spring break '07

I guess I never ended up finishing my account of Ecuador from last summer, but school came at me fast - I guess we'll have to leave it at that. I've decided this is just going to be my travel blog, so I'll try and chronicle any future travels here.

My most recent travels took me to DC then NYC, then back to DC. Friday afternoon, I got a ride with Wes to Atlanta and met Gene at a gas station where we proceeded to go to a Korean restaurant to lunch. I had Korean food several times this past week, and I think I'm now addicted. Something about the spicy and pungent kimchi along with all of the other condiments that are slightly reminiscent of Japanese dishes but just different enough. We left Atlanta on Friday around 4 - great timing, right - and arrived in DC around 2 AM with plenty of food in tow and sleep on our minds.

Next morning, we checked out the cherry blossom festival, climbed a building to rescue a kite that was stuck, and then hopped on a bus to NYC only to arrive to the reincarnation of winter. Childs met us and we proceeded to a "writers' bar" where we were left with a $35 bar tab for 2 pitchers of beer. No wonder it's a writers' bar - anyone else with any mathematical skill would realize that's a ripoff. Or I guess it could've just been NYC. Makes me glad I live in a city with $1 PBR's.

Sunday, we headed over to Coney Island as Brian interviewed various people for an article he was writing. Gene and I got a free ride on the Cyclone ($6 value) ate some hot dogs at the famed Nathan's, and enjoyed the rest of the park before it's imminent leveling at the hands of developers by the end of the year. That afternoon, we headed back to the city to meet up with some fellow Georgians, or Dawgs to be more specific, to enjoy some NY pizza and beer. Still inebriated, we boarded the bus back to DC and concluded our one day excursion of the Big Apple.

Monday through Friday were kind of similar. Given that all of the people I know in DC are either working or in school, they were all busy during the day, so I occupied myself by walking around the city, reading, and going to museums with the other MCGers, Zubair, Pooja, and Khanh. Met plenty of people from college and ran into plenty more by accident. Funny how that works, must be some sort of statistical probability that given you know 10 people in a city with a population of a few mill, you're bound to run into half of them by accident. Lunch with Niles, 10 cent wings with 'Beel, and beer with Mike capped the evenings.

Given that I did a lot of reading and a lot of walking around and people watching, I think I've learned some things:

Many of the homeless are simply people with mental illnesses that don't have the resources or the support to control their illness. What can we do about this? I wouldn't choose to be homeless, but I've discovered that I could actually live pretty well as a homeless person (it's a long explanation). However, that's because I've been socialized with upper-middle class society and I'm sane (relatively). Some of these homeless people would have nice sleeping bags, nice shoes, nice shirts (I'm not sure how), but you could tell they were homeless because of their mannerisms. I could take on the homeless "look", but I would have to consciously learn how to "act" homeless. Is this acting teachable? I think it is, so maybe that's where we start, along with resources to help the mentally ill.

Mike made a good point. I think he always tells people med school is easy - partially because he's crazy - but if you really think about it, it's true. Some people go on and on about how med school is so hard. So much studying, so little time, so much pressure. In the whole scheme of things, any type of schooling is not that hard. Hard is living with a disability, a single parent supporting two kids while working two jobs, a shot of Golden Grain, a rock. School is a luxury that only a few of us can enjoy. School is like that non-alcoholic O'Doul's or sand on the beach.

Reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man changed my whole perception of international policy. I learned things about the history of US foreign policy that I never knew, and I'll never look at foreign aid the same way. Everyone should read it, and I think it'll hit especially close to home for those of you who have connections to Latin America or the Middle East. If you want to borrow it, let me know.