Visit to the Summervilles'

The week of New Years I got to have OFF!! It was so nice to have a week of vacation. Paul had to work, they don't get the extra 3rd week that we do. Only 2 weeks of vacation for him for the year -- boo. SO I paid a visit to my friends Amy and Demetrius in Orlando, Fl, and their two kiddos Journey, 2 mo and Jayden, 18 mo. My other two great friends, Julia and Portia made the trip as well to surprise Amy.
We had a great time -- I got caught up on the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants. We watched the first and second one, but in the reverse order. We made some goodies... Julia did the mixing in the bathroom to not disturb the babies = ). And we did some shopping.
Here are some pictures of the weekend fun!

First Days in Greece

Hello everyone reading this Blog--Paul here.  Rachel and I have been traveling to Greece.  We had a layover in London on Sunday en route  to Thessanoliki, Geece.  We met our friend, Liz, at a hotel near Victoria Station.  As always, I am a fearful flier so my last few days have been stressful, but I am glad to report that we have made it safely to Greece.  

At this time I must interject how lucky I am to have parents who know me so well.  On our flight to London we had a 2 hour layover in Dallas.  My parents met us at the airport and brought us dinner.  Not only did they bring a fine dinner from Subway, but they also brought Rachel and I 12 cookies delicious cookies which we enjoyed at every opportunity along the way.  I love Macadamia nuts.

In London, Rachel and I went to the Globe theater for a production of King Lear.  We did not purchase tickets in advance wo we had to stand with the rest of the plebians around the stage.  It was fantastic such an awesome plae to watch a play.   I had purchased to the play so we had read a little of it before seeing it performed.  Shakespeare was meant to be performed... The nuances of the drama and Shakespeare sense of humor is hard to appreciate on paper.  

Yesterday, Rachel, LIz and I flew to Thessonaliki.  Upon arriving, we learned that Greece is not conformed as well as other countries to the use of English as a standard international language.  The saying "that's Greek to me,"  could not be more true.  This is all to say that we spent about 1.5 hours searching for our hotel in the city.  I enjoyed it as it was a great treasure hunt, but the girls were much less amused as they were carrying more luggage.  After no less than 10 greek pedestrians who we stopped for help, we eventually found the area around the hotel.  One text message later, we found our friends Scott and Megan.  

We are staying at an inexpensive hotel but it is great.  It is right across the street from an ancient Roman Forum.  After arriving, we went to a local outdoor cafe/bar along the coast, had some cheese and wine and played some UNO.  We were looked so sophisticated. 

Tomorrow, we are going to see a museum, explore the roman ruins across the street and down by the coast, and finally travel by train to another nearby city-- Meteora.   Till then, Chao or whatever the Greek equivalent would be.

Breckenridge Dec 2007

We finished our clinical duties Dec 14, and left for a long drive to Colorado on the 15th. Paul and I along with 7 other friends from medical school enjoyed a week in the winter wonderland. Our first adventure was on the drive up to Colorado. 5 of us drove up in a rental mini-van and drove through the night on a 16 hour drive. As we drove through New Mexico, Paul woke up and noticed that we were getting low on gas and reminded Scott to get gas at the next stop. Well about 70 or 80 miles later, we had a couple jerks and came to rest on the side of the road in the middle of no where... out of gas. We attempted to knock on some houses that were around ... but only a small dog would respond. Luckily a kind family stopped and picked up two from our party and took them to the gas station -- 10 miles down the road. We were so close ... if only Scott would have been more fuel efficient. A cop had to bring our friends back in the back of his car -- a comical scene. They bought two gallons of bottled water, poured out the gas, and filled it with gas. I'm sure this is very non-legal and environmentally wrong, but the cop did not seem to mind. So an hour added to the trip, and we continued on down the road.
We skied for three days and had a great time. Scott did his first black, on like his 8th day ever of skiing. Than shortly after we had him go down a double black. He was able to roll mostly down this one, but no injuries and much laughing.
Also, is a video of us all skiing.
We also went to our favorite sled hill and went sledding. The hill always has large bumps that kids like to add in. They cause you to go flying, but the painful part is when you land back on the snow right on your butt. We all had a pretty fun time with this. Again, no injuries except I think Paul left with a pretty good headache.
The last day, we went snow shoeing. This was also pretty fun, except I don't think any of the snow shoes stay on very well. And everyone had to keep stopping to re-adjust the straps. We hiked up hill for about 2.5 miles and than came back. Here is the greatest video of Megan, Scott, and I racing through the snow in our shoes. It makes me laugh every time I watch.
On the drive home, we hit a major snow storm. At times we were driving 5 mph and were only following the tire marks in front of us. This turned our 16 hour drive into 22 hours. But we made it home safely for Christmas!!
If you would like to look at all my photos from the trip ... go here http://picasaweb.google.com/rhassan11/Breck2007

