I'm Still Alive: A Photo Update!

So, after a 6 monthish hiatus from the blogosphere, I decided it's time to reconnect. So, lemme do an update post in semi-chronological order (or at least what my brain thinks is chronological) and then tomorrow we'll get down to business.

In December, I packed up my apartment in Grand Rapids to move everything into storage since a majority of my second semester was going to be spent in Africa. Packing is a bitch, but moving is a bigger bitch, just so you know.

All my shiz

I also rescued Bailey from an evil wall, where he spent a week desperately trying to stay in Grand Rapids.

Look carefully for a kitty in the wall (left corner)

At the end of December, I headed back to Uganda for one month of hospital work in Iganga (with weekends spent traveling with friends from home and Nasur) and one month of vacationing with Nasur.

Meet up in Jinja

In February, Nasur and I went on our first safari at Murchison National Park, where I fell in love with hippos. Apparently, they're responsible for the most animal-related deaths in Africa. In my opinion, they're incredibly misunderstood [obviously].

Murchison Falls 

Hippos are the best! And apparently, incredibly vicious

Elephants!

In February, Nasur and I went to Dubai to visit his best friend who moved there last year. It was his first time in an airplane ever.

First time waiting in an airport terminal

The Burj Khalifa is stupid tall

The Burj al Arab is stupid expensive

The desert is actually quite cool

We spent a week there, returned to Uganda briefly and then I headed back to the United States to do a one month ICU rotation and to find out where I matched for residency - St. John's Hospital in Detroit!

Then at the end of March, I headed back to Africa. I made a pit stop in Nairobi (before the University massacre) to see Nasur, who made the 15 hour bus trip for my 16 hour layover.

Nairobi from our hotel

Waiting in the Nairobi airport

I continued onwards to Malawi where I did a gynecology rotation for a month. I have some lovely photos of that, but I'm thinking many of you wouldn't appreciate them ;-)

Malawians carry a lot of stuff on their heads

Lake Malawi at Cape Maclear

Unfortunately, my mom called while in Malawi to let me know that this little guy had a kitty stroke while I was away and had to be put down. I miss his cuddles so much now that I'm living alone again.

Bailers will be missed

A week after losing Bailey, Nasur flew down to Malawi to join me at the end of my rotation and then we headed over to Zambia for our second safari.

Little elephant herd

Sleepy kittens

Best animal ever (a hippo, duh)

We also traveled down to Livingstone, Zambia to see Victoria Falls, the largest waterfalls in the world. It was ridiculous.

So loud

Sun setting over the falls

We headed back to Uganda briefly to visit with Nasur's family and my Ugandan family back in Iganga.

Nasur's niece, two nephews, sister, and father 

A town near where Nasur lives (Kajjansi)

I celebrated my 28th birthday in Uganda and Nasur bought me a lovely cake. My mom one upped him by buying me a cheesecake when I returned.

Noms

Then I graduated from medical school with some lovely ladies by my side.

The mom and me

Med school family (minus a few)

I spent the week after graduation trying to find a place to live and then my mom and I took off for Florida for a Disney vacation, which was the best.

The pool next to our room

Mickey and us (the "professional" photographer couldn't work my smartphone, hence the blurriness)

Gotta get a pic with the castle

Hogsmeade!

Butterbeer waiting for the Hogwarts Express

I had 5 of these that day...

So much good food!

Such a cute mom

Had to get a hippo picture (Nasur hates them as much as I love them)

Decent theming in the waiting line for the safari at Animal Kingdom

My mom bought me this

It was damn magical

Unfortunately, our Disney adventure had to come to an end. I was skeptical about doing Disney as an adult, but it was amazing. MUST RETURN ASAP. That being said, our puppies were glad we were home.

Big smile on the ride home

She wouldn't stop kissing my mom

Mayzie is super happy

And now, I've moved in to a new place (photos will be posted once I have my shit together unpacked) and I'm getting ready to start orientation/working as a real doctor in about 10 days. WHAT?!

As for healthy living, uh, it hasn't been so healthy lately, but tomorrow those things will be changing and I'll be posting about it all.

Texas is pretty

Interviews that start after 9:00 a.m. are my favorite kind. Life is so much better waking up at 7:45 than 5:00 a.m. Unfortunately, my interview didn't end quite early enough for me to walk to the Alamo, so I drove. Let me just say this, it's a bit of a letdown. Buuut, I'm glad I went. I raced back to my hotel to ditch the interview suit ASAP and then I drove to the Alamo and parked (for $10...boo) and walked over there and walked around. Really underwhelming, but afterwards, I went and walked the river walk for about an hour and then left for my hotel/dinner a little after 6:00 p.m. as it was getting dark and I already have a bad sense of direction. Add in the inability to see and I'm really bad with direction.

The rest of the day was a typical interview day. And the eats were pretty decent. But first: breakfast (which was advertised as hot breakfast), was not exactly that. The only hot thing was waffles, which you made yourself. I'm not a waffle person, so I went for the bagel, yogurt, and hardboiled egg. I also grabbed some fruit for later. Lunch was sandwiches, salad, a pickle, and a brownie. I also grabbed a peanut butter cookie later, which is why I declined awesome looking desserts at the bakery at the restaurant I went to. Willpower. Word.

Hotel room

Big sink area

Teeny bathroom

Breakfast (with fruit saved for later)

Alamo

Outline of the Alamo fortress

A little background on the battle

The famous part of the Alamo

Boo yeah - medicine is everywhere

I'm almost a doctor too, yo

Hospital set-up

More hospital

RiverWalk entrance

RiverWalk

So pretty

Nighttime Alamo

Mango margarita + chips + salsa

Dinner (the waiter recommended it). It was okay.

Bakery of life

Dinner may have been a bit over the top, buuuut I didn't eat all the cheese nor did I eat any rice. So, it could've been worse. 

Tomorrow I get up kinda late (8:00 a.m.) to hit up Subway, the gas station, WalMart (gotta get more South Beach bars) and then head to return my car. My flight leaves at around 11:00 a.m. and it's only 15 minutes away, so I should be plenty early despite another offsite car rental place.

Cheers!