dehsiniF

My last few weeks at the house have been very nice-- busy but nice. The students finished up their work and left without a hitch, pretty much.

My parents arrived in the UK at the beginning of May, and we spent a delightful two weeks traveling around different parts of England and Scotland that we had never before visited. We started with a few days in London (I showed them the Denis Severs House, which is something to check out—it’s really unique). We then headed to York where we met up with my mom’s sister and my uncle. I really liked York. The Minster is just incredible, and the (walled) city itself is very quaint. Then we headed to Edinburgh for a few days. We took a day trip to Loch Lomond, which was nice, and I really enjoyed Edinburgh castle. Then we headed down by train to Bath for a few days, which was gorgeous. I loved the Roman excavations and the cathedral and the architecture there.

After Bath, we headed back to London. I said goodbye to my parents and started off on my own journey in continental Europe. Again, my aim was to follow the route that my paternal grandparents had taken through WWII. They were both part of the same evacuation hospital (they had met in California during training and got married in Paris). I started out by taking the Eurostar to Paris, then rented a car, drove out of Paris (which was somewhat stressful given that it was a French bank holiday weekend, but not as bad as I had anticipated), and headed for Normandy. I spent three days going to museums, memorials, and I visited the Utah beaches on which my grandparents first set foot six days after D-day to set up their hospital. I was so surprised at how much remains standing from the war. All along the beach are pillboxes and gun turrets and concrete bunkers that are still standing (some of which you can go in and take a look around)—right next to family vacation spots. It’s a really unusual sight. The WWII museum that is in the city of Caen was fantastic. In addition to World War II sights, I also got to see the Bayeux tapestry, a 2 football field long tapestry depicting the preparation for and the action of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, as well as the monastery Mont Saint Michele, which was pretty but very touristy.

After Normandy, I had planned to journey to Belgium to visit the sights of the Battle of the Bulge. I left Normandy at 7:00am to drive to Paris catch a 2:00pm train. I thought that 7 hours would be enough leeway to make the journey which took me 4 hours on the way up. How silly of me to tempt fate. Not only did I get stuck in a huge traffic jam in Paris for an hour, I also got stuck in several small ones on the way to Paris. In the end, it took me 6 hours to get to the rental car depot from my starting point, leaving me one hour to get to the station and collect my ticket to Luxembourg (where I planned to pick up another rental car and drive to Belgium). I arrived at the correct train station with 30 minutes to spare. And then I had an epic battle with the ticket machine. And I lost. And I had to stand in line while the French ticket clerks one by one closed their windows for their afternoon coffee break leaving 10 people line in front of me, one person to serve all of us, and me with 8 minutes to spare before my train left. A part of me died as the clock ticked past 2:00pm. I missed my train, I was frazzled from driving in traffic and cutting it so close at the station, and I wanted to hit someone because of the overall ineptitude of the French bureaucratic system. However, I kept my composure and bought a new ticket to Luxembourg. I would arrive 20 minutes too late to pick up my car in Luxembourg, so I worked with my parents back home to find a hotel at which to stay overnight, then I planned to pick up my car in the morning. The TGV trip was fine, and I relaxed a bit once I arrived in the Grand Duchy. “Of course things will be ok from now on,” I chuckled to myself as I browsed the internet in my Luxembourg hotel looking for nearby places to eat dinner. “Oh,” I thought, “that Indian restaurant which gets a five star rating on tripadvisor.com from 205 customers looks like an interesting place to have dinner. Let’s have some exotic food to cheer you up.”

How I regret my decision to eat at that restaurant that night. I woke up at 3:00am the following morning with food poisoning. The food I ate was spicy, and the whole experience was incredibly painful. I didn’t sleep all, of course, and I ended up not being able to hold down any water. I was losing so much fluid that by the following afternoon, I was extremely dehydrated. I ended up having to take a taxi to the hospital where I waited for two hours before a doctor was able to see me. He gave me some medicine, and I went back to my hotel and slept for the rest of the afternoon and evening despite constant jack hammering across the street. The next day, I felt a bit better, and I moved to another hotel away from the noise. That afternoon, I felt well enough to go out and have a bit of a walk around Luxembourg, which is a nice historical city. It reminds me a bit of Edinburgh.