Engagement

Upon my arrival home from Seattle, Paul left the next day to spend a month in Davidson, North Carolina, his alma mater. I spent two weeks doing a rotation in San Antonio and left the next 2 weeks open to vacation. On October 11, Paul flew to Houston and I drove there to take our Step II CK ( Part of our licensure exam to be doctors). This was our first time to be together for more than a day in about two and a half months. We took the test Friday, which is taking History and Physicals of 12 standardized patients ( aka fake patients that are acting) and than writing up a note with what you think they have. The test is just a bit more exciting because it is timed, and Paul and I both ran out of time on some of them before getting to go everything we would want to do. But last test of the year -- hoorah!!
That Friday night we went out with Lindsey and Luke, my long-time friends who we stayed with in Houston. We had to wake up way too early Saturday to fly to Charlotte, North Carolina. Paul had planned a nice weekend for us up in the mountains ( for my birthday is what he told me). So we drove up to Blowing Rock, North Carolina ( up near Boone) and stayed in a beautiful house. KD Weeks, Paul's mentor from college and also who we has working with during the present rotation, let us stay in his house for the weekend. It was sooo nice. I will include some pictures of the amazing view from the balcony. So we arrived Saturday afternoon, went for a little run around town and around a pond, went walking around the town, and had a glass of wine at a restaurant in town as well as some ice cream - perfect combination. Paul also bought me a bracelet in a store there, and I told him this was the first piece of jewelry he had bought me ( little did I know). We fell asleep super early, as we had gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before.
So Saturday, Paul had planned for us to go on a hike up in Grandfather Mountain. We changed trails about a mile into it, went back to our car and went into the Grandfather Mountain Park to go on a more intense trail. But I am so glad we did, because the trail we ended up doing was like no trail I had been on before with ladders and cables along the way and awesome views. We made it to the top, the highest point in these ranges (although it was only 5900 feet - so different than the 13,000 ft peaks in the Rockies). There Paul and I were reminiscing on our great adventures we had been on and shared some memories of our relationship. I still had no clue as to what was about to happen. It was so perfect, as we were the only ones up there on this peak. He than got on one knee, said some sweet things, and asked me to marry him... and I said YES!
Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Washington State

August 26 - September 21, 2007
So I got to spend one night at home - unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking -- before getting back on an airplane to head in the opposite direction. I spent a month just south of Seattle in Tacoma, WA doing a 4 week rotation at Madigan Army Hospital. I spent 2 weeks in the NICU, a week in Developmental Clinic, and a week in Peds Pulmonolgy Clinic.
I also got to do a little sight seeing while I was here. I went to the Woodland Zoo, which is pretty large and has large areas with animals together from a certain terrain -- such as a safari one with giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and some other animals. It was pretty neat. I think it was my first time to see orangutans as well as a rainforest with cool animals.
I also went to Pike's Place Market and got to see the famous flying fish. I ate some Clam chowder and sat on the pier and did some people watching -- very interesting place to do this. I came back here another day to try to do some more shopping - I think I paid more on the parking than my lunch.
I spent some time every weekend at Port Defiance Park, which is just outside Tacoma on Port Sound. It an old military reserve that was turned into a park a long while back. It has huge trees - some old Douglas firs and a great view of the Sound, as well as awesome trails to run through, which I did alot of. I really enjoyed this park. It is only a 30 minute drive from where I was staying. I loved it! There is also a nice rose garden ( which they also had one at the zoo that was also beautiful). They also were growing different types of dahlias - they were so pretty. As well as many other plants. They can grow such great flowers because of the mild weather and lots o rain.
One of the known things about the peds rotation at Madigan is the hiking trips one of the staff doctors takes all the students out on. So during my third week, we got to experience this. There was 7 medical students there at the time, and we all got to skip work to spend the day hiking Mt Ranier (which can be seen everyday on the horizon). The doctor that takes us is a trip - I have never listened to heavy metal folk music blarring at 6 AM in a mini van. It was a great time - and we spent the whole day hiking around and enjoying the amazing scenery.
Most of the time I spent here was very nice weather- sunny, no clouds, and warm. But the last week and a half were more Seattle - like weather with clouds and rain. The rain is not too bad - just drizzles here and there throughout the day.
Overall is was a great trip.

