DUN!

First semester of med school is over. That´s an eigth of it, and I´d like to say of tests too but you have to count the countless tests I will have to take once I am a physician (they never end, apparently).
Classes turned hard, I had to focus on memorizing a zillion facts, shapes, clinical correlates, nerve endings, nerve beginnings, arteries, veins, lymph nodes, muscles, brain compartments, brain injuries, highlights of brain development. And then liver (origin/anatomy/arteries/function/compartments/clinical correlates/how to drink wisely...). And then kidneys. And lungs, and heart, and gut, and that whole pelvic area, including a day in which the spotlight in lecture was turned to the G-spot and its erectile muscle (we have awesome teachers!).

Anatomy had the funniest days but it was the hardest to endure. When we took the eyeball out and cut it in half, I thought that the worst was over and it was going to all be downhill from there. But then, there was this day when we cut the pelvis in half. With a saw. And then the day that we had to cut the rectum in half. And no, it was not magically empty (nor were the seminal vesicles!!). I think it´s great we get to dissect a body, now I even know what side of the body the liver is at (what!). But that smell, that smell I am not going to miss at all. Yay for being done with Anatomy forever.

I did not get to say goodbye to my cadaver though. I saw her last in the Anatomy final, where her pudendal nerve had been tagged with a yellow pin. I´ll get to say goodbye to her spirit, if it will travel from the nasty-smelling room of the fifth floor to the chapel, where we will hold a memorial for all 26 cadavers. Those talented classmates of mine that sing will sing, those that play an instrument will play, and I will probably just bake a shitton of cookies.

We haven´t just been cutting body parts though. We also spent some time at the Histo lab (Histology is a newly discovered phobia for me), where we have supposedly learned to differentiate the esophagus from the vagina (some of us might have had extra trouble with the distinction...). We´ve also learned the basics of doing a physical. I can now listen to your heart in the places where murmurs should be heard, I can listen to your lungs in places where fluid should be detected, and I know where to check for a pulse in your foot. Can I actually detect a murmur? Can I actually find those distant pulses? Can I tell that there is fluid in your lung? Probably not. I am just a toddler with medicine now...I don´t think I even know enough to be dangerous. But it is exhilarating to me that I am learning about all this. So, like a toddler, I am very very excited about my new set of toys. I just wish I could stay excited forever...

I´ve also started working in a migrant health clinic. We went out in the fields and gave flu shots, checked blood pressure, and offered HIV tests. The migrant workers are Mexicans who come to pick apples near Rochester, who live in humble mobile homes for weeks at a time, and who obviously have no health insurance. This year, raids were being conducted to send them back home. Because, you know, all of us Americans really want to pick apples in those conditions. But I digress...this is the field I think I want to get into when "I grow up," so it was really pretty cool to be able to help somewhat while I am still a toddler.

Sooo overall a pretty hard beginning. Lots of work. But I do love medicine, I love how useful all I learn is, I love learning about the beautiful human body and all the things that go wrong with it. And no, I don´t just study and cut body parts all day. I also have made a bunch of friends, have given a fair chance to East Coast beers (but nothing has come close to Ninkasi!), have run for a bit, have traveled for a bit. And I´ve even gone to a reggae concert by a Hasidic jew from Brooklin, down from my house (and got a little high by second-hand dope).

I miss the best state there is, and my friends, and my students (who were on average older than my average classmate!). But I am telling myself that it is all worth it, because honestly, learning about the G-spot´s erectile muscle is a lot more interesting than that Schröedinger equation and all of its variations. And it makes better dinner conversation :)