The next day, I was feeling much better (although I was still really weak and felt consistently a little nauseated). I decided to press on and follow the final leg of my journey to Germany. The train to Weimar was nice. We passed through the Rhineland to get there, as well as some beautiful fields in the countryside with tons of birds of prey circling around. I spent the evening in Weimar taking a walk around the quaint little town where Goethe had his country house and where the relatively big and influential university has attracted a generally academic population to the area over the centuries. The next day, I went to Buchenwald concentration camp, which was a very interesting experience. There is not much left of the camp itself, save the crematorium, the front gate, the delousing station, the depot where the prisoners’ belongings were stored, and a few watchtowers. There is a very large museum in the complex which was good, although the descriptions of artifacts were mostly in German, which I do not understand very well. The most emotionally moving of the buildings in the camp was the crematorium. The ovens are still there, as well as a cellar where they used to strangle people and a mock-examination room where they shot 8,000-10,000 Soviet soldiers.

That evening, I participated in a special event in the town where all of the museums of Weimar were open late. I visited the Bauhaus Architecture and Design Museum, the Ducal Palace of Thuringia/Saxony (I think it’s Saxony…), and a few of the local art museums. They were all really good.

When I left Weimar, I headed to Cologne for one day to explore the cathedral, the city, and the German-Roman museum which tracked the history of the Romans in that area of the empire. Apparently, the people around there were very famous for glass blowing, and they had a ton of stunning artifacts taken from tombs around the city. There were also heaps of monuments, a collection of ancient jewelry, and an impressive number of mosaic floor decorations of great size and quality in the museum. It was really well put together. I liked the city of Cologne enough, although it was a bit less impressive architecturally than I expected It turns out that 95% of the city was bombed in the war, so there are lots of 60’s and 70’s style buildings around which look dated and not very aesthetically pleasing. And because I was still getting over my food poisoning while I was there, I couldn't really eat anything nice. But the attractions were interesting. And when I left for London, I was ready to go, ready to head back home to continue life where I left off. I enjoyed the trip, and I have some good material to use for my book as a result.

TACM serpA

I took the MCAT this week. I had been scoring really well on my practice tests. And the real thing was quite a feat to accomplish—4.5 hours. I have to say that I think that it was at the same level of difficulty as the practice tests, but with the all the test-day pressure, it seemed at times a bit harder. I think if I had to guess, I’d say I probably got a score somewhere around my average. We will have to wait until May to find out.

I came out of the test with a bad headache because I’d been squinting for so long. I proceeded to have lunch at Borough Market, then walk along the Thames to Green Park. Lovely day, lovely walk. It’s good for that test to be over. I really hope I did well enough to not have to take it again.

This past week, I have been relaxing. I went to the Victoria and Albert museum on Monday, but I found the art tour we had about Constable to be really boring. I also went shopping for some new clothes yesterday.

A little rest, a little catch up, a little work on some stuff that’s been put aside while the MCAT loomed (for example, my book). I’m glad to be free, and I’m glad spring is continuing to flourish. Even if it is chilly outside. It makes the flowers stay fresher longer.

nehT dnA

The next week went well. I studied a lot for the MCAT; I took several practice tests and ended up starting to get much better scores.

