This past weekend, I happened to be in the city center to do a bit of grocery shopping (bread, anyone?). My friend and I were leaving the store when we happened upon a rather interesting cultural gathering in the town square. We’re still not sure what was going on, but it was still fun to photograph as much as our phones could hold! Below are some pictures from the event, and from the weekend in general.
Tag Archives: life
European Med Life
It’s Labor Day for all my American friends and family, and usually I join in enjoying the day off with copious amounts of food, sleep, and HGTV. But today’s the first time I’ve actually put “laboring” into Labor Day, because it was the first day of classes over here at the University of Pécs Faculty of Medicine.
Yes, that’s right – I’ve officially began my journey as a European med student!
I know, I’ve been MIA from writing these past two weeks as I’ve gotten settled in (shout out to those whom I promised pictures and updates…they will come gradually). But bear with me; I’m a med student now (eek! I get to say that!).
Recently – as in, about two weeks ago – my Dad and I took all my packed bags (which was only 2 suitcases, surprisingly) and headed off on the long journey from Dallas to Pécs (rhymes with “h”), in beautiful southwestern Hungary. Med school is already a crazy ordeal; but to embark on that life change in a new country? Where I don’t speak the official language? Does that sound crazy? Yes? Well, sign me up! I’ve loved travelling since…forever. I’ve also loved medicine (and music and writing, but that’s a different story for another time) for practically my whole life, so in thinking of med schools, I wanted to go to an international school that would seamlessly blend these two passions of mine. And wow, the UP delivered. In my class group (about 15-20 of us), there are students from Jordan, Iran, Israel, Spain, Germany, Norway, Cyprus, Nepal, India, Canada, Argentina, and Nigeria. It’s the norm for students here to be multilingual; if you want motivation to learn a new language, just come here and make some friends. On my first Monday at the school, I met a 3rd year student who spoke nine languages. NINE. And he wasn’t kidding, because he broke out speaking those languages with various other students and patrons who passed by. I was, and am, in heaven just listening to the massive accomplishments of the other students in my med school class. Continue reading
Middle-Child Day!
Happy National Middle Child Day!
…What? You’ve never heard of it?
Neither had I (and I’m a middle child, so…), until I was scrolling along on the Internet this morning and bam! Some ads for TV shows I watch (Fresh Prince, anyone?) were wishing happy middle child days to the middle child of the fictitious TV families. Apparently, this “holiday” comes every August 12, and – not surprisingly – most people don’t know about it. Including myself. Of course, it’s a holiday made up by a blogger somewhere in Somewhere, USA, to slightly jest at what some people call “middle child syndrome”, which in finer terms, is basically the art of forgetting that one of your children (the middle one) exists. I had a really good laugh reading an article written by a middle child on the holiday last year, or as he calls it, “the day the world forgot to celebrate.”
I laugh and joke about being the middle child (and I have such a fantastic family that none of the syndrome “symptoms” apply), but the truth is that many, many people feel just as forgotten as the proverbial middle child. For example, in the Bible, David wasn’t a middle child but he was definitely forgotten, so much so that when the prophet Samuel came to David’s father Jesse’s house to anoint one of them as the new king of Israel, Jesse only presented his first seven sons to Samuel! David came up as an afterthought – Jesse didn’t even mention him until Samuel asked if he had any other sons, and even then, Jesse gave the excuse that he was out tending to the family sheep! (I Samuel 16:1 – 13 NLT) Continue reading
Rice
Last week, I briefly visited my alma mater – Rice University! I didn’t have too much time to take photos (and of course, it was very humid, so my available picture-taking time was rapidly diminished), but I did have a short jaunt to a couple of my favorite places on campus. At least, on the north side of campus.
It’s a special day for me to talk about Rice, as the memorial service for one of the students at my residential college there (Brown) is taking place today in Dallas. This student, who unexpectedly and tragically passed on Monday, was one of the few people I knew of at Rice who could bridge gaps and truly make friends with anyone he met. He was an enthusiastic photographer, and I often caught up on Rice or Brown events by looking through his photos. I only knew him as an acquaintance, so my heart goes out to his family and friends who had grown to know and love him deeply. Continue reading
Beauty
The beauty of God’s world never fails to amaze me. Aren’t you inspired? I saw this lovely scene on my way in to work yesterday and couldn’t help but stare in awe (and take a picture!). The sun and the moon are out in perfect unison!