So long. More later. Have to help cook now...
E

Corazon, corazon

Hoy le hemos sacado el corazón a Mary. Tiene (tenía?) un corazón pequeñito, con una aorta bien grande y un poco calcificada. Uno piensa en películas de vampiros, o en El Silencio de los Corderos, o en chorradas por el estilo. Pero la verdad es q es una pasada tener un corazón humano en las manos. Y si una se pone a pensar en que sólo en Estados Unidos hay 80 millones de personas con enfermedades cardiovasculares, de las cuales casi un millón muere al año, no se puede pasar por alto el hecho de que este órgano, tan pequeñito en Mary, es tanto una maravilla de la evolución como el talón de aquiles de nuestra civilización. En Mary, la calcificación de la aorta (q es simplemente q está un poco dura) ya daba a entender q la mujer tenía problemas de corazón. Y fue lo que la mató, según el certificado de defunción y lo morado de los músculos alrededor del tórax (pues le dieron primeros auxilios).
Tras identificar los nervios, arterias y venas importantes alrededor del corazón, me he metido en la biblio y cdo he mirado el reloj me he dado cuenta de que llevo casi 5 horas aquí. Se me ha pasado el tiempo volando estudiandome el recorrido de la sangre del cuerpo al corazon, del corazon a los pulmones, de los pulmones de vuelta al corazón, de donde, a pesar de ser tan pequeño, es capaz de bombear sangre hasta el dedito pequeñito del pie...Una pasada. En un minuto, el mio hace el recorrido unas 50 veces. En un colibrí, pueden ser mas de mil.
Joe. Es q es chulisimo!

Ah. Y ayer aprendí a oscultar. Q yo me creía q la respiración se iba a oir superfuerte. Pero no, hay q pegar la oreja bastante! En fin. Aviso q ahora voy a todas partes con el estetoscopio, x eso de practicar un poco. Asi q cuidadin, q a lo mejor te ausculto!

Today we took Mary's heart out. She has (had?) a tiny heart, with a large aorta with signs of calcification. I thought of vampire movies, or The Silence of The Lambs, or stuff like that. But in reality, it's really cool to hold a human heart in one's hands. And if one considers that just in the States there are 80 million people with cardiovascular disease, from which almost a million dies a year, it's hard not to think that this organ, so tiny in Mary, is both a wonder of evolution and the Achilles Tendon of our civilization. In Mary, the calcification in the aorta (that simply felt hard) already suggested that she had some cardiovascular issues. And indeed it's what killed her, according to her death certificate and the bruising around her thorax (thanks to CPR). After identifying the important nerves, arteries, and veins around the heart, I submerged myself in the library and when I looked at the clock, I realized that I've been here almost 5 hours. Time just flew while I was studying the path that blood takes from our limbs to the heart, from heart to lungs, back to heart, from where, despite it being so little, it can pump blood all the way to our little toes...It's just awesome. In a minute, mine does its lap 50 times. In a hummingbird, it can do it over 1000 times... Oh. And yesterday I learned how to auscultate the chest. I thought it would be loud and clear (as I heard it on my textbook's website). But no. It's nice and faint. Oh well.

Back to the heart :)

First big test/ El primer examen

Aghhh. I have not studied like this since undergrad in Spain. Sooo much to memorize. Sooo little time. I like it all. I wanna learn it all. It is all interesting. I like the teachers. Oh. Wait. Did I say I like it all? I still don't like the formaldehyde. And I did about pass out when we pulled the towell off the face of our cadaver. And I don't love histology. But I still think it's interesting. Then again, so much stuff, so little time. Our first big test is next Monday, and there is, oh God, SO MUCH I haven't gotten into my little brain. The cool thing is that I can already tell if an EKG is abnormal, and maybe even tell you what kind of arrythmia it's showing. Ain't that awesome?

The uncool thing is that I know NOTHING about all those microscope slides. And I think there are 100 of them. Soooo...uhmmm...more on this later :)

Ahhhhhh. No he estudiado tanto desde Quimica. Taaanto q aprenderse. Tan poquito tiempo. Me gusta todo. Lo quiero aprender todo. Todo es interesante. Los profes molan. Oh. Un momento. He dicho q me gusta todo? Todo, todo, no. Todavia no soporto el formaldehido. Y casi me da un jama cuando le quitamos la toallita de la cara al cadaver. Y la histologia no me mola. Pero aun asi es interesante. Asi y todo, tanto q aprenderse, tan poco tiempo! El primer examen es el lunes, y hay TANTO q no me he metido en la cabecita!