I spent Easter weekend with my aunt and uncle in Sussex. We had a lovely time. They picked me up in the afternoon from the station in the town where they live, and we had a nice cup of tea and did some catching up. For dinner we had a lovely roast leg of lamb and some nice wine—I haven’t drunk much since I started studying for the MCAT. On Easter Sunday we began with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, which was beautiful. We then took a drive to Shoreham-by-Sea. The countryside in Sussex is so nice—it was chilly, but the hills are so green. We took a walk along the sea, which was beautifully blue, then we drove by the art deco airfield there. Next, we drove to a little town and had tea in a Tudor-style house that had been turned into a restaurant. We then headed back home via more beautiful countryside and houses. I remembered that I get a little carsick on English roads—lots of sharp turns and the like. The hedgerows do not help—they’re too close to the road and really get blurry when you go fast. I studied for the afternoon, then we had another nice dinner of pork chops, some more wine, and then we watched a mystery show on TV. I left the next morning, rejuvenated a bit and very glad that I could spend time with family on Easter.

That week, I went with the students to the Tate Modern for a bit of a break from studying. I love that museum. I especially love the surrealists and the avant-garde painters from the 30’s-60’s. There is a section now called Poetry and Dream which really caught my eye.

That weekend, we had a special event at our house. We had several alumni from the region come to tea. It was interesting to meet with people from different time periods at my school. We had some beautiful scones and clotted cream and tea as well.

I’ve also begun volunteering regularly on a ward at the hospital. I love the lady who manages things there (she’s Irish and very down-to-earth). I love the patients there too—I had a really good day last week were I talked to an Italian lady, a lady who escaped Germany in 1939 whose parents were killed in Auschwitz, and a Kiwi gentleman and his wife. I loved it. I’m so glad I’ve decided to get into medicine.

I’m trying to keep up the working out three days a week—running and lifting weights. I wish I could get back into training for a triathlon this summer, but part of me cannot be bothered until I get back to the US.

I also had dinner at a friend’s that weekend—she made a cheese-less veggie lasagna which turned out really well. We had a great evening of fun chatting, jive lessons, videos, and much hilarity. Great to take my mind off of the upcoming test. One week to go.

sgnituO dnekeeW

Almost three weeks later, I can finally emerge from my hole and begin my weekly updates again.

Lots of things have happened since my last post. To facilitate your reading, I’ll upload them in chunks.

Back at the end of March, I met up with my aunt and uncle again one Saturday. The weather was quite good that day—perhaps a little chilly. We began at Borough Market, which is fast becoming one of my favorite places in London. Cheeses. Pastries. Vegetables. Fruits. Meats. We got a coffee and took a look around Southwark Cathedral nearby, stopping for a while at a Norman ruins excavation at the side of the church. We proceeded from there into the City of London to find Wilton’s Music Hall, a real old-fashioned music hall. We discovered its pockmarked yet (several decades old) brightly painted exterior down a small side street, then set off to find a cafe for lunch. We returned to the music hall for a performance of Sentimental Journey, a musical about the life of Doris Day. It was very good for a semi-professional cast. We then went for a walk along the Thames and found a pub for a beer and some crisps and later a restaurant for a lovely dinner overlooking the river.

I was extraordinarily lucky that the next day I met up with an American friend from my time in Australia. She had visited the week before on her way to Paris, and we went to a lovely Chinese restaurant for dinner and chatted for a few hours. She returned, and we spent the day hanging out. We started with a lovely brunch, and then we went to the National Portrait Gallery for an exhibition of Irving Penn, which contained a very interesting array of portraits of famous people from the 20th century. We then took a stroll down the Thames and encountered a chocolate festival where we bought chocolate eggs. Then we ventured to the Tate Modern for a gander at an exhibit that was really interesting. It was meant to represent existence—a big steel cube with no light, open at one end. You walked into darkness, then turned around and walked into the light amongst non-lit faces and bodies ambling toward you. Really good.

We walked to Borough market next, but it was closed, so we had supper at a Russian tea room.

The play this week was Waiting for Godot, with Sir Ian McKellen. The play reminded me of the pacing and general mood of Our Town, which I despise. It was probably the best production of that play that I will ever see, though, as the acting was superb.

This week, volunteering went well enough. I worked in the emergency department doing odd jobs for the housekeeping staff. Not much interaction with patients.

I also saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D. It was good.

