On Friends, Vacation, and Apartments

So I am technically on vacation right now. However, as it turns out, the last few weeks of May are not ammenable to vacation because there are about a million anxiety producing graduation things to go through. So I spend my days packing, doing online residency orientation, running around school trying to get graduation things signed off, and just tying up loose ends in general. Added to all this is that I need to find a place to live next year. I got so overwhelmed, that we decided it makes the most sense for me to make a quick trip to Indy to find an apartment, so amidst all the craziness of graduation, I am making a little jaunt to the midwest - hopefully by this time next week I will have a future address or at least a good idea of one.
In spite of the craziness, Ginny was brave enough to come visit me and we explored California together. I introduced her to pretty much everything I know about LA, which shockingly took less than 2 whole days! For the most part we bummed around and soaked up the sun (okay so maybe I avoided the sun after my day 1 burn and then the sun hid from Ginny for a few days). Nevertheless, it was nice for Gin to see my life and meet some of the people who have become very important to me over the past four years.
I realize now that there's not all that much to tell, but I feel delinquent with my lack of blogging. I promise that if anything exciting happens y'all will be the first to know!

a tribute to this blog's title and my thoughts

i have this nagging feeling that time is going to go by way to fast!!! i am fearful of the future, really scared - everything is going to change in 4 weeks. life as i know it will be different.

in the past 4 years i have been through a lot of changes, a lot of tough situations, just a lot of stuff. i can't even recall a lot of it, but i know that the past 4 years of my life have been HUGE!!

i remember driving into loma linda for the first time with mom (i often have deja vu when i drive over the bridge on anderson on a sunny day), i remember being a 'one night stand' like it was yesterday, going to Nepal was days ago, i remember fro yo with kristyn, daniel, chad, and ashlee after step 1, tea with the girls at Martha Greens, Valentines day with Gina and Greg at Kettering, Chicago with friends, and the day i got my first job interview during 4th yr...all these things are so vivid in my memory, the good and the bad. photos have been captured to memorialize these things, but they are partially unnecessary.

with all the stress and craziness of the past 4 years, my life has been at least somewhat tame and predictable. it's been 4 years since i moved across the country. when i think back to those days i remember the ticks - seriously, i had these involuntary twitches in major muscle groups that were conjured up by high stress. i moved 36 hours from my family and friends and from what i knew to this hot dry place. i lived on my own for the first time ever, i survived a prowler in the night, i learned to fix appliances and my car (with dad's help on the phone), i learned to budget my money, i learned a lot of things that weren't at all medical. most importantly, i made amazing friends that i will never forget. now i look back on my move as one of the greatest blessings of my life. but now it is time to go back, back to being closer to my family and friends (but still not super close), and i am once again scared. i am once again packing up to move to a strange place (at least i have been through this city once or twice) where i really have no close friends or relations. i will be living all alone for the first time in my life - i will be making enough money to financially support myself for the first time in my life (at the age of 25) - i will have a real job with real responsibilities and real lives in my hands. once again i am terrified.

BUT when things terrify me the most, those are the times where God can really work and where i can find the biggest and best adventures.

24 is my favorite number, but i also have a particular fondness for 25, i always said that my 25th year would be my best one yet, it hasn't let me know and i don't think it will!

home

well, like the michael buble song, we are home, and it's nice...now my blogs can return to the mundane topics of medical school and now moving!!

at times i will require some reminiscence of peru, so i may occasionally post pictures andantidotes of our time there just to make myself happy.

i now have 4 weeks of unadulterated vacation time - i am not sure what to do with myself. i am fortunate to have some really great friends coming to visit and help me pass the time in california - and i am looking forward to hearing about everyone else's adventures.

the wrap up

our last day in cusco was spent just buying souvenirs and enjoying the city. on wednesday we had an early flight to lima where we had the world's longest layover (14 hours) which we spent with some fun israeli friends that we met at the hostel the time before. we went to larcomer, this beautiful outdoor mall on the cliffs of the oceanside, where we enjoyed smoothies and playing rambo at the arcade (neither kristyn or i have been to an arcade in years, but the randomness made it a blast). we went with wadi who had a date that night so he went to take a nap while kristyn and i wandered around miraflores. we stopped in a bookshop and bought 2 books in spanish which we attempted to read without the aid of a dictionary -- they are now our homework for maintaining our spanish! while reading in the park i was hit on by a super old french man who really liked my legs - let me tell you that when your common language is spanish, romance isn't gonna happen, seriously i have enough trouble understanding spanish without a french accent - i did manage to catch "me gusta tu pies" - well thank you grandpa!!

to escape pops we decided to find the adventist clinic which we were told was nearby. La Clinica Adventista Good Hope was super close to our hostel and it was huge in comparison to Ana Stahl. there were features that looked identical to Ana Stahl but everything was bigger and most things were a bit nicer. the security guard was nice enough to give us a tour when he discovered that we were adventist (kristyn was adventist for the day).

that night, our israeli friends took us to the parque del agua. it was spectacular with 10-15 fountains accompanied by lights and music! i of course got a little wet, but that's okay.

at 9 pm, we hailed a cab and headed back to the airport. we had to wait in the world's longest airline line to check in. by the time we got through security and went to the bathroom, it was time to board. upon boarding everyone was patted down by security and bags were researched.

we flew with LAN and had little personal TVs which i tried to watch before falling asleep. i did get through most of sherlock holmes and some movie with robin williams and john travolta. the 8 hour flight got us into LAX at 6 am. we were so proud to be back in our home country!! we both really love our country and appreciate that we are american citizens.

kristyn's dad picked us up in her car (which she was super excited to drive) and we had a nice drive home - it was the perfect day - until my car wouldn't start and i freaked out and daniel had to jump me twice and i had no cell phone and i realized that life here is a lot different, but it's a good different.