Hi Dave!
As I promised, here is a synopsis of my trip to Washington (11/27 -
11/30/1999). Sorry this is so long, but I had too much fun!
I went on American Airlines on Friday night, because I would like to
reserve the entire Saturday for sight seeing. Since my friend, Mono,
didn't have a car, one of his friends drove him to the airport. I am very
grateful for his friend, Ken, because I didn't know him at all.
Furthermore, he had to wake up very early on a Saturday morning to pick
me up. He also insisted on buying me breakfast, because it was my
birthday :)
Ken knew the area fairly well, because he has lived in Washington D.C.
for over 10 years. He suggested that we visit the monuments, because it
would be easier to travel with a car. The first monument that we visited
was the Lincoln Memorial. It was a very imposing sight to see Abraham
Lincoln. Reading his speech moved me greatly, and I was impressed by his
foresight to abolish slavery.
We then moved to the Vietnam Memorial. In the book, I tried to find
someone my age (23 years old) on the roster which contained all the men
and women killed in the war. In the book, I found a person called John
Morris from Long Beach, CA. It is frightening to think that an entire
generation my age was lost in the Vietnam War. At that wall, I said a
small prayer for his family.
The next memorial that we went to was Roosevelt's Memorial. Roosevelt is
the newest memorial in Washington D.C. They are currently planning a
World War II memorial, but they havn't finished designing it. Basically,
the memorial was divided into 4 parts based on FDR's 4 freedom speech and
his 4 terms in office. Because I took a picture next to FDR, I decided to
take a picture next to Eleanor (that should make him jealous ;).
Lastly, I went to the Jefferson Memorial. Supposedly the memorial was
closed for renovations, but I decided to sneak in instead. There were a
few others there, but nowhere near as many as the Lincoln Memorial. Ken
was a great tour guide, because he knew a lot of factoids and trivia
about Washington D.C.
He dropped us off at the George Washington/Georgetown area of Washington
D.C. I wanted to go there to get a glimpse of George Washington
University School of Medicine. I have an interview there, but the
director of admissions is flying all the way to California to interview
me. One of my good friends from Mudd, Kimmie Bui, is also going to the
medical school there. I didn't get to see her that day, because she is
still in So. Cal. For lunch, Mono and I went to a French restaurant. The
food was pretty good, but food prices in D.C. are generally a lit bit
more pricier than L.A. We walked around the George Washington area for
quite some time, and then we took a break at Mono's friend's apartment.
There I listened to some Jazz music and sorta unwound. We then went back
to Mono's apartment on a Metro. I simply love the metro. The metro has
gotta be one of the best public transportation systems in the country.
In the night time, I went to Bethesda, Maryland. Within a day, I have
traveled all acrross the country and ate in Virginia, D.C., and Maryland.
Since it was a weekend, all the restaurants were packed in the area. We
decided to go to a Thai restaurant, but the wait seemed to be too long.
After some discussion, we went to another Thai restaurant. I chose Thai
food, because I havn't eaten Thai in quite some time. The other Thai
restaurant also had a long waiting time. We decided to go to a bookstore
and browse some books. Afterwards, we went back to the Thai place. The
food there was absolutely superb. I had some of the spicy chicken and a
seafood combo platter. If you ever go to Bethesda and are craving for
some Thai food, make sure that you go to Bangkok Garden.
On Sunday morning, we decided to go to President Clinton's church. Since
there was no security detail, I knew that the President was skipping
church that Sunday :) After church, I heard about some of the history of
the church. They have a stained glass window of Abraham Lincoln (in the
fellowship hall, not the church), because he occasionally visited the
church. But more unusual was that they had a stained glass window of
Madamme Chiang Kai Shek. The wife of the former president of Taiwan.
Apparently she was part of an organization called China Aid which was the
largest aid organization at the time. At that time, she seemed like a
logical choice, but now it seems very strange.
After church, I went back home and went to a Greek restaurant. The food
there was very good as well. I've only tried lamb stew, but I don't think
that I have eaten lamb in any other fashion before. After watching the
football game, I immediately went to Union Station to catch a train to
Richmond. The train was delayed, so I had to wait for a long time.
The train ride was pretty uneventful. One reason was that it was pretty
dark, so I didn't see the countryside. I called my host immediately after
I arrived, and he only gave his address. This was one of my mistakes. I
should have asked him very detailed instructions on how to get to his
house. When I called the cab, the guy got lost, so I had to pay quite a
bit. I figured out that he had a cell phone, so I called my host and got
there safely.
I had a very gracious host that talked a lot about medical school in
general. He told me very good tips about surviving my first year in
medical school. But apparently he was very low on groceries, so instead
of dinner I had 2 nutrigrain bars instead. On the other hand, very few
medical students would be willing to talk for 3 hours about stuff.
The next morning, I went to VCU. One of the unique things about VCU is
that it has class at 8 in the morning. As a result, I had to wake up at
6:15 in the morning to get ready for school. On the other hand, this is
the only school that serves complimentary breakfast and all-you-can-eat
lunch :) Before the interview I had a good 2 hour long discussion with
the Dean of Admissions. It seemed that I was far more talkative of the
other candidates. When I went in for the interview, I felt very ready.
This was the best interview I have had. The interviewer, Dr. Clifton
(dean of students), said that he wanted me to come to Richmond. He told
me that he will try to persuade the other 28 people on the admissions
committee. It is a pretty good sign, but in no way does this mean that I
will get accepted at VCU. I've already had 2 acceptances so far, so I'm
taking it easy. On the other hand, I left with a very good impression of
VCU.
I went back to the train station by a cab. The cabbie was very nice and
talkative. I talked to him about his impressions of VCU. He told me that
VCU literally saved his and his wife's life. He told me that he would
always be grateful to the doctors at VCU. When I was at the train
station, I talked to an older African American lady about VCU. She told
me that it had an excellent reputation, and started to try to persuade me
to come to Richmond. She has been in Richmond since World War II and she
absolutely loves it.
I was kinda tired when I went back to Washington D.C.
The next morning, I made an appointment to meet my friend Kimmie. At
first, we were planning on meeting at Ross Hall. But instead we met each
other in the metro station. It was an amazing coincidence, because there
are thousands of people in the station. She told me a little bit more
about George Washington University. I liked the GW campus, but I liked
VCU better.
Please bear with me, I am almost done ... I'll be extremely brief.
I went to the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art. I decided to focus on
the traveling exhibitions instead of the permanent ones. I saw a bunch of
Vermeers, Rembrandts, Holbeins, and Durer's, on loan from another museum.
That was pretty cool. After I toured the Congress, I took a picture in
front of the Whitehouse. I left Washington D.C. with a lot of good
memories.
Have a good weekend,
John