!tsal ta gnirpS

Dare I say it?! “Spring” has finally arrived! The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and we reached a high temperature of 55°F this past week!

To celebrate the weather, I went on a few nice runs in the week—one to Little Venice along Regent’s canal. The mood changed as the scenery changed-- from stately mansions near Regent’s Park to a castle-cum-pub and rainbow neon lights in Camden Town. All of it was fantastically different.

I spent almost 30 hours volunteering this past week. Although I am now allowed to work on wards, I spent a majority of my time on the Shop Trolley this week. It seems that because I’ve been doing such a good job with it, the volunteer coordinators are reluctant to have me do anything else. I need to be more assertive. Working on the wards can be rewarding, although it can be deadly dull as well. I spent some time this past week in the Emergency room, making teas for people and talking to them. I spoke for a while with a man from the Seychelles, who was very interesting, and another woman who I think had dementia and couldn’t remember how to get home. Upstairs, I took the tea and coffee cart around to the patients on a ward and took their dinner orders a few times. Some of the people there have been in the hospital for almost a year—it’s quite sad.

Last weekend I made brunch for a few friends of mine—we had baked eggs with spinach and cream, homemade biscuits, orange and pineapple ambrosia, mimosas, and banana pudding (the latter two were brought by a good friend). The theme was, of course, a Southern style brunch. It went over very well!

MCAT studying is going… well… ok. I took another practice test yesterday, and although my score was OK, I need to score higher. MD/PhD programs are super-competitive, and I’m quite certain that they play the numbers game. I just need to buckle down, I think, and stop making stupid mistakes. 27 days until test day, and I’m almost finished with my review of material. Soon, it’ll be constant practice tests.

gniwodahS

I apologize for the absence of an update this past week. I have been very busy.

My last week was spent mostly studying and volunteering. At the hospital, I worked either at the information desk or on the shop trolley. I had a good time, but it started to get a little repetitive. Thank goodness my criminal background check passed. Now I will be able to work on the wards and interact with patients more!

The week before last, we saw a nice play called London Assurance. It was written in the 1840's and was put on at the National Theatre. The play was well acted-- somewhat like an Oscar Wilde piece but not quite the same level of wittiness. One of the leading roles was played by Fiona Shaw (Mrs. Dursley).

On Sunday I met with an alumna from my university who worked in my position back in 1991 at our house in Italy. I originally got in contact with her because she was trying to sell some tickets to see David Sedaris. I like David Sedaris and offered to buy them from her. She met with me and her English husband in a pub in Highgate and spent a good two hours chatting. We had a nice afternoon, and I'm looking forward to the reading.

I spent the past week mostly shadowing at the hospital near our house. Back when I was in the US, I contacted a consultant physician at the hospital, a man who is apparently one of the best thoracic doctors in the country, and he set me up to follow different doctors around for the week. On Monday, I shadowed a senior house officer on the ward where people are sent after they are admitted to the emergency room. On Tuesday morning, I watched endoscopy of the lungs (saw a tumor up close and personal), and in the afternoon I followed a lung registrar around the hospital as he followed up on his referrals. Wednesday morning was spent in the thoracic clinic with another registrar. That afternoon I went back to the post-emergency ward (and got to see an example of pyoderma gangrenosum). Thursday I went to a hospital out in the suburbs to watch some day-surgeries-- hernia repair, varicose veins, and cataract removal. The afternoon was spent following a consultant physician around a vascular surgery clinic. We had one patient with an ulcer that had almost tunneled its way through his leg! This morning, I shadowed a dermatologist. This man was great to watch-- one of those doctors who is super professional but has a really good touch with the patients. He also does a ton of research (he has an MD and MBBS, see below), so he was a really interesting person with whom to discuss research and medicine as a career. I think I'm going to try to follow him around again.

