Yoga --> Release of Endorphins

The photo above shows where I took a yoga class this morning. It's on campus (that's right), and it's funded by the school. I'm so glad I finally got the effort to get myself to a yoga class here. There are so many classes on that beach deck throughout the week, and I've been meaning to do it since 1st semester, but for some reason, only got the real will to do it now. While part of me regrets not starting yoga classes here earlier, I'm glad I finally got myself to do it.

And now I AM ADDICTED. With the combination of full body use, inner core training, and the serene surroundings overlooking the Caribbean Sea, I had a pretty huge release of endorphins after 1.5hrs of yoga. Originally, I had the intention of doing yoga purely for the exercise. I find going to the gym to be torture but have always enjoyed yoga every time I did it. Somehow, today was more rewarding than all the other times I've done yoga. I had an overall sense of happiness and well-being right after today's session. Two of my friends felt the same way. So it looks like this is going to be an on-going thing.

Especially with the rigors of med school in what can sometimes be a frustrating environment, there are certain things here that all of a sudden bring us back down and make us realize that life can be good while in medical school in Dominica afterall. I'm hoping to take this positivity and overall sense of well-being that I get from yoga to "real life" and hopefully become one of the few optimistic medical students left around here.

Here's a link with info about the teacher and class I took. As much as I would love to do this 3 times a week, along with classes taught by another teacher here, I'm going to have to realistically only do it once a week. At least for those two weeks leading up to each exam. Hopefully, I can do it twice a week for the other weeks.

Anyways, yoga was incredibly rewarding in every sense today - emotionally and physically, so hopefully I can keep this up!

Latest Dinners

Today, I cooked fish sinigang. The idea started when I found out tamarind was in season here in Dominica. I thought I'd go totally authentic and use real tamarind pulp instead of the Mama Sita's or Knorr's tamarind sinigang powder. I brought some of the powder down just in case. Unfortunately, the Shacks didn't have real tamarind today, so I just ended up using the powder anyways. It turned out to be really good, and it's nice to be able to eat some comfort food down here every now and then. I used trout, but I wish I just bought some frozen fish that didn't have skin or bones in it. My veggies consisted of onions, tomatoes, green beans, and spinach. I'm sure that taro root exists down here because I've had it in local food, but they generally don't sell those at the Shacks. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to use it anyways.


Last week, I used the dried chanterelles I bought at Whole Foods and forgot to use while I was at home. Not really knowing what to do with it down here, I just cooked it in spaghetti with garlic and olive oil, and it was great. It was simple, but it allowed me to appreciate the chanterelles more.

I feel so accomplished every time I cook on this island.

Sinigang is On the Agenda

I decided I'll take a stab at making fish sinigang sometime this week using one of Burnt Lumpia's recipes. I went to Roseau yesterday and bought frozen trout as well as lots of vegetables. I would have bought some kind of fresh fish at the market, but I knew we'd be walking around in the heat for awhile, and I didn't want the bus to stink up on the way back to campus. Also, I knew I wouldn't be making it right away and would have to freeze the fish anyways. Sinigang is comfort food for me, and it seems simple enough to make considering the limitations on this island. Tamarind is in season here in Dominica right now, so that's why I figured I'd try to make it too.

Stay tuned for a post after I try to make it!

Yesterday's Outfit

tshirt - Urban Outfitters
draped vest thingy - Express
jeans - Uniqlo
flats - Boutique 9
necklace - Forever 21

Back on the Island

I've been back on the island since Sunday night, and thankfully, it wasn't as much of a rough start as the beginning of 2nd semester when I had a migraine the entire week and had to do a lot of catching up. So far, we've had 8 hours of lectures everyday. I haven't been able to get myself to wake up early enough for 8am classes, so I've just been watching the lectures online - most of them in 1.5x or doublespeed, which is amazing. Hopefully, by this weekend, I can get into real study mode. This semester is going to be tough with a whole new set of classes and busier schedules.

