Happy New Year!

*coughs* Is this microphone on? Anybody still checking my blog?? heehee :-)

This is a new record. Almost five months has passed since my last post. I really should update this blog more, because so many things happen in a short span of time, and I want to have a record of it for the future. It won't do to try to list all those things here in retrospect, so I'll have to make it a New Year's resolution to update this more frequently, and to try to stick to that resolution.

The year is almost over, and before 2008 arrives I am looking back on this year and marveling at all that has happened. The way I felt around this time last year is a marked contrast to how I am feeling now. I remember that I was sad (not 24/7 but definitely not as happy as I usually would be) and struggling with a decision that, now, looking back, seems almost like a no-brainer. I guess hind-sight is always 20/20 vision, as they say, and if only I knew then what I know now. I have no regrets though, because lessons learned the hard way are the ones that really stick with you, and I have been (and still am) confident that the choice I made was absolutely the right and best one.


I have another blog that I've been posting in since my first year of college. Admittedly, that one gets a little more attention than this one, and it would probably make sense to post a link to it on this blog. Complementary reading, if you will :-)

I just found my New Year's 2007 resolutions which I had posted on that blog.

"To keep focused on working toward my
goals. To keep remembering to stop and smell the roses, appreciate all the
good, take time to reflect. To nurture my friendships. To live with love,
faith, and hope at the center. To explore new borders, ideas, etc."

I think I did a pretty good job at following them, for the most part.

I did make wonderful new friends, for whom I am very grateful to have in my life. I hope we can stay friends for a long time.

I think my goals, while ever shifting and changing, have remained pretty close to the center.

Love, faith, and hope...those three things are the most difficult to keep with you. When you find love, you want to keep it with you for always, even when you know that you cannot do so realistically.
So you hope, and have faith in something that you know probably won't ever come true.
But what is life without these three things? Meaningless, I believe.

To explore new borders and ideas...also requires you to let go of the old. Not all of the old, and not completely.
I think it is time for me to really move on and look forward to what 2008 will bring. I'll trust that what is true will stay in my life and will prove itself so in time.



My resolutions for 2008 will look something like this:

Make the most of my time at Hopkins, with my classes, residency, and the people I love and care about.
Keep exploring Baltimore's culinary offerings..:D
Continue to study my language books (I finally bought myself German, French, and Russian books to study from :D Now the challenge is to stay reasonably on track.)
Keep in touch with friends far away.
Get in shape (heh, heh). Run, swim, dance, etc. more frequently!
Try to sing like a woman again and not a frog (seriously, my voice is really changing, and honestly sounds kind of funny from the lack of practice for the past year and a half)
Update this blog more.
Love and laugh, and help others do the same. Even if I have to break out my lotus-dance or duck-face.

And maybe more to come! We'll see.

Happy New Year!!

Well, hello again!

In the blink of an eye, another month or so has gone by and I've managed to go through all of September without posting on this blog even once. Things really have been that busy around here, and I can't believe how quickly this past month flew by. School has been keeping me on my toes. Since the 3rd week of school or so, my cohort began our midterms, and we'll hand in our final midterm (almost an oxymoron!) next Monday. There are also homeworks and projects and things due every week on top of those, and always many really interesting-sounding lectures to choose from and squeeze in :D So we've been really busy, and it has been a challenge to stay on top of it all. I really love it, though. I still get excited on almost a daily basis about some neat thing we talk about in class or in conversations or hear in speeches, so I guess that's a good sign ;-) Today was a perfect example - thinking outside of the box and encouraging creativity in problem solving, merits and limitations of ANOVA testing (somehow, the biostats professors here manage to make even that mundane-seeming subject truly interesting. Needless to say I am impressed and happy), monopolies, oligopolies, and monopsonies, non-profit efforts to further public health agendas, and encouraging pharma. to develop drugs for the diseases most prevalent in developing countries.

Ok, I know, that was really quite nerdy :-) But this is the stuff that gets me up in the morning and makes me look forward to the next day, and something that I am passionate about. Public health, as a multidisciplinary approach to the social and economic ills that result in poor health for millions of people around the world, really has tremendous power and potential to bring about positive change. People here are passionate about what they do in this vast field, and one cannot help but catch onto this drive that easily spreads like wildfire. Or an infectious disease in a highly susceptible population. You get the idea. That's what I love about this place.

