Friday May 11, 2012
This was the last day of my clinical rotations at Arizona. My mind was preoccupied with thoughts of packing, cleaning, driving all the way back up to Berkeley and seeing all my classmates again after a whole long year of separation. It didn't even cross my mind that this was the last day I was going to see patients as a student until the tech, Velvet, at the Arizona clinic brought me my last patient and said to me: "Amiee, this is your last patient EVER as a student" and then it hit me like a brick wall.
I guess I should be feeling happy about finishing my clinical rotations and graduating, but I was actually overcome with sadness. I guess I was feeling sentimental about graduating and actually being a real doctor. I have become so comfortable as a student that I was very happy with where I was in my education. I wasn't ready to graduate and be on my own! That just sounds so scary! I never dealt with change very gracefully but I have to come to terms with the idea that graduation is coming and my days as a student are over. Desperately trying to hold back tears and not think about what changes graduation is going to bring into my life, I finished up the last free exam I will ever give to my last patient as a student at Casa Grande, Arizona. I packed up my things, returned my keys, waved good bye to my roommate, and ended my student chapter of my life by driving away. Now onto graduation at Berkeley...
Sunday May 13, 2012
I had to make one pit stop in Vandenberg AFB to see my attending doctors before I head back up to Berkeley for graduation. They PCS to Texas in June so that probably means I'll never see them again. They were my first attendings at my first out rotation so they had a pretty big impact in shaping/molding me as a clinician. It just so happens that this landed on the same day as Mother's Day. I really thought I was only going to stay for a lunch, but ending up, I stayed 5 hours and had dinner with them as well. We had lunch at Panera (it's where my attending would always buy me some babka bread because he knew I LOVED to eat). The cashier mistook me to be my attending's wife...which made me blush.......hehehehehe......For dinner they made some salad and some REALLY tender ribs with some super good homemade sauce!! YUM!
I snapped some pictures with them!
So after this LONG break...I hit the road again. I ended up getting back to the bay area around 10:30pm. That was surely a LONG day.
Monday May 14, 2012
No lectures today! <--So if you are asking: what does this mean??...here's the explanation:
It is Berkeley's tradition to gather all the fourth year students and herd them back to Berkeley 1 week before graduation for what they call "OLD HOME WEEK". This is where they bombard us with lectures in their final attempt cram last bits of clinical wisdom into us so we don't completely tarnish Berkeley's prestigious reputation by screwing up in the real word! Well..at least that is how I see it anyway.
Since there aren't any lectures, you might ask why I decided to drive back to the bay area so soon? Of course I had to spend some quality time with my best buddy, LIZ. One of the FEW reasons I was really anticipating returning back to the bay area was to see Liz.
Liz and I were fortunate enough to meet each other when we were studying abroad in Hong Kong and then stay connected when we returned back to the states because we lucked out and live close to each other. Ever since she was diagnosed with her "sickness", life hasn't been the easiest ride for her. And being on my out rotations, I really hadn't had time to be there for her and offer her the support she needs. In house rotation back at Berkeley during the first part of Spring allowed me to spend some time with her, but aside from that, I've been very absent in her life. I was really glad to have had time to spend with her on my week back before graduation. I didn't want to leave the bay area without spending some time with her.
So on this day, I enjoyed some good old dim sum with her that morning and sat around chatting for as long as we could before we felt bad for taking up a table when there was clearly a long line out the door at the restaurant. We then continued our chatting back at her house, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. It was nice hanging out with her again. I wanted to feed some ducks, but we never got to it.
I was swept away by Harvey during that evening and we had a nice dinner together at a Korean restaurant on Taraval ( we ALWAYS eat Korean), where we proceeded to chat for hours as well. Almost as unexpectedly as graduation had creeped up on me, Harvey and I have spent the last four years studying/struggling together at Berkeley and our mere relationship as classmates has blossomed and grown into a friendship. It's still a mystery to me how a 26 year old female and a 42 year old male have enough in common to be best friends, but sometimes, life is not always predictable and often, these surprises can become a pleasant addition to your life. :)
Tuesday May 15, 2012
After a long day of lectures and seeing my classmates again, I had a dinner date with Alvin to thank him for being ever nice to let me crash at his apartment for the entire old home week. So since I was treating him I let him pick where he wanted to go eat and of course he picks a Japanese Seafood Buffet. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food but I also know it's my WORST enemy! I can't control myself when it comes to eating so when you put Amiee (no self control) and Food (sooo delicious) together....it equals DANGER!! Or simply: gastric distress and gaining 10lbs in one night. The buffet that he took me to was Hokkaido. It was $20 a person for dinner and boy was it worth it!! I've been to my fair share of buffets and I've got to say that this was probably the BEST I've been to. Just basing off of variety, it's the most I've seen! Basing off of quality, it's pretty good! And basing off of decor, this place was so elegant and fancy! I was blown away by this place (especially the all you can eat sashimi bar!!). So after finishing dinner there, just as I expected....gastric distress and I gained 8lbs that night.
Wednesday May 16, 2012
More lectures during the day...but at night...I had a dinner date with Eric, Stephanie (Eric's girlfriend...OoOooOoO), Liz, Alvin and Me! We went to PPQ in SF where I ran into my classmates Vutha and Gigi (random...). The food was delicious, but after being starved of social interaction, I was yapping away the WHOLE night with everyone. I felt like I ate enough but apparently, Liz and Eric didn't think so. They were constantly encouraging me to eat more...I think I can interpret that in two ways: 1) They really think I need to eat more to be full or 2) they just wanted me to stop talking for a few minuets while I chew some food. Oh well, either way, it was a fun night!
Thursday May 17, 2012
No lectures this morning, so I took advantage of that and had breakfast with Liz and then lunch with Tarah. It's always nice catching up with people one on one. I'm really glad I got to see Liz one more time before I leave her again. And It was nice hanging out with Tarah one final time. Who knows when will be the next time I ever see her again.
Friday May 18, 2012
Lectures again in the morning.
After lectures...I had a couple of errands to run but only got one of them done.
Errand #1: Pick up stuff I left at a classmate's apartment and move it to my locker so I can easily pick it up the day of graduation. I was able to pick things up, but I left more than I remembered so I couldn't carry it all, so good thing one of my other classmate's offered to store some stuff in his locker so I was at least able to bring the stuff back with me to school.
Errand #2: I wanted to visit the clock tower at Berkeley. It's been FOUR years and I haven't even found the time to go up the clock tower for FREE as a student! Well, my plan was a bust because I missed its opening hours! So that means the next time I want to go up the clock tower, I'll have to pay! I'm totally kicking myself because I had FOUR years and I couldn't find the time to do it! Arg!
Dinner tonight was with my ex-bf's aunt, uncle and nephew. I know it seems weird that I still hang out with them, but they are VERY nice and super friendly! And besides, his little nephew is soo cute! I couldn't bare to leave the bay area without seeing them one last time! So they took me to J-town where I had shabu shabu for the first time AND my own bowl of udon noodles! It was VERY good but I think I still prefer the Chinese hotpot more because the soup base used in hotpot is a lot more flavorful! After dinner, my ex's aunt had a chat with me about my ex. I think she's convinced that we are meant for each other and that it's a shame we are not together. She's very insightful and I really respect her judgement because she seems to understand me and my ex so well. She left me with a lot to think about.
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