The Last Six Months in Summary

Hey everyone!

I know I've been so bad about keeping everyone updated--particularly these last few months!  I tried to at least update FB, but I know not everyone has an account, so here's a brief overview to get y'all up-to-date!  (Also, for more pictures, if you press on the highlighted words, they lead to my Facebook album for that trip.)

Jan:  Kinda boring from your perspective. Spent all of my time on research and my online SAS course. Moving on!

Feb:  Starts getting interested!  Beginning of Feb was CHINESE NEW YEAR!!  I got to go to Reunion Island, France with a friend and be introduced to what *real* chinese people do for the new year.  It was such a weird experience--I was as shocked as they were about how little I knew about the festivities and activities a good Chinese person should take part in for the holiday!  For example:

Sending up a little something to the ancestors

Burning paper "gold bricks" for the ancestors--also learned how to fold said bricks for the first time.

Eating yummy food!

Lighting some firecrackers!

Visiting the temple to honor those who have passed. 

I also got to take a trip with Kristen up to Harbin, China.  Here they have an annual Ice and Snow Festival because it's certainly cold enough!  I mean when your climate looks like this:

what else is there to do?

 It's definitely a cold one!

Sort of like a scene from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe--White witch territory

A little bumpy, slightly hard, but overall very fun!

Even though it was freezing, the bonus was that they all light up at night!

Toy Story!

They also have a Siberian Tiger park where you can buy live animals to feed to the tigers.  Consequently these are some of the fattest tigers ever!!  Check it out!

Tiger Tongue!

It's the Urologist in me!  What can I say--I love kidneys!

Such gorgeous animals!

They sounded hungry...

Going for the meat

Here kitty kitty!

Something about Chinese people..they really can't take good pictures.  Something is always cut out..like part of the head of the tiger for instance.

And you can't let February pass without celebrating my 21st birthday!  (for the 6th time ;)  Don't worry, I don't always dress like this--it was a theme party:  Chinese Fashion! The funny thing is Jonathan's wife met me for the first time that day, and she though that was just how I dressed--until she traveled with me to Xi'An and was like..who is this girl in hiking boots and giving me tips on how to use squatty potties?  What can I say?  I'm working towards being that Renaissance woman I've always imagined myself to be ;)  Also, on another completely different but equally amusing note, I showed my co-workers some of these pictures, and one of them adored my outfit so much (like truly wished she had this outfit) that I donated it to her :)

March:  So March was more research than fun, but I did get a chance to go to Hong Kong to visit my tall buddy and dear friend Mamei!  We had a blast catching up and as well as attending the Rugby Sevens Competition.  Let me tell you, this is like a huge annual world event for rugby, and like all such events, the point of it was to...watch rugby of course!  (and NOT start drinking at 11 am!)  ;)  I also got to visit Professor Huss and Nora (one of my professors from Wellesley who now teaches in HK and her daughter who is so grown up now!)   Check out these pictures!

Pretty much sums up my entire weekend ;)

I was also finally able to cross the Terracotta Warriors in Shanxi off my list of places I wanted to travel to this year in China!  They were pretty spectacular but so was Hua Mountain, one of the 5 sacred Taoist mountains.  If you can tell by some of the pictures below, you're literally traversing the mountain tops from peak to peak.  It was pretty amazing; having taken a Chinese Painting course in college, it all started to come together as I viewed the landscape in real life. 

Real life Hua Shan and the locks visitors bring to the moutain--sort of like a good luck/ask for a blessing/in remembrance of memorabilia

Chinese painting of Hua Mountain

These were terracotta warriors from Emperor Jing Di's tomb--not quite as big as the life-size versions Emperor Qin made for himself, but still quite impressive!  Check out the rest of the album for more pics!

April was also my travel month to SE Asia (Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia)!  There are wayyy too many photos to go through again, but click on the links below to check out some of these amazing places!  Also, I didn't know this, but did you know Tomb Raider was shot in Angkor Wat?  

1) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2) Laos

3) Cambodia; Cambodia Part II-Angkor Wat


May: May was a crazy month for me!  It was the end of my ten months in China!  I can't believe it went by so quickly!  I spent my time wrapping up my research and of course saying goodbye to everyone :(  My good friend Roze also came to visit me from the Netherlands and we went around some parts of southern China (Kunming (where we met), Guilin, Yangshuo, Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou).  My camera was stolen during this trip (it was very upsetting!), so I will share with you (courtesy of Roze) the pictures she took.  *sigh* A moment of silence please for my fantastic camera and 16 GB SD card with soo many memories on it.

On a happier note, Carolyn, a classmate from medical school came to visit my last few days in China as well!! It was great being able to see a familiar face before heading back to the states!

Southern China with Roze
Beijing with Roze and Carolyn


Back in the USA!!  My flight back to the states was a nightmare!  After a night of karaoke, I went straight to the airport to catch my flight to Chicago.  When I landed 12 hours later, I was told my flight to DFW had been cancelled.  I was then stuck in Chicago for a 9 hour layover before they put me on a flight to NYC to get back to Dallas.  I was glad Elizabeth was free, so I was able to sneak out of the airport and grab lunch with her in Chicago before heading back to wait for my flight.  Of course I arrive in NYC and my flight to DFW was cancelled again, so they put me on a flight the next morning to Minneapolis to Dallas.  I refused to go to Minneapolis, so I got the airline to send me straight to ATL where I was supposed to end up the next day anyway through another airline.  Jetlagged and exhausted, I owe Elizabeth my life for booking a hotel room for me that night.  Though I wasn't able to get much sleep (since I was on the phone with AA trying to book a ticket to Atlanta, it was still nice to have a bed and not be in an airport!  Anyway, long story short, I had a ticket to ATL which turned out to not really be a ticket so I ended up in Dallas with my baggage in ATL.  I waited stand-by for my AirTran flight to ATL where I finally met one nice and helpful AA personnel who helped me send my luggage back to DFW where it would wait for me when I returned!  phew!!

Which brings me to my re-introduction to America trip.  Carmen was nice enough to allow me one night of undisturbed sleep in an actual bed before heading to the Appalachian Trail...  I do have the Igleheart's (Carmen's future in-laws) to thank for such amazing hospitality and teaching me how to shoot a few guns ;)  It was the TLC I needed before hitting the backcountry!  Anyway, the next time you have a hard time adjusting to time differences, just hit a 30 mile loop on the AT in 3 days and you'll get over it right quick!  Check out some of my pics below or click on this link for the full FB album: Atlanta and the AT!!

I need to find me some future in-laws like this!!

First time shooter!

good thing Smokey was not there to scold us about fire safety...

ready to hit the AT!

i'm pretty sure sexy was the word you were looking for ;)

yikes!

had to document we were on the right trail!

AT!!

first time outdoor rock climbing!!

first time...getting a john deer tramp stamp?  so i owed carmen for missing her bachelorette party and this was my punishment...

We were actually there to river bathe...that makes us clean and hygienic right?

finished up in ATL at World of Coke

and my favorite!! the ATL aquarium--absolutely amazing place to go!! 

Man, I'm tired just thinking about all the traveling I've done this past year!  It was certainly a year of growth both personally and academically.

I am now back in Fort Worth finishing up my last year in medical school!  yayy!  Nothing too exciting thus far.  I've got a few weddings coming up so I'll be in Santa Ana in three weeks and then Nashville in October.  Other than that, I'll be floating around Urology services at different places until next semester.  But don't worry, my life won't be completely work related for too long -- I just found out I'll be heading to Malawi for an international rotation in February!  Can't wait! 

Meanwhile, I promise I'll do a better job of keeping y'all updated!  Drop me a line if you're in Texas!