Going back to Cali!

It's official. I've been accepted to the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, and I've accepted their acceptance. I got the phone call on Thursday, and I've had four days to decide. Wow. All this time I thought I was going to Pittsburgh, and now I'm headed for Los Angeles. It's all a little overwhelming ...

Here's the deal with Drew/UCLA. It's a special program that trains doctors to work with underserved populations. I'll spend my first two years at UCLA, and then I'll do my clinical years (3rd & 4th) working at county hospitals and community health clinics through Charles R. Drew University. Drew is associated with MLK-Drew Medical Center and I'll also be training at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.

I made this decision while on an awesome little vacation with my mom and dad. My dad is a retired high school teacher, and while he was still teaching, he found out about this special program where you can take a group to camp out on Alcatraz. My dad is fascinated by Alcatraz, and I'm pretty into it, too. (Did you know that Alcatraz means "pelican" in Spanish? Did you know that American Indian activists occupied the island for 18 months in 1969?) We walked all over the island, and saw lots of parts of the prison that you don't see as a tourist. We watched a fireworks show from the roof that night, and then we slept in actual cells. I've slept over three times now, and I can vouch that there's definitely some paranormal stuff going on. You hear a lot of things -- voices -- that you can't explain. I love it!

Got to go ... I've got a lot of planning to do!