Lo chulo es q ya puedo leer un electrocardiograma y decirte si indica problemas, y hasta decirte el tipo de arritmia. Lo no tan chulo es q no se NADA de todas las muestras de microscopio. Y creo q hay unas 100. Asi q esto...hasta luego!

Anatomy; ICM; sleep.

"Identify the teres major and suscapularis but do not clean them at this time." "Describe arterial anastomoris around the shoulder, list the terminal branches of the brachial plexus."

Suprascapular nerve.

Quadrangular space. Basilic vein. Medial cubital vein. Antebrachial fascia. Spinous fossa. Glenoid cavity. Supraglenoid tubercle. Infragenoid tubercle. Coracoid process. Greater, lesser tubercle.

The scalpel is mainly for skin incisions, reflecting the skin...Fine disection should be done with your scissors, probe and forceps [...] Blunt dissection is best done with your fingers. With your fingers.

Show proper respect for each cadaver.

Hypertrophy. Hyperplasia. Metaplasia. Neoplasia.

Zonula occludens. Adhering junctions. Dermatome. Intervertebral foramina. Spinal nerves have arabic numbers. 12 Cerebral. 31 Spinal.

My hands smell (make that reek) of formaldehyde. I will double glove tomorrow for sure. Or whenever our next anatomy day is. I do think that finding the nerves, arteries, and muscles help with the memorization. But do we really need to memorize all that? I mean, I am 80% sure that I am forgetting 80% of all this coming December 19th (that is the day after my final), to be never remembered again.

So I almost despise Anatomy. Make that I hate it. BUT I love learning clinical skills. My standardized patient yesterday said I did a really good job with the interview, he felt very comfortable with me. That matters more to me than retaining where profunda brachii artery is. I just think that it is so much more interesting to learn about things that make you think, rather than plain memorization. For instance, we learned to transmit information to the patient yesterday. As in, do I tell Ms. Doe that she has a 70% chance of relapsing if she doesn't take the drugs, that she has a 30% of not relapsing if she doesn't take the drugs, that I think she should take the drugs given her family history and symptoms, or that it is very likely that she will relapse if she doesn't take the drugs? How much is TMI?

We are also learning to engage the patient in her own care so she complies, learning to show empathy and that is OK to show sympathy--if it's honest.

We are also prompted to think of pro-bono work, of what would happen if we decided to treat that one friend of ours that doesn't have insurance (for free), and he went and told his buddies, and eventually our clinic became a madhouse. How would we deal with that?

I just learned today that if I am to convince a surgeon to take up one of my patients pro-bono, it will be more effective if I make the call. Funny, I always thought it would be more effective to have some PR/fundraiser specialist do that. I am horrible at asking for favors. Guess I better learn...

I think constantly of the two doctors I shadowed, of all the real-life situations I saw with them, of their mastery of medicine and of how artful they were in being humanistic, philanthropic scientists.

And I think of my students, of how they must have struggled with the Chem new vocab as I am struggling now with all this Latin. At least you can derive Chem equations. Latin is just plain nonsense.

So between now and December 18th, I see myself studying and studying and studying just to stay afloat. I do have really bad memory. Since I am not willing to fore go all my social/workout activities, this translates into less and less sleep. O well...that's what Med School is all about, right?

Time for some hillwork.

~e

The freckels

Today we were introduced to the bodies that are to serve as our anatomy "hands-on" models. Each group of 4 "gets to" dissect a body that has been very generously donated by someone that has passed on, and that thought that our trampling with their tissues, bones, and who knows what else, is worth it for the benefit of a greater good.

