Portland Day 8 - Rain with occasional sun

The weather here is outrageous! Mostly because it changes so much. I mean in Utah, if the forecast is sunny then it is sunny ALL day. Or if it's rainy then it is rainy ALL day for the most part. Well, here the weather comes and goes as it pleases. It changes so often. It will rain for maybe 5-10 minutes and then be sunny for awhile. Then the rain comes back. Some more sun. You get the idea. It's kinda nice to have the variety but makes it super hard to plan for things, most especially when you are outdoors.

Rock Climbing. I think that's the new sport I'm going to get into. I see myself with a whole pack of gear at the end of a year. I spent the day yesterday at Smith Rock State Park, pretty much the Mecca of rock climbing in the West, or at least Oregon. We had a pretty good group there, close to 20 people, so there was a lot of down time. But it was fun to meet new people and just be outside. The place was just covered with people all over the rock faces.

I did get to climb one route, called Five Gallon Buckets. A 5.8 route. I was pretty proud of myself. It was super tall, as you can see here in the photo. It's the route on the far left; the one with the guy in green going up it.

I've only climbed outside 2 times before ever so reaching the top on this one was a big feat for me. It was a lot of fun. Like I said, I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more climbing too. Sounds good to me!

Here's me and my two roommates, Katie and Tiffany.

Portland Day 7 - Overcast with light evening showers

Second day of class = awesome. It was much easier to sit all day. Best part of the day was getting outfitted with my white coat and getting my medical equipment, including my stethoscope NOT periscope (that one's for you Elise!). I have no clue what half of it is used for but I guess I'll find out soon enough!

I also found out that I will be able to take a Medical Spanish class which I am super stoked about. My classmates really like the fact that I speak Spanish already. I'm sure I'll be of great assistance to them while they learn. Turns out there is a LARGE population of Spanish speakers in this area as the majority of them are migrant workers out in the fields. Who would have thought in Portland? There is one other dude who is fluent and he lived in Barcelona for a while where he picked it up. Spain! We're gonna be good friends :)

I'm also really excited about my rotations. I have the option of spending 6 weeks in either Honduras, Costa Rica, China, or Kenya. I'd LOVE to do the Spanish-speaking ones of course, but it would also be sweet to do something new too.

Portland Day 6 - Rain

My first official day of class. 9 am - 5 pm. That's the schedule from now on, just like a full time job. Plus another 3-5 hrs. of studying on top of that. And boy am I excited! It was a good day, so good to finally get going. Except by the time 2 pm rolled around I was getting super fidgety and restless. I'm not used to sitting in a chair that still paying rapt attention for that many hours in a row. It'll take some getting used to. Of course we have breaks and such, but it's still tough to still for that long.

Not to mention sitting in the same chair in the same room for 8 hrs a day. At least there are windows to check the weather every so often. Oh wait, just more rain.....good thing I'm inside studying my brains out. I may be calling you soon to tell you that my head has exploded. Prepare yourself. They give the analogy of PA school being like trying to drink from a fire hose. How true that is. I already have a test tomorrow. On the SECOND day of school people! I originally thought my academic/didactic year would be 14 months. Well....make that 12 actually. It's going to get real crazy real fast. Bring it on!

I know I'm living in the right city....

When I say "granola" people know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Portland Day 5 - Rain, and LOTS of it mixed with afternoon sun

Today was the start date of my program, except it was really chill. We had a list of things to do on our own on the main campus, scheduled from 9 to 1. Best part was I got it all done in an hour. Worst part was I got soaked walking around campus. Turns out I did have my umbrella in the car after all.... This is on the drive home.

Tonight we went to Big Al's to celebrate my roommate's birthday. Seems a little out of place considering for how big it is right in the middle of a residential area. There is a HUGE screen to watch at least 9 different sporting events on. Heaven, right?