At least it will be more interesting though. Pathology looks like it'll be really interesting. I know I'm going to hate pharmacology though because I'm just not good at stuff like that. It's nice to see that material learned in 1st semester is already coming back to us and being applied in a more clinical manner. 2nd year is when we start learning more clinical things like talking to patients, physical exams, and things like that. Next Monday, I get to go to the community clinic in the morning. I'm pretty excited. Plus, I get to dress in professional clothing, even with my white coat! I know most of you would love to wear flip flops, shorts, and tshirts everyday like we all do here in the Caribbean, but it's nice to be able to wear something nice for a change.

In other news, my Filipino guy friends and I decided to restart the Filipino club here at Ross. I didn't think I'd be into the whole thing because I thought I was so over it after NYU, but I've realized how important it is to have a positive social circle here at Ross. The clubs in med school are not taken half as seriously as clubs in undergrad, especially NYU. In fact, it's almost kind of BS here compared to undergrad. The clubs here are really just a way to get involved in the community, whether it be medically-related or just socially, but it's not very time-consuming whatsoever. I guess it's because we're all in med school, and we all know that studying comes first and foremost.

Time for American Idol Top 3 :)

Doing Nothing in Miami

I'm spending the night in Miami because I couldn't schedule a flight that gets to Dominica in one day. Is it crazy for me to say that I like this airport hotel and wouldn't even mind staying here an extra day if I had to? The pillows are amazing, and the flatscreen tv is huge! Miami is huge, but it would have been cool to go into at least the nice part of it. Not really worth it though, plus I'm waiting for my friend, who's sharing this room with me, to arrive. My sister is actually in Miami now doing Habitat for Humanity, but it'd be too much of a hassle for us to meet up, considering neither of us know Miami at all.

I'll enjoy a nice bed tonight, but after I wake up, I know I'll just want to be back in my Dominica apt so I can unpack and get settled back in again. As crazy as this sounds, I'm actually kind of excited to start 2nd year. I know it's going to be a lot harder, but it'll at least be more interesting. Hopefully, that alone will motivate me more to study well and get better grades. I did better 2nd semester than I did in 1st, so I'm hoping I can continue this upward trend.

I've been slowly but surely updating my food blog, so keep checking back for more and more updates. I still have to continue recapping my awesome visit to NYC last week. It's already overdue, but I'll still do it anyways.

Until then, wish me safe travels back to the rock!

Favorite Outfit That I Wore Last Weekend

Exaggerated Side Tee - Dirty Violet
Footless Tights - Urban Outfitters
Purse - vintage, bought on eBay for $15 (no shipping!)
Belt - Urban Outfitters (probably my favorite belt ever)
Necklace - vintage, gift from Emily
Shoes - Miz Mooz

Here's a close up on the shoes. Pardon my vein-y lower extremities.

O&X

I got a new pair of O&X glasses yesterday. I change my frames every few years, so I figured it was time for a new pair. I was never one for the plastic frames or black rims, but maybe it was time for a change. What I like most about these are the soft seagreen eyeglass stems. I like to keep things simple when it comes to eyewear, but these add some character. Everyone agreed this was the best pair on my face, so I went for it. Since these were expensive and more fashionable than the glasses I'd normally get, I'm going to try wearing my glasses outside of the house more, at last on occasion.

Last Friday was quite busy. I woke up early to visit my old coworkers. I REALLY loved working at NYUSOM's Center for the Study of Asian-American Health. Working there was a very enjoyable and valuable experience for me, and I can only hope that I can continue to contribute in one way or another when I move back to NYC for the rest of med school.

After my morning visit, I quickly met up with Viv who was kind enough to lend Gabe and I her's and Julian's MoMa membership cards so we wouldn't have to pay a ridiculous $25 entrance fee. Before Gabe and I went to the MoMa, we had lunch at The Modern's Bar Room. I still have yet to blog about that, so stay tuned. It was a wonderful lunch, albeit expensive (for us). But the food was delicious, and everything I ordered was light and spring-y.