I think I have a woman (she was facing down and partially covered), I am guessing 60's, a little plump. Her skin is mostly tight (which wasn't true of all bodies), and because of the stuff they put in when embalming, she has reddish skin in some areas. She is also grey in other areas, and in some spots the two are mixed. So I couldn't tell if her complexion was yellowish, tannish, reddish, pinkisk, or simply pale by looking at her. But I could tell that she had a few freckles in her thighs and her calves. They were large, round freckles, a darker shade of gray than the rest of the skin. I thought they were unusual because there were none in her back. Maybe she got more sun in her legs than in her back?

And as I looked at the palm of her hand, ackwardly facing me while her body faced the table, I wondered if in a few weeks I will be this curious about her life, her death, and her reason to let us do all we are going to do to her body. All in the name of medicine.

I've been queasy since then, and my stomach was ready to bolt. And we haven't even started dissecting. That, too will pass. Right?

~e

Week 2

Sorry it's been so long. Med school turns out to be busy from day 1. Our first week was "just" an orientation week, but still full of events and lectures and seminars and socials, which added to the effort by most of us, the 104 memebers of the UR class of 2013, to mingle with each other and get to make new friends and identify who we might have something in common with, who is cute, who speaks our language, who wants to go for this or that...left us tired at the least, exhausted for the elders like myself.

Perdon por la tardanza, Medicina me trae muy liada desde el primer dia. La primera semana fue "solo" de orientacion, pero asi y todo llena de clases y reuniones y seminarios y cenas, que anyadidas al esfuerzo por todos nosotros, los 104 miembros de la clase de UR del 2013 (asi lo llaman aqui), en conocernos los unos a los otros, ver quen tiene cosas en comun, quen es mono/a, quien habla nuestro idioma, quien quiere apuntarse a esto o a lo otro...lo cual nos dejo cansados a los que menos, muertos a los viejos como yo.

Ahora, en la segunda semana, nos estamos acostumbrando al horario superocupado que, a diferencia del del doctorado, es el mismo para todo el mundo y llena las horas de casi todos los dias. Tb a diferencia del doctorado, la mayoria del tiempo la pasamos en practicas o en grupos pequenyos, y no en clases aburridas. Hemos estado dando Estadistica (que si, q es facil matematica, pero los detalles son endemoniados!), la cual es aburrida y no la preferida por ninguno de mis companyeros. Pero tb hemos aprendido sobre el aspecto Psicosocial de la medicina, aprendiendo a empatizar con los pacientes, a escuchar, a tratar de percibir mensajes no hablados, a escuchar, a crear una union con el paciente, y si, a escuchar. Leemos articulos sobre todo esto, atendemos seminarios cortos, y luego un profesor q es medico general simula una situacion con un paciente simulado. Los pacientes son actores entrenados xa esto que se parecen mucho a ti y a mi cuando vamos al medico y que curiosamente tb parecen incomodos cdo tienen q hablar de, por ejemplo, un caso extremo de diarrea.

Hasta ahora, lo unico q hacemos es hablar con los pacientes. No se yo, cdo este haciendo la residencia, cto me voy a acordar de la empatia y la simpatia si estoy trabajando 80 horas a la semana...Quiza me salga natural, quizas no...

Now, on week 2, we are starting to get a hold of our busy schedule which, unlike that in grad school, is the same for everyone and fills up most days. Also unlike in grad school, most of the time is spent hands-on or in small groups, and not in a lecture. We have been learning about Statistics (yes, easy math for me, but the devil remains in the details), which is boring and not really anybody's favorite subject, but we have also been learning about the Psychosocial aspect of Medicine (did any of you listen to the interview to Lisa Sanders in Fresh Air?). We are learning to empathise (as important for doctors as for Supreme Court Justices), to listen, to try to key in non-verbal messages, to listen, to not talk too much, to listen, to create a partnership with our patients, and yes, to listen. We read papers that describe what to do, then we get a minilecture, and then one of the family practice faculty does a 20-min simulated interview with a patient. The simulated patients are trained actors that look just like you and I when we go to the doctor, and curiously might have similar responses to what you and I might do when, say, we are uncomfortable talking about our diarrhea. Right after that, we are divided into small groups and we practice with our very own simulated patient. So far, we have just been talking with our patients a lot. I just wonder how much of what we are learning now I'll remember when I am working 80 hours in residency. Think I'll remember to empasize when somebody comes with chest pain? Tough call. Maybe it will come all natural. Or maybe not...

