it's fun being in med school and being surrounded by med students and doctors. everyone is so intelligent and i have so much respect for all the doctors. i can't wait to begin learning...i'm sure i'll regret saying that in a few weeks when i'm studying my ass off...