Troy Alumni Game

August 17 - 19, 2007
During my stay in D.C. I was able to fly down to Troy for the 1st Alumni game ( with many more to come, hopefully). I flew out of Baltimore Airport and almost did not make it out at all Friday night, but did make it to Troy Friday.
7 of us oldies came back for the game ( Julia, Amy, Portia, Christy Townsend, Holly Martin, Kelly, and me). We ended up playing 5 games -- which six of played the entire time (Amy just had a baby and so didn't play). Alot of playing for those of us that have not played intense volleyball for quite awhile. Yes we lost all the games - but were pretty darn close to winning a couple of the games. Next year we will have to recruit more girls to come.
It was great to see the girls again. It was soooo great to play volleyball -- although I payed for it the next week. And it was soo great to be back in Troy - the campus is so pretty and is changing everyday and getting bigger. I have so many great memories here, as well as having just an atmosphere of calmness. I just like it. = )
We had a dinner with the team after the game and got to know some of them.
I than flew back Sunday morning.
It was a great trip and nice to be around people I knew after spending 3 weeks with people I just met.

Washington D.C.

July 29 - August 25
My first rotation of my fourth year started in Washington D.C. at Walter Reed Hospital. I spent 4 weeks workng with the Pediatric GI team. I had a great time with them. I also got to see some of the D.C. area. I went to Iwo Jima, a little bit of Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, the Capitol. I also went to the Holocaust museum, Spy Museum, and the Air and Space Museum -- all great. One Saturday I spent at Rock Creek Pike Park which runs from north of D.C. all the way to the middle of downtown. It's a great park, and alot of road bikers are loving it. I got to run a but on the trails and played some pick-up volleyball near the Lincoln Memorial. It's a cool city. People are all out and about and doing active things. It's great to just walk up and get to play some volleyball. I stayed in a hotel in Silver Spring, which is north of the downtown area -- it is only 2 miles from Walter Reed. It was a very nice hotel and right in the middle of Silver Spring -- with many shops and places to eat throughout. So this become my home for 4 weeks. To the point where I knew most the workers by name. They also had a shuttle service at the hotel that would take you wherever within a 3 mile radius of the hotel -- which was my ride to work most days.
I did have a rental car that I did not use all that much. I used to Metro if I was going downtown D.C. The Metro was very easy to use and the one day I did drive around D.C. I got nice and lost and drove around for a long while looking for parking (hard to find).
I did work too, and learned alot. They have alot of not so common diseases at Walter Reed because it is where everything gets sent from the other Army Hospital if a specialist needs to see them. Overall a great time.

Brek/Whistler

July 2 - July 16, 2007

Paul and I traveled to Brekenridge, CO for a week with his parents and his brother, wife, and two kiddos. We had our orientation for being big fourth year medical students and left the following week. In Brek we biked, hiked, rode ATV's, and went sailing. We also spent a day in Leadville, which is a very old mine town that actually brought the money to CO allowing Denver to be built. We went on a nice bike ride that also had many old mines and historical markers along the way to stop and look at. It was a very unique town. Paul's brother and family went on a train ride that went to an old mine and went up the mountain - pretty cool. It was a great time!! We also had to study a bit for our Board exam - which is July 26th.
After a week in Brek, we headed up to Whistler, B.C. We landed in Seattle and drove up to Vancouver for a day. We stopped at Stanley Park to walk around a bit ... but Paul was very sure he knew exactly where he was going and our little walk turned into 4 hours of walking -- I think we about walked the whole park. It is an awesome park though. Lots of animals, a rose park, along the pier, and lots of greenery. We saw people hand-feeding squirels, raccoons, and other animals - everything was so tame. We than continued on to Whistler -- which is a beautiful drive along the coast.
Paul was in a wedding of friends from college ( Nash and Christa) and they were getting married here. They were having an adventure wedding, with week long activities in Whistler, which included white water rafting, downhill mountain biking, mountain biking, an adventure race, and many other fun things. WHISTLER IS BEAUTIFUL. I know that it is well known for it's skiing, but the summer time is awesome as well. We studied a bit here too, but it was so hard because there was so much to do.