That's not to say that I don't get tired though. It's incredibly intense so I do need my time to decompress and relax. I've been doing that this past month by enjoying my roomies and friends, eating yummy foods, music (listening to, and trying to write some songs..I really need to find a keyboard so I can try some of them out. I would love to learn guitar as well. And I listen to K's Choice and Manu Chao so much that I've almost always got one of their songs stuck in my head :-), working out sometimes, exploring my neighborhood when I can, reading for fun, and trying to structure some sort of language curriculum for myself. No, I have not given up on that idea. I sometimes think I should just find a job that allows me to travel all over the world and immerse myself in new cultures for extended periods of time. Completely a fantasy, but it would be a wonderful thing to do if you can find the funding for it ;-)

So I'm doing just fine here :-) Loving this so far for what I'm learning about things external to me, and for what I'm learning about myself.

I miss my old friends though, so much. They are constantly in my mind and I wonder what they are doing, what their lives are like, when and if I'll ever see them again. And you, the lovely reader, are thinking, well quit blogging and write/call them already! You clever folk, you :-)



Before I end this post, an enthusiastic plug for Afghan food. Savory, subtle, delicious, and I will be back for more! If you are ever in Baltimore, check out the Helmand Restaurant; here is a link:

http://www.helmand.com/

and it begins!

I had my first day of classes on Thursday. I'm taking 7 courses this first quarter (one of them is an online course - Fundamentals of Epidemiology), and had 3 of them this week. You know, I really like them so far. The professors seem great and the material really interesting and well-presented. The only thing is figuring how to navigate the Hopkins online systems - there are a lot and already it's been quite an adventure. For one thing, I don't have my Hopkins email yet; previously, there had been 29 other folks at the school with my username (mwang), which is confusing the email system thingy, and so I need a new username. Maybe they'll give me mwang257. I like 257 for some reason :-)

I think Su and I will go out with a friend of hers to a cafe in Inner Harbor tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of the city. And to eat ...mmm ...I can never resist the call of food :-)

To everyone reading this, I hope you are well, wherever you are! I want so much to be able to talk to/see my friends more than I currently do, but it always makes me happy to hear of your news. So, let me know how you are! And I will most certainly reply, in as timely a manner as things here permit :-)

(I've only used this once before, when talking to Jetze on Skype today, so here goes!)

dooie dooie!

(casual way to say goodbye in Dutch)

Hey, so I also want to learn German, Korean, and Russian...help? More time please? *with cherry on top*

2 days of [dis]orientation

Well, before you can say "broiled crab cakes" it was time to wake up early, get dressed, and take the big white bus (the JHMI shuttle) to my first day of school. No breakfast, you say? Why no, because the jump start one needs every day and the essential part of a healthy lifestyle was provided by the school (sweet..)! After downing a cup of coffee (not a single thermos of decaf anywhere, now there's a sign!) and a cranberry muffin, I joined the herd of new students (some 300 bleary eyed folks) to be greeted by our deans and department chairs. And other people to help with our transition, including the head of corporate security.

What is to be gleaned from this description: People at Hopkins really need the regular strength coffee, as well as the security guards posted every 40 feet or so on the medical campus.

In the afternoon we broke out into our departments and subsequently, our cohorts/divisions of more concentrated study. We were inundated with even more information and I think the heads of our division got a kick out of our sleepy responses :-)


Today, we registered for courses, signed up for time slots to have our computers connected to the school wireless network (aka "bringing chillun to Momma"), got health and dental insurance if we needed the coverage, and took care of all the administrative stuff that comes with starting at a new school. I also had my photo taken for my school ID, twice. At first attempt, the combination of humidity-induced facial shine and three extremely bright floodlights resulted in a photo that had me looking like someone had smeared Pepto-Bismol on my face. I know these kinds of photos never turn out well but the first one was just too hilarious. I mentioned the Pepto-Bismol thing to the guys printing out the badges, and everyone in the room just burst out laughing :-D Anyway, they turned off one of the lights, someone gave me a paper towel, and I grinned for this second, much improved photo. heehee...I love that we have ghetto-quality photos at this world-class institution (it feels weird to say "world-class", but it really is the contrast that I love).

