NorCal

In the past weeks, I was able to take two trips up to Northern California. One trip was for work, the other for play. The work related trip involved a group of us "shining" medical students in Sacramento, lobbying for health-care reform. The other trip was to San Francisco where I watched the Emerald Bowl game between USC and Boston University. Each trip was for a different reason but there was one constant similarity: Cloudy skies.

SoCal weather is surely missed when you're only seeing overcast skies and contemplating umbrella usage. Nevertheless, the 5-6 hours of driving was well worth it because I was able to spend some quality time with friends and family.

San Francisco

This city is home to many things like the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz, the most crooked street in the world, hardcore recycling, very polite people, and the Tanner Family from Full House. Before the game, Richard, Aivi, and I were able to experience SF as best as we could on a time crunch. Here are the few things that stood out to me: lunch at Dosa on Valencia, the vintage bookstore along Mission where my sister found a collector's Charles Dickens book for a few dollars, and our ridiculously good seats at the game (thanks to Richard's football friend).

Aivi and her $7 investment poncho at the Emerald Bowl.

After the rain storm...USC WON!

Look at how close we are to the team!

One cannot leave SF without setting foot on one of these

Golden Gate Bridge

Sacramento

My classmates and I took a trip up to the capital to learn more about the struggling health-care system in CA. It was a great experience and we were united with other health professionals from all over the state. The two day trip consisted of A LOT of meetings, politics, and discussions on options for the future. Through it all though, we managed to have a good time with one another and experienced hard-core chanting and lobbying..."Hey,hey, ho, ho, health-care greed has got to go!"

In front of the capital

Sacramento Bridge!

Properly dressed for a long day

Play time!