April 4, 2016
I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday going to morning rounds at 9 a.m. In addition to that, I went to a research meeting on Monday. It was very interesting as each doctor that came up brought up their own research. I believe that they're trying to figure out which research projects to pursue in the on coming future.
Thursday was hectic since it was the day I flew back to America. I woke up early to take a picture with Dr. Hong and her residents. Afterwards, they treated me to my last meal in Korea, which was a nice set of traditional Korean food. It was delicious and I wish I ate more.
So I officially stepped off the plane and onto American grounds on Thursday. It was a pretty rough ride since I had to get to the airport by myself on a limousine bus. I'm sure it would have been easy, but things went wrong after the cab driver dropped me off in the wrong area. I had enough guts to ask some police officers where I was, but they told me off by saying that they didn't know the area. So I walked for a while and ended up spotting the building. The walk would have been easier if I wasn't carrying two backpacks that felt like it weighed 40 pounds each. I finally got everything set up and drove over to Incheon Airport. I got a bit lost since I forgot I had to take a sort of subway line to the International port. Once I found my way, I relaxed a bit with a nice cold cup of coffee. (Please note that after walking with two 40 pound bags for more than two hours, you feel as if you've been working out and anything cold to drink feels like heaven)
I got on the plane on time and the meal was delicious. I had a nice plate of bulgogi and it was my favorite meal out of all the meals I received on the plane. I arrived at the San Francisco airport a bit early. However, that didn't stop me from being almost late to my terminal. After getting off with my two backpacks, I had to transfer my checked baggage to the next plane. In addition to that, they switched the terminals. I have an app on my phone that's supposed to warn me about it, but it didn't, so I ended up walking to the other end of the airport before realizing that the terminal I was supposed to go to was on the other end. I was mentally and physically melting away into a deep and dark abyss at this point. I was more than relieved when I got on the plane. I finally got the sleep I needed but was awakened abruptly when we landed.
As soon as I escaped from the plane, I ran.
I spotted my parents and it was, to say the least, a wonderful feeling. It was good to be back home. However much I miss Korea, there's nothing like coming back home to your parents. (Then we went for a good old classic cheeseburger and I was pulled further into heaven...how I missed American food)
Back to Work
I have basically finished collecting all of the Korean medical data. Dr. Hong had me summarize all of my findings, which really helped me because I was able to organize my thoughts.
I have nothing but immense gratitude towards Dr. Hong and her amazing and lovely residents. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking such good care of me for the month of March. Thank you so much for all of your support. I honestly couldn't have done any of it without all of you!
Also, a big thank you to Dr. Rhee and his patient assistant for helping me set everything up.
That brings us to our next topic. I've set up a meeting with Dr. Rhee on April 18 to discuss some of my findings as well as ask him certain questions. Hopefully at that time I can collect some sort of data points from him. If not, I will have to pull from the National Data Bank.
I have also started to plan my schedule with Dr. Pike, who I will be following this month.
That's it for this post. I'm very sorry that the pictures are taking so long, but I'm struggling with technology.
Interesting Fact of the Day
It's Cherry Blossom Peak Season this week.
*Fact obtained from Dr. Hong