So that's why I am loving it, I love the interviews. I love learning about the art of Medicine. The stats...I guess they are a necessary evil. Por eso me encanta la facultad, me encantan las entrevistas con pacientes. Me encanta aprender sbre el arte de la medicina. La Estadistica...supongo q es un mal menor y necesario.

Rochester...lemme just say that I miss OR, but that I am adapting. I am now not wearing shorts, but a frigging skirt. It's frigging because I am in a cafe literally 2 minutes from my house. But I feel self-concious wearing my Oregon attire (which doesn't even include Birkenstocks!). I once wore a headband, shorts, and my Teva's to school and was told that I looked very Oregonian (most women wear dresses and high heels even on days that we don't have to dress professionally, is that a NY thing or what?). I will keep wearing shorts to school, but maybe not to the hip cafe near my house, not in the evenings...Rochester...pues la verdad es q echo de menos Oregon, pero me estoy adaptando. Por ejemplo, ahora llevo puesta una falda en vez de pantalones cortos (q es el uniforme oregones), xq es q aqui se arregla mucho la gente. Tb tengo ya amigos xa correr, ir en bici, nadar, y el paisaje es bonito. La vida es facil aki, como en Eugene. Pero como cdo estaba en Italia, todavia creo q Oregon es el sitio perfecto. Seguido por Montana, puesto q en ella esta el Parque Nacional de Montana...

I have done a close-to century ride that was prettyish, there are several parks to run and even do hills at, and apparently I am going to go open-water swimming soon. I have a range of workout buddies for my different addictions, and some friends to cook for from time to time. So not bad. Life is easy here, like in Eugene. But like when I was in IT, I still think of Oregon as the perfect place in earth. Closely followed by Montana, home of Glacier National Park. I just have a lot more friends in ORegon :) (and yes, in many many other places).

Time for Twilight...(YES, again!)

~e

Med School, Week 1

So here I am, day 2 of orientation. Aqui estoy, segundo dia de la orientacion.

Every hour or so I seem to meet 4 or 5 people. There are about 100 students in my class, most of them about the age of my students last year (or slightly older). THAT feels weird. But everyone is very nice, and the faculty seems really committed to help us succeed. Cada hora o asi conozco a 4 o 5 personas nuevas. Hay unos 100 alumnos en mi clase, la mayoria son de la edad de mis alumnos el anyo pasado (o un pelin mayores). Lo cual es un poco raro. Pero todo el mundo es muy simpatico, y los profesores parece que quieren realmente ayudarnos a q nos vaya bien (en lugar de jodernos...)

I get overwhelmed at times, when I hear about how much work we have to do, how much memorization is required (there is a reason I chose PHYSICAL chemistry, where equations are derived), and when I think of how long I have to wait to actually be a doctor in a place I want, practicing at my own pace. Hay veces q me agobio, cuando hablan de la cantidad de trabajo q tenemos q hacer, y toda esa memorizacion! (yo que eleji Quimica FISICA xa poder DERIVAR ecuaciones), y cuando pienso en todo lo q tengo q esperar para convertirme en medico en el sitio que yo quiera, con una consulta a mi manera...pues eso, agobia.Pero vamos. Lo importante es disfrutar del del camino a ser medico, no?


I think that the key is to enjoy the trip to be that doctor, right?

