9 days till graduation

Despite not feeling 100%, I still managed to get out and hang out with as many friends as I could fit into my schedule before leaving Atlanta.  I started out May 2, the morning after I finished school, by picking up my friend Lois from the Emory climbing wall.  I hadn't seen her since December for various reasons, but we managed to get together and take a walk up Stone Mountain.  It was clearer than I've ever seen it up there, with just enough breeze to make the temperature pretty perfect.

clear view from the top of stone mountain, and me with lois

After dropping Lois off I visited Ashley, an Emory PT second year who also attends Passion City Church, at her new place.  Her current clinical runs Sunday through Thursday, so I hadn't seen her at church in weeks (she did make it to Good Friday Atlanta).  That evening was Graduate Christian Fellowship's First Friday Dinner.  Due to CSM in Las Vegas in February, the Dominican Republic trip in March, and the Vestibular course in April, I hadn't made it to one since last semester.  It was fun to hang out and catch up with people, and make a couple of new friends.

steffi, amara, lydi, lily, me, jonathan, then the whole group shot from first friday dinner

Saturday morning I got up early and headed out to Dunwoody to meet up with James and Jonathan for another hike.  We headed north to a piece of the Appalachian trail, hiking up Blood Mountain, the highest peak on the Georgia portion of the trail with an elevation of 4458 feet.  Following directions I found online, we made it a "lollipop loop" where only the beginning and end of the trail were the same.  It was nice, with the route we took up the mountain being longer, less steep, and much less traveled.  We saw only a couple of people before we rejoined the Appalachian trail but found a crowd of probably 30 people having lunch at the summit.  As promised in what I read online, there were sweeping views from the top and also on the way down.

james, me, and jonathan atop blood mountain

Sunday was my second-to-last time at Passion City Church, then in the afternoon I headed over to my classmate Dan's place.  He had a 5 month old baby boy I had yet to meet, and I hadn't seen his wife since before she gave birth.  I had a pleasant time hanging out with them before meeting up with Debbie and Laura from Veritas Church for dinner at La Parrilla.

Monday started off with Caleb from Graduate Christian Fellowship coming over to hang out at my place and sing songs together - we'd done it once before during Snowpocalypse round 1 and agreed we wanted to sing together again.  Then, I met Gina, my climbing wall co-worker, for a leisurely celebratory lunch after her last undergrad final followed by Frappuccinos at Starbucks since there was a half-off special for a few days.

A bonus I garnered from Saturday's hike is that both James and Jonathan are pilots, and they offered to take me up with them sometime in the coming week.  I managed to rearrange my schedule to meet James, who is also a flight instructor, at PDK (Peachtree-DeKalb Airport) on Monday afternoon.  I had the incredible experience of sitting in the pilot's seat of a single-prop Cessna and actually flying it for some of the time we were in the air.  We headed southwest over Passion City Church and near downtown, then headed east toward Stone Mountain, passing south of the Emory campus.  We looped around Stone Mountain and then I got to fly us north out past Lake Lanier.  James flew us lower down over the lake before having me take us back near the airport.

1980 cessna 172p, inside the cockpit, and a statue near the passenger terminal

view of cdc and emory from the air

Later that evening, I got together with Kelly, one of my good friends from Passion City Church, and walked a bit of the BeltLine that is near her place.  On Tuesday, I went around 10:30 am to get an oil change since my car was about to be driven across the country.  I had been assured on the phone that it would take 45 minutes, so I figured I could still meet Karen at Stone Summit to climb by noon.  Over 2 hours later, my car was finally done, and I still had to get back home.  We ended up meeting at Starbucks for half-off Frappuccinos instead.  My friend Brian from Intown Community Church came over for dinner - I hadn't seen him since fall since neither he nor I were attending Intown any more - I wanted to congratulate him on his engagement as well as catch up and then say goodbye.  I headed out again after dinner to hang out with another Passion City Church friend, Nick.  We were planning to take a walk, but I ended up bringing leftover dinner for him and we just sat and chatted while he ate.

hanging out with (clockwise from top left) karen, kelly, gina, and nick

Wednesday morning I did some more last-minute errand running before meeting up with Elizabeth from Graduate Christian Fellowship for lunch on campus.  Steffi also stopped by briefly to say hi, so we got a photo of the three of us:

elizabeth, steffi, and me

My parents arrived that afternoon, so I picked them up from the airport.  We went back to my place, then walked around campus before getting half-off Frappuccinos from Starbucks (yes, I was doing my best to make the most of the deal while it lasted!).  I took them to pick up their rental car, then we went to my father's grad school friend's (David and Lucy's) house where they would stay for a couple of nights.  We went out to dinner with David and Lucy at Downwind Restaurant, coincidentally at the Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.  The next day my parents and I had a lazy morning before heading up to Acworth to visit cousin Linda for a night.  I hadn't seen her for a year and a half, since Thanksgiving 2012.  My parents hadn't seen her since my cousin Annie's wedding in 2009.  Before she got off work, we had half-off Frappuccinos again, then met her for dinner at Chili's - my parents and I shared a full rack of ribs.

with my parents and cousin linda (and apollo)

The next morning I got up super early and drove to Woodstock to meet my clinical instructor from my short-term outpatient clinical in July 2012.  We had a good 45 minute chat before his first patient, then I headed back for breakfast with my family at Linda's house.  We got back into Atlanta in time for me to meet the professors and other preceptors from the General Medical Conditions course for a late lunch.  My parents met up with David and Lucy again, and had dinner with them at Saba, around the corner from my place.  I joined them briefly before going to pick up a couple of friends to climb at Wall Crawlers.

with david and lucy

last time climbing at wall crawlers:
marius, tiffany, david, me, katherine, and brent

Saturday morning was a "Legacy Breakfast" at Glenn Memorial Church.  Since my mother got her Master's degree at Emory, I am therefore a legacy.  After a continental breakfast, my mother placed a Legacy Medallion around my neck during a ceremony in the church building.  In the afternoon, we met up with Laura, a family friend from our days in