The MoMa was great fun and made for a nice Friday afternoon Gabe+Trish date. Going to museums was something I didn't really take advantage of while in college, and the MoMa was one I've always wanted to go to. Since Gabe has more of an appreciation for art than I do, it was a field trip we were both equally into. When one is completely engulfed into the world of medicine, it's easy to fall out of the loop when it comes to the arts and culture. I know that when I (hopefully) come back to NYC for clerkships, I'm probably going to be insanely busy, but I really hope I can make the effort to take advantage of all that NYC has to offer. I think I did a pretty good job at this when I lived there before, but there's still so much more to experience and discover.


Back to Friday. Since the rain decided to come down hard, we decided against going to the Union Sq Greenmarket and made a trip to Agata&Valentina instead to find things to cook with. We got ramps and applewood smoked bacon and decided to make spaghetti with that. Before coming to NYC, I had this plan to cook a big 3-course dinner with Gabe, and it didn't happen. There was just so much going on that weekend, and I didn't want to spend too much time prepping in Gabe's tiny apt. So we settled with pasta, but it turned out to be some DAMN good pasta.

After that, we hurried over to Cheryl's 24th 90's-themed birthday party, which involved Bon Chon, liquor, Ssips, goodie bags with ring pops and push pops, all-90's karaoke, and 90's clothes (which I was unable to participate in). It was a good time, and I was fondly reminded of my middle school years - rather appropriate since those were the years I kept up with music so well. Some of us then hopped over to Rohm where Derick and Asa were spinning for IFA's end of the year party. Didn't mean to crash an undergrad party, but I wanted to say hi/bye to Franny who was unable to make it Saturday night and who will be moving back to Virginia after school ends. It was great to see him...sigh, I missed that guy so much.

Friday was an awesome, yet hectic, day - very New York City. It was a day that reminded me of why I love NYC so much. Good food, culture, and good peoples. :)

New York Craziness

Before heading off to NYC for 4 days, I had the idea in my mind that I would update my blog(s) everyday to recap each day, and obviously that did not happen. It was quite the hectic weekend. I almost felt like I could no longer keep up with the pace of NYC. Has Dominica softened me up and slowed me down too much? Gosh, I hope not. My feet were killing me after Day 1 of NYC, even with the super comfy pair of flats I've been wearing most days since semester 2 started. What's even worse is that I felt like I had issues staying up past 1am. Yes, I am in medical school, and I RARELY ever stay up past midnight. Anyways, here's a bulletpoint recap of Day 1 - Thursday:

- got to Gabe's apt around 11am
- started our snacktime with pork belly buns and cookies at Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar
- walked over to Baoguette Cafe for a classic bahn mi
- did our usual SoHo window-shopping - mine and Gabe's typical Saturday or Sunday afternoon, but this time a Thursday :)
- scoped out Topshop - thought it was a bit expensive for what it was, but overall, good style
- randomly ran into Ayu (one of my good medical school friends) on Broadway and Broome
- got stopped on Elizabeth St. btwn Prince and Houston by whom I assume was a photographer. She thought my red Marc by Marc Jacobs bag was cute and asked to take pictures of it. Should have asked what blog/website she was shooting for. If you see me somewhere on the web, let me know. I've always secretly wanted to be stopped and photographed for streetstyle photo purposes, and it finally happened after my long hiatus from NY haha.
- dinner with some people at Yakitori - crispy kawa and hotate bacon didn't hit the spot as much as it usually does, darnit.
- had planned on a drink date with Gabe at Death&Co, but ended up at a sports bar to catch the long end to the Bulls vs. Celtics Game 6
- Game 6 was RIDICULOUS RIDICULOUS RIDICULOUS
- Gabe and I were on cloud 9 all the way home on the M15 after the Bulls win during 3OT

Great 1st day in NYC. More to come...