Gotta go. I am proud to say that I have organized the first run for our class, which starts in 15 mins...

~e

http://picasaweb.google.com/ecaballe07/ArchesAndCannyonland#5363691629250848770

Arches and Cannyonland

Well, the sight seeing is over, at least as far as National Parks go.

I went to Arches, as I had been instructed to. I liked it, it was spectacular. Crazy how those rocks can stand the way they do. They reminded me of the Roman Forum in how small I felt next to them, and how some things will crumble with time and still leave a beautiful and majestic structure. And some of them reminded me of the balconies in the Alhambra of Granada, where a beautiful window frames a yet more beautiful landscape.

It's all about associations...

Bueno, este viaje ha terminado, por lo menos por lo que se refiere a parques nacionales.

Fui al parque de "Arches", como me habian dicho. Me gusto mucho, espectacular. Hay unas rocas muy chulas como suspendidas en el aire. Me recordaban al Foro Romano en como me senti tan pequenya a su lado, y como algunas cosas se derrumban con el tiempo y aun dejan una estructura preciosa. Y algunas de estas estructuras, al ser una ventana preciosa rodeando un paisaje aun mas precioso, me recordaban a la Alhambra.

A balcony (like in la Alhambra) Balcon (como en la Alhambra)

Cool evening sky, the La Sale Mountains (sp?) in the back

Atardecer chulisimo en las montanyas de la Sal.

Indiana Jones. Seriously! No?

Cool rocks. Rocas chulisimas

Balconies. Balcones.

On the other side of things, I did get lost in my silly 7-mile hike. They put these pile of rocks on the trail and I lost them a couple of times (I think I am just spoiled from all the other trails I have followed in this trip, which are impossible to miss). The first time I got lost, the wind started picking up and I got sand stuck to my skin thanks to the sunscreen. I was looking for tracks for maybe 15 minutes, and got just a little bit nervous. I thought of taking one of those survival classes...The second time, I just didn't believe that they would have me walk on top of a rock fin. A "rock fin." I tried it for a bit, and the wind almost blew me over. Well, I thought it did. I am sure it was not that bad and that my fear of heights has more to do with it. So I just couldn't believe that this was really the trail. But I teamed up with another hiker, and we figured out, slowly and steadly, the way back. And we circumvented the stupid rock fin.

Por otra parte, me perdi en my caminata de 11 km. Marcan el sendero con unas montanyitas de rocas, y las perdi un par de veces (probablemente porque estoy acostumbrada a todos los otros senderos por los que he ido andando, en los q es casi imposible perderse). La primera vez que me perdi, se empezo a levantar una ventolera combinada con arena q se me pego bien con tanta proteccion solar. Me pase un cuarto de hora buscando el sendero, y me puse un pelin nerviosa. Creo q voy a apuntarme a una clase de esas de supervivencia...La segunda vez, es que no me creia q quisieran q andara por encima de una "aleta de roca." Ua aleta de roca! Lo intente, pero el viento casi me tira. Bueno, esto seguro q es una exageracion, y mas q todo fue el vertigo. Al final, me acople a un hombre q se ve q tenia mas idea q yo y entre los dos, lentos y seguros, encontramos el camino de vuelta. Y dandole un rodeo a la puta aleta de roca.

So Arches was cool, but Cannyonlands, another national park just north of it, was even cooler. I went there in the morning, and there was NOBODY there, it was absolutely fantastic. Me, the cannyons, and the green river. Quite an experience. Not that I hate people, but there is solace and serenity in solitude...

El parque de Arches fue chulo, pero otro parque, Cannyonlands fue incluso mas chulo. Fui muy temprano por la manyana, y no habia NADIE. Fantastico. Yo, los canyones, y el Rio Verde (no es conya, asi se llama). Una experiencia extraordinaria. No es q odie a la gente, pero hay paz y serenidad en la solitud...

