The most eventful week of my life

The title probably creates a certain level of expectation for this post. I didn't win the Nobel Prize. I didn't get married. I didn't save anyone's life. But it was probably the most eventful week (plus a few days) of my life (thus far). Let's backtrack to the Tuesday before last. I woke up really early, got on a plane, and flew halfway across the country to Stanford, California (yes, it has its own "city"). I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. You would think that a summer spent stalking med student blogs and talking to other med students would have prepared me.

Nope.

The first order of business was getting to my apartment. This success can be fully credited to the kindness of my relatives in San Jose who picked me up from the airport and helped me move my stuff. Then, I was off to the SWEAT (Stanford Wilderness Experience yadda yadda) orientation. I was in the car camping group (AKA: Lazy group). We had a fun orientation (you have to love awkward ice breaker games). I ended up having dinner with one of the girls from our group at an on campus cafe, which was surprisingly delicious. Then, I went home and went to bed in order to get up early the next day.

SWEAT Day 1 (Wednesday 8/19)

We piled into a car with no air conditioning and drove towards Alpine Lake Park. On the way, we had food at a quaint cafe, the type of place that serves predominantly breakfast items and is visited by loyal locals. The total road time, not counting the brunch break, was about 4 hours. It was not bad at all because I enjoyed talking to the people in our car. I hear we climbed about 6,000 to 7,000 feet. The view was absolutely gorgeous along the way, especially since I'm not used to viewing mountains. Our car camping group set up camp at a camp site away from the lake (the lake spots were all taken). It was my first experience with setting up a tent.

We ended up driving to the lake. This was the most beautiful lake I had ever seen. The water was absolutely clear (it comes from melted mountain snow) and filled a basin made of rock. Small islands of stone peeked out from under the water in the middle of the lake. If it weren't for those islands, I would not have given in to the temptation of getting in the water. After all, the water was about 65 to 70 degrees (which I consider icy cold). However, the prospect of climbing up on those rocks was too difficult to pass up, and I found myself wading, then swimming to them. After sunbathing on the rocks for a bit with my fellow med students-to-be, we went back to camp, barbequed up a storm, and then enjoyed smore while playing games. The camp counselor, Homer, had plenty to complain about, as we were noisy well past the 10 PM quiet hour. As I settled into my tent that night, I realized this camping trip embodied the very nature of medical school: difficult tasks (which I have never done) which, in their own perverse way, are actually fun.

Now, as tonight was our stethoscope ceremony (but I don't want to get ahead of myself), I am too tired to finish everything. So I will stop here presently and try to finish describing the rest later.