Summer (so far) in Review
This summer has been amazing. It started with Maine and kept rolling with the backpacking trip to Europe. I've been so busy since then that I've failed to blog about the rest of it. Here goes.
I was accepted to the Harvard Health Careers Program- a post-bac program for those of us who were to lazy in college to take the pre-med classes. I took a year's worth of gen chem in 7 weeks. It was rough. We had lab three times a week, lecture 5 times a week, recitation twice a week, a review session once a week, a test once a week, and an all encompassing final at the end. I worked more for the class than I did for my job, but I pretty much loved it. I was so motivated to do it since I was doing it all for myself, and I was working towards the greater goal of becoming a doctor. I'll be continuing with the program in the fall. I'll be taking orgo, bio, and physics simultaneously (with lab!), and then the MCATs next summer. Yeah, I'm shaking my head too right now. Wish me luck because I'll need it.
What happened to my job, you ask. My gracious partner at work, an owner of the firm who is in charge of guiding my career at the firm, allowed me to take leave for the program. The flexibility of my firm is amazing. I've returned to work for a month, but will soon be quitting to pursue the post-bac full time. Well, at least I got a year of consulting for healthcare/medical sciences/non-profit/higher education under my belt. Hopefully it'll help me get into med school- it's really all about getting into med school now.
Since the end of class and returning to work, however, I've had so much free time and Lawrence and I have been taking full advantage of it. (This is the last time I'll have free time like this until I take the MCATs next summer, so I'm especially enjoying every minute of it.) Last weekend, we camped 15 minutes from the Rhode Island shore at the Burlingame State Park. The water was warm, for New England (i.e. we weren't numb after prolonged periods in the water), and the beach was wide and not crowded. In the town we were camping, we went to the Frosty Drew Observatory, which is run by amateur astronomers who claim we were there on one of the clearest nights this summer. There we learned how to pick out constellations, and saw Jupiter and two arms of the Milky Way. We also went to the Washington County Fair where we saw tractor pull contests, horse pull contents, and no other non-white people- I guess this is what the rest of America is like?
On a whim, Lawrence and I were then in NY Tuesday and Wednesday for less than 48 hours. We spent both days at the US Open watching the qualifying tournament. It's always amazing to see the talent at the tournament and to realize that our "talents" are not even close to professional level. We also watched Cecil Mamiit play his first round of singles qualifying. He unfortunately lost as he's recovering from pneumonia that he contracted last week. Though his losing was a slight bummer, more for him than us for sure, the whole qualifying experience got us really excited for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend- we have tickets to the tournament then.
This weekend, Lawrence and I hiked up Mt. Liberty in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. The peak is about 4450 ft above sea level in the White Mountains and along the famous Applachian Trail. It took us a little over 3 hours to get to the top, where the views were amazing. You could even see Mt. Washington from there. About .6 trail miles from the peak, we camped at the Liberty Springs Campground where there were ten platforms on which to camp. It was the best campsite I've been too, with great views and a great outdoorsy atmosphere. Lawrence and I hiked down the mountain today had rewarded ourselves for the strenuous hike with a trashy Chinese buffet in Concord, NH. The food was pretty awful, but we were so hungry and desperate for white rice that it was fantastic.
This coming weekend, we'll be in NY again, for the US Open as I mentioned earlier. Hopefully we'll get to see some friends this time and spend some time in Manhattan as well. I still have another three weeks til I quit/school starts, so we'll hopefully fill it with more wonderful memories. More to come soon. :) (BTW, for pictures of any of these things, and more, please see Lawrence's website!)
I was accepted to the Harvard Health Careers Program- a post-bac program for those of us who were to lazy in college to take the pre-med classes. I took a year's worth of gen chem in 7 weeks. It was rough. We had lab three times a week, lecture 5 times a week, recitation twice a week, a review session once a week, a test once a week, and an all encompassing final at the end. I worked more for the class than I did for my job, but I pretty much loved it. I was so motivated to do it since I was doing it all for myself, and I was working towards the greater goal of becoming a doctor. I'll be continuing with the program in the fall. I'll be taking orgo, bio, and physics simultaneously (with lab!), and then the MCATs next summer. Yeah, I'm shaking my head too right now. Wish me luck because I'll need it.
What happened to my job, you ask. My gracious partner at work, an owner of the firm who is in charge of guiding my career at the firm, allowed me to take leave for the program. The flexibility of my firm is amazing. I've returned to work for a month, but will soon be quitting to pursue the post-bac full time. Well, at least I got a year of consulting for healthcare/medical sciences/non-profit/higher education under my belt. Hopefully it'll help me get into med school- it's really all about getting into med school now.
Since the end of class and returning to work, however, I've had so much free time and Lawrence and I have been taking full advantage of it. (This is the last time I'll have free time like this until I take the MCATs next summer, so I'm especially enjoying every minute of it.) Last weekend, we camped 15 minutes from the Rhode Island shore at the Burlingame State Park. The water was warm, for New England (i.e. we weren't numb after prolonged periods in the water), and the beach was wide and not crowded. In the town we were camping, we went to the Frosty Drew Observatory, which is run by amateur astronomers who claim we were there on one of the clearest nights this summer. There we learned how to pick out constellations, and saw Jupiter and two arms of the Milky Way. We also went to the Washington County Fair where we saw tractor pull contests, horse pull contents, and no other non-white people- I guess this is what the rest of America is like?
On a whim, Lawrence and I were then in NY Tuesday and Wednesday for less than 48 hours. We spent both days at the US Open watching the qualifying tournament. It's always amazing to see the talent at the tournament and to realize that our "talents" are not even close to professional level. We also watched Cecil Mamiit play his first round of singles qualifying. He unfortunately lost as he's recovering from pneumonia that he contracted last week. Though his losing was a slight bummer, more for him than us for sure, the whole qualifying experience got us really excited for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend- we have tickets to the tournament then.
This weekend, Lawrence and I hiked up Mt. Liberty in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. The peak is about 4450 ft above sea level in the White Mountains and along the famous Applachian Trail. It took us a little over 3 hours to get to the top, where the views were amazing. You could even see Mt. Washington from there. About .6 trail miles from the peak, we camped at the Liberty Springs Campground where there were ten platforms on which to camp. It was the best campsite I've been too, with great views and a great outdoorsy atmosphere. Lawrence and I hiked down the mountain today had rewarded ourselves for the strenuous hike with a trashy Chinese buffet in Concord, NH. The food was pretty awful, but we were so hungry and desperate for white rice that it was fantastic.
This coming weekend, we'll be in NY again, for the US Open as I mentioned earlier. Hopefully we'll get to see some friends this time and spend some time in Manhattan as well. I still have another three weeks til I quit/school starts, so we'll hopefully fill it with more wonderful memories. More to come soon. :) (BTW, for pictures of any of these things, and more, please see Lawrence's website!)
posted by Christina at 6:50 PM
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