The only car in the park. AWESOME.

El unico coche en el parque. GUAY.

Tetons

Here, I did do a little bit of homework. But I also stopped at the visitors' center, where two men in their 70's fought for my attention telling me where I had to go. On one side, they were appalled (and yet impressed?) that I was going ALL BY MYSELF to the "backcountry" (backpacking, that is). On the other, they wanted to send me in this 20-mile loop, 5,000 ft elevation gain. And it was already 4 pm. And there was a wall of ice to climb, and I was gonna have to use an ice ax (which obviously I don't own). I ended up deciding, with the help of the park ranger, on doing just a 5-mile hike into the Cascade Cannyon fork. The ranger particularly liked this hike bc it was in the back of the Tetons. And OMG did I find out what she was talking about. I might be in love again. Not as deeply as with Glacier NP, but at least infatuated for sure.

yellowstone and the tetons

Sooo not so impressed with Yellowstone. For wildlife, all I saw was a moose, lots of crazy trout, and two swans. Oh. And a million tourists, about 8 out of 10 in either an SUV, minivan, or RV.

I made the mistake to ask a cranky park ranger for a good place to backpack, and he sent me to mosquito-lake, to which I had to hike through a few miles of burnt forest. That will teach me to do my homework...
Yet, I have to admit that the swans and the ducks were kinda cool. And the lake was nice and warm to swim in...

The day after this, I did go and check out the geisers, nicely placed in an amusement-park style with kazillions of tourists with no walking etiquette (yes, I was cranky!). So after navigating through them all, I followed a friend's advice and went south to the Tetons...oh the Tetons. Wish I were still there...see the next post.

Glacier

I am speechless. This is probably one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life. Literally breathtaking.

I have to say that having my tent sniffed by a grizzly has scarred me a bit. And hiking by myself after seeing ginormous bear tracks (see below). But I did practice with my pepper gun today. Turns out the pepper is red. Who knew?

I am on day 6 of sleeping on my Thermalite, last nite under the stars. Day 3 w/out a shower. You'd think I crave a bed. But I am so stoked about checking out what Yellowstone and Arches have to offer!

niagara

Niagara falls, even on the Canadian side, was predictably full of tourists. I just have issues with that (and with the 20 bucks they wanted for me to park my car). So I parked illegally (I still have some Italian in me) and took this:

But not to despair with the crazy tourists, there are greener pastures very near the falls. I went for a little hike that was quiet, except for the birds...

And there were even little tipis by the trees. Kinda looked like someone wanted to light the forest on fire...

Yes, pretty. Yes, green. But next time, I am going to the Fingerlakes...

ROC, day 1

Ok.
So I came to Rochester to look for an apartment, which was incredibly easy. My place won't be fancy but it's within 2 min-walk of restaurants, 5-min walk of the nightlife (which I saw today, it does exist!).
BUT:
1) There is no Trader Joes. Srsly. How does anyone survive without TJs?
2) I've been here for less than 48 hrs and already have been flipped off. By a mini-van driver. And I didn't even deserve it (trust me, I also have a quick finger, but this was not justified!).
3) You ever listen to the Portland city club? Well. I listened to the Rochester equivalent. Instead of sustainability and bikers versus drivers, they talked about prostitution and meth. I just found it depressing. Made me miss Oregon. MUST EMBRACE THE PRESENT. MUST EMBRACE THE PRESENT...

But I also saw fireflies. I thought those were only in Peter Pan. And Niagara Falls. More about the falls later...

~E

The map

Hey,

Thanks for the suggestions and the emails. Hope you had a great weekend.

I went on  my very first canoeing trip EVER. It was awesome. And I went up Kelly butte in Spfd to watch the fireworks. The view looked familiar...guess it's from seeing it in The Simpsons!

Soo here is my planned route so far. What do yall think? (there is a link below to make it bigger)

View Directions to Rochester, NY in a larger map