By the way, some medical terminology is different in the UK (of course). Surgeons are referenced as "Mr." or "Ms." After medical school (which is normally an undergraduate course of education), students continue training in hospitals as house officers (residents), then become senior house officers (residents), then become registrars (chief residents/fellows), then rise to the level of consultant physicians (attending physicians). Doctors usually receive a "bachelor of medicine" which is termed either MBBS or BMBCh; an MD is the equivalent of a PhD in medical research.

On Tuesday, I went to see Judi Dench in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre in Kingston. It was fantastic. Judi Dench was so, so good. I'm so glad I went. I may have seen her car leave the theatre, but I'm not sure.

My MCAT studying is coming along ok. On Saturday I took a full-length exam written by ExamKrackers, not the AAMC. I didn't do particularly well, partly because I didn't eat lunch. I also don't like the way EK writes their test questions in general (and they do not explain their answers well at all). I'm taking another full-length test tomorrow, and from now on I'm just going to take AAMC tests. Hopefully I'll do better this time, otherwise I'm going to get discouraged. I still have a month before the exam, but I haven't been able to study much this week and am starting to feel anxious.

This week I'm volunteering a lot and hopefully studying a lot!!!

dooF emoS, gnireetnuloV emoS, pirT A

If I were naive, I'd say that spring is starting to poke itself through the blanket of wet and dismal weather we've been experiencing in London for the past week. But I'm not. I know that spring weather in England doesn't arrive for good until April, May, or sometimes even June. That hasn't stopped the sun from shining for the past few days, or the intense purple crocuses with vibrant yellow stamens from carpeting the backyard of our house, or snowdrops from peeking through the undergrowth in English gardens.

These past few days of sunshine and (relative) warmth have been welcome break in the clouds indeed. It comes just in time for the students to vent some of the pressure that has built up in the house over the past few weeks due to hard work and perhaps a tinge of cabin fever. The half-semester vacation which begins this weekend is much needed indeed.

The students and I had a little prelude to this break on our day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon last week. We hired a bus and drove 2.5 hours to Warwickshire and unloaded next to the river Avon. Our stops for the day included the church where Shakespeare is buried (the organ was being tuned and make for an earsplitting ambiance), two period houses which belonged to younger relations of his (which were nice), and his birthplace. Although I enjoyed seeing the Jacobean architecture in the flesh and walking around the houses, something about the town was just a little too kitschy for me. In November last year I went to Salem, Massachusetts where the witch trials took place. Though the town was very pretty in the autumnal season, the kitsch factor of the tourist attractions in the town was almost nauseating. Something about Stratford smacked of Salem. I imagine in the spring when flowers bloom, it's much better.

In the evening we had a lovely dinner and then went to see a performance King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Courtyard Theatre. Greg Hicks, a famous British theatrical talent, played in the starring role of one of the most technically advanced and overall focused pieces of theater I will perhaps ever see. I walked away speechless. The actors all did a tremendous job with their roles (except for the Fool, whom I could not understand). The depth of the plot meshed so well with the gritty/post-tribal/post-industrial/World War II set and costumes. At one point, when King Lear laments his isolation, rain pours down on him from above in a circle as he is elevated on a small platform. Incredible.

Other than the trip to Stratford, I managed to get out of the house a few times to volunteer at the hospital this past week. On Friday, my partner on the trolley was a lovely sunny lady, and I had lots of fun with her. On Tuesday, my partner was a little less sunny and a little more protective over what stock went on the trolley. Who's to blame her? She's been doing this for five years.

I went for a late Shrove Tuesday celebration this past Wednesday at a friend of a friend's house, which was very nice. And I've studied for the MCATs, which has taken up lots of time. And I cooked dinner for the house last Monday. Beef and bean burritos (a request from one of the students) with fresh salsa, rice, and fried bananas in orange ginger sauce over ice cream for desert. Tonight, the dinner prepared by the professor and crew was southern comfort food-- oven fried chicken, fried okra, oven baked sweet potato fries (which I salvaged from a soggy fate by frying them at the last minute), macaroni and cheese, biscuits, and chocolate chip cookies. Yum.