Tag: SoCal

roaming the deserts

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I’ve been spending a lot more time exploring the treasures of southern California after realizing that I’m surrounded by such incredible beauty and don’t explore it nearly as often as I should. I’ve also been getting over my irrational fear of ‘finding parking’ and thus, venturing out more.

This past week I went to check out the super bloom in Lake Elsinore and to Desert X in Coachella Valley. Both were incredible experiences that I’m so grateful to have had. I’ve included some of my favorite shots taken on my DSLR from both locations below. Looking through my lens at works of art and the art that is our world truly brings peace to my heart. Grateful for the means to go on these adventures and the joy they bring my soul.

 

airbnb experience & tips

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As I’ve mentioned in many previous posts, traveling has always been the best way for me to feel refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges. So after every set of finals, hubs and I try to take a trip – even if it’s only overnight. It allows us to spend some much needed time together and just get out of our routines and explore. One of my favorite things about traveling is how wonderful it feels to come home. Being away can really make you appreciate the routine and mundanity of home.

Because I only had a couple days off and we had several family commitments that same weekend, we decided to stay local and head to Pasadena. At first I looked into hotels but because we were booking really last minute, all the rates were really expensive. Then I remembered that Airbnb exists and started looking on there!

For those who don’t know, Airbnb is a website in which people host visitors in their home in several cities all around the world. You can either rent out a shared room, a private room, or an entire home or apartment. I think it’s really great because it allows people to travel without having to pay an arm and leg and allows people all over the world to make a little money on the side. We had a really great experience with our first stay in Pasadena and I’m looking forward to using this website for all our future travels!

Here are a few tips on how to use Airbnb to ensure a great stay:

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explorin’ home 

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As I’ve said before, hubs and I try to take a short trip after every block. At our school we only have finals so that really adds a lot of stress to each set of exams since our entire grade rides on that. With all the stress of trying to figure out my new schedule for boards and remediation, I didn’t get to plan anything in advance. Last minute, we decided to have an overnight stay-cation in downtown Los Angeles. Then we realized that we’re not hip enough to hang out there and then decided to go to Pasadena instead.

Because it was so last minute, all the hotels were going to be really expensive so we decided to try out Airbnb. I’ll hopefully have another post separately on advice on using Airbnb in the next few weeks.

I’ve been living in California for well over a decade but still haven’t really explored all the touristy spots in SoCal. Because we wanted to stay local for our trip, we decided to go to Pasadena and check out places around there. Our first stop was The Huntington. I’ve included some photos below from my ‘real’ camera.

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not again, not again (and again) 

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Today was supposed to be a good day.

I woke up around 8 and that felt too early. Anything before ten these days feels ‘too early’ but then I remembered that I was late to clinical skills last session and so I got myself out of bed – I thought ‘it’s okay, I can sleep in tomorrow.’

I got dressed, warmed up my coffee and woke up hubs so I could get a ride to campus. Today we were doing a male genitourinary exam and digital rectal exam. Most practicing physicians have probably done hundreds of these exams but being a medical student, I obviously felt nervous. I also felt really grateful to the standardized patients who allow us access to their bodies so that we can learn to be better healers for our future patients, who allow us to perform exams that most would shy away from even when there is something wrong.

The majority of the first year of medical school, you learn about how humans work. You learn about the various mechanisms that allow our tickers to tick, our liver to flush out toxins, how the brain controls so many of those mechanisms. And once you feel like you’re finally getting a grasp on how we work, you get to second year and learn all the ways that we don’t. You learn about the pathology of each organ system and you start to wonder… how are any of us still alive and functioning? Life and living start feeling miraculous. And other than the bouts of ‘med student syndrome,’ (where we start thinking we have any disease we’re studying at the time) you really start to appreciate good health more than you ever have.

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