Afterwards, I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon with a new friend, exploring our new school and the Bayview Medical Center, a newer part of Hopkins Medicine about 15 minutes from my downtown East Baltimore campus. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm really here, and it is so humbling and exciting to know that every student and every professor at this great place has really earned their right to be here. And spotting the fruits of the research that is being done here, the implementation of new findings, and the general atmosphere of dedication and collaboration...these people will change the world. And, just as important, is the fact that the people I've met so far know how to laugh and have a sense of humor. Think about it for a moment. When was the last time you really had a great, genuine laugh straight from your belly?

I think I am going to learn so much from everyone, and I am really going to love it here.

So even though the sheer amount and complexity of the information we received had me feeling a little dizzy at first, the feeling that I am going to have a great two years ahead of me has only gotten stronger.

--ps--


-broiled crab cakes, are, in fact, delicious! Many culinary adventures await...
-I love my department.
-for the first time ever, I have no class on Friday this quarter!
-4 happy hours/receptions in the first week alone, which means free food for the frugal grad student!
-the asthma/allergy research center at Bayview has a huge hanging "sculpture" of sneeze droplets in its main lobby...:D
-I have one day of class this week (Thursday)...and then a four day weekend...perfect to take care of many things and study.





Oh! and if you have any suggestions on poll topics, let me know...I'll also try to think of more creative ones for the future :-)

Hello, Baltimore

After a hectic day of packing and unpacking the family minivan, with some driving in between, I'm finally in my new apartment and home for the next year. The place is pretty nice; two bedrooms, spacious living room, nice kitchen, etc. I've finished putting my kitchen stuff away, and now it's time for dinner. Food from home, from my wonderful mother, and soon I'll have to start on the cheese that we just bought. I've had a craving for Brie for a few weeks now, and to my delight, the Safeway foodstore carries Ile de France Brie..I can't wait to eat :-D Now, if only I can find Roquefort somewhere...

Thunderstorm, Diana Krall, cheese and fruit, mmm. It's going to be a lovely evening.

Tomorrow, my two roommates will both be here, and then the fun will really begin :-)

In transition

In three days I will be moving to Baltimore, where I'll start my MHS in Health Finance and Management at the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health. I guess this time is as fitting as any other to start a new blog. The year promises to be exciting and full of changes, so I hope to record as much of that as I can in this blog. This will also help me keep in touch with my friends (well, as long as they feel like reading this, anyway!), so guys, your comments are more than welcome :-) Post on my blog, or email it, or Skype/IM me, whatever works!
A few weeks ago, I moved out of what had been my home for the past year and a place of many changes, International House of Philadelphia. I chose it for its location - in the heart of University City, walking distance to UPenn, where I worked as a research assistant in anesthesiology/critical care at HUP - as well as convenience. There were no landlords, no hassles or surprises that come with renting in the city. Just promises of culturally diverse and interesting people with whom to live and share bits of life.
I didn't have many expectations for my time in Philadelphia; my goals were to gain more clinical and research experience, focus my interests in medicine (which, as you can see, also fostered a steadily growing interest for public health), and to see what the "real world" is about. I never expected to meet all the wonderful people that I did, and the friendships we developed were more than I ever could have asked for. I started out focused and driven on what I guess you can call my professional life, and then all you amazing people came and gave me incredible friendship, joy, and love.
Before I get wayyy more sappy than is appropriate for public weblogs, let me just thank you - all my I-House buddies, you know who you are!, my friends from college who were also in Philly, and my colleagues from Penn - for a wonderful year of growth, discovery, and good times. Because of you, I'll look back on this past year with happiness, and I have the strength and motivation to continue to enjoy life's journey.

And of course, thank you to my family for your unwavering support, and for providing a place for me to crash ;-)

Also... because of you guys, I can say thanks in a few more languages, here goes - arigatou gozaimasu, merci beaucoup, danke, bedankt, tack, xie xie, grazie, gracias, shukran! hehe



I'll keep adding to the links section of my blog. Check out what Michael, one of my friends from I-House who is now back home in Germany, has to say in his blog!


I'll be back later, you can count on that..right now, there is a poster for the ASA 2007 meeting that is screaming to be finished (and which I am also internally screaming and begging not to do!), packing packing packing, and school stuff.