Sunday, March 01, 2009

it's been a long time

it's been a really long time since i last blogged. looking at the time stamp of my last entry from thailand, it's been about nine months. im kinda shocked by how easy it is to let go of something you do so regularly because it's not a priority and you don't make time to do it. writing is one of those things for me, but i don't want it to be. it's just one of those things that's perpetually on my to-do list, and today i was like, i am writing a blog.

the task is sometimes overwhelming because the longer i wait to write, the more i don't know where to start. so much has happened since last june, in my personal life, and in the larger world as a whole. some quick snapshots:

  • the 2008 american presidential election (yay obama!)
  • finishing my 4th year of medical school with an emergency medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in the city of Detroit,
  • attending the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations General Assembly in Jamaica
  • meeting up with Liz and Suhani for a weekend in Denver (and having breakfast with Alex and her fiancee Matt)
  • going back to the Ford School for my final year and making some new friends :)
  • welcoming home the newest member of our family, a miniature schnauzer I named Yoda, from a local rescue
  • surviving the madness of interview season, emotional roller coaster waiting to be offered (or not be offered) interviews, scheduling travel to and from the airport, thirty flights in a little over thirty days, crashing on friends' couches, loving/hating places i didn't expect to, keeping an open mind, testing my small talk skills, the finality of the rank list, waiting waiting waiting...
  • chris joining me for weekends in new orleans, seattle/portland, and christmas holidays in baltimore/dc, exploring new places, falling in love with new orleans, the prospect one exhibition, the lower 9th ward, the devastation of katrina, rebuilding and ghosts and roots and houses, and understanding a little more about catherine and her love and her life there!
  • spending three weeks in South Africa, first time to the continent, two weeks helping to teach a STATA workshop at university of capetown, living in a dorm again, connecting with new people, mountains, oceans, animals, confronting poverty and racism and hope, one week traveling with Chris in Kwazulu-Natal, more on this later...
  • trying to keep up with working out at fitness together (the personal trainer/fitness studio), losing close to thirty pounds in a year! and feeling good about myself!
  • spending a lot of time at caribou coffee and having an elderly man tell me my smile was a gift :)
  • the requisite AMSA stuff, being chair of the Global Health Committee again, and being excited about the future of AMSA and helping people go abroad and find their paths and dreams!
  • realizing i'm going to leave michigan after six years and being happy and sad about it all at once! yesterday we spent time with a lot of different friends here - breakfast at northside grill with michelle and brian debbink, lunch with rollie and meena, cora's first birthday party at emily and ali's (and chatting with paula anne and kevin), joey's birthday with all the fitness together trainers, and coffee with nick (chris's coworker) and his gf joanne. i was like wow, we have a great community, and we're leaving! but it's totally time too!

so this is my first blog and im excited to be back!