Fireworks and a Stolen Sandal

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

I've been busy with my internship and spending most of my free time lounging by the pool. I don't off from work until 5, and by then I just want to change out of my work clothes and relax a bit, so I haven't really done much with my evenings.

I have been to some cute little restaurants in Greenwich though, and I'll be doing a write up on each of them. So far I've been very impressed with the people of this area - EXCEEDINGLY polite.

I also went and saw a movie on Wednesday that I had really been wanting to see: Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing". It's currently cycling through a limited release throughout the country, so if it's going to be at a theater near you, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, my 4th of July ended up being a little more eventful than I planned on it being!

I decided to see the Fairfield fireworks. I had originally planned on driving up to New Haven, but it was a much further drive and I was worried about the traffic coming back home. Fairfield, however, ended up being fun. I had kind of an adventure trying to find a place to park, but there was lots of room on the beach for little ol' me to spread down a towel and enjoy the show.

The fireworks were very good - I managed to get a couple of low quality fireworks with my phone.

A few people had brought their own Chinese Lanterns. It was entertaining because one of them had a slight rip in it, so it had some trouble lifting up. It eventually caught a bit of the breeze coming off the ocean, and everyone around me starting cheering. Pretty cool :)

What was NOT so much fun were the idiots who, halfway through the fireworks show, decided they needed to videotape and comment on the entire thing. There were probably 4 or 5 of them and very "Jersey Shore" in their demeanor. The one guy kept taking pictures with flash and the one girl was doing a selfie video (with light) and in general were just very rude.

I also had a bit of a scare on my way out. The beach had a bit of a bottleneck when you tried to leave - there were just a couple of narrow boardwalks to get back to the parking, so thousands of people were crammed together for a while. Being by myself and not towing kids/strollers/huge bags/etc, I was able to get through most of it fairly easily, but at one point I was stuck just like everyone else. I happened to feel a slight tug on my purse, and I whirled around only to find a hand reaching into my purse, and then the person running off through the crowd.

Naturally, I'm a bit pissed off!

However, when I started digging through my purse to see what my pick-pocket has stolen, I find that my wallet, keys, and cell phone are still safely zippered in the bottom of my purse.

However, my flip flop is missing.

I had taken off my sandals when I started walking on the beach, and had stuffed them into my purse. Stupid idiot either grabbed it or knocked it out of bag when he tried to take more important things.

I was glad nothing of import of was taken, but I sure was annoyed I had to walk back to my car barefoot!

1st Day!

Today was my first day of my orthopaedics internship. Overall it was pretty fun - the main doctor is on vacation this week, so no shadowing and I'm not getting assigned my "big" project yet, but I am currently working on two "in progress" articles that need to be cleaned up, re-researched, and rewritten.

I've done a lot of this type of research work before (aka, grunt work), but it's much more fun when I actually know more of what I'm reading/doing. Once again, I'm surprised at how much I actually did learn in medical school this past year.

I'm working with two other interns: another 2nd year medical student, and a pre-medical student, both from the area.

It's been a little weird - I'm the only one not from the area, and everyone knows that I'm staying at Mr. K's house. Like, "This is B. She's the medical student that Mr. K recruited from Michigan - she's staying at his house." Like I'm some big deal. And maybe I am? But it is a bit weird.

Other than work, it was a pretty quiet day. I got lunch in Cos Cob at this cute little deli. The clinic is right near the marina, so I chatted with some fishermen. I took a new way home and saw a statue of Jackie Robinson.

Anyway, off to bed so I can be extra prepared for tomorrow! I'm trying to cut out caffeine (read: soda), so we'll see how it goes.

Norwalk Aquarium

Today I spend some time in South Norwalk.

I originally just drove around, trying to find a little deli or something to get some lunch, but I ended up walking around a good portion of their downtown. I did indeed get some lunch, at Naked Greens, but I also went to the Norwalk Aquarium!

So cool! Anyway, tomorrow is my first day of my internship, so I should probably get some sleep. 'Night!

How I spent all of today

Road Trip Day 2: I made it!

I'm here! I'm here!

Left Ohio around 8 am this morning and traveled through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and finally arrived at my summer home in Connecticut.

(Quick aside: omg this house is gorgeous. GORGEOUS. Seriously, the guest bedroom is almost bigger than my entire current apartment.)

Traffic was very uneventful, right up until I got NYC and headed north on 95.

Highlights of  the trip? I stopped at a random Wendy's in Pennsylvania to get some lunch, and they were celebrating a worker's 80th birthday. They had cake and wanted everyone to wish her a happy birthday. So I did!

Favorite license plate? "YYY GUY" Get it? Wise Guy?

At any rate, I have officially made it half way across the country in one piece, minus one hubcap for my poor car (seriously, it fell off about 5 miles away from my destination when I was stuck in traffic. Lady pulled up next to me and asked, "Did you you know you lost a hubcap about a half mile back?" Well, no I didn't, and thank you....but what am I supposed to do about it now?!)

I just ordered some sushi, and plan on relaxing out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Toodles!

Road Trip Day 1: RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

Well, I'm halfway (give or take a few hours) to NYC!

I'm currently at a Days Inn in Girard, Ohio, near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. I had originally wanted to make it to Dubois, PA, but some heavy rain and flash flooding back in Michigan put me seriously behind schedule.

Aside from the heavy rain for most of the trip (again, did I mention the flash flooding in between Fowlerville and Ann Arbor?!) and the annoying construction on most of the Ohio turnpike, it has been a mostly uneventful trip.

Here is a map of my travels, in case anyone is interested!

Anyway, I am going to grab some dinner, and then try to get some shut-eye. I plan on getting up rather early (well, by my standards) in order to make to New Canaan at a decent hour.

Travel Updates: Summer 2013

Because of school and responsibilities and the like, updates on spring break travel will be postponed until I have some time. Which could mean next week, or never.

However, I just found I out was accepted into the orthopaedic research internship I applied for, and will be living in New Canaan, CT for 8 weeks this summer. This means I will be doing a lot of travel in and around the greater NYC area (New Canaan is 1 hour directly north of Manhattan, and my workplace in Greenwich is about a half hour north. Both are on the trainlines that go directly into the city). This also means I will be driving by myself across a good portion of the country.

Excitement! Expect many, many more updates once I am done with summer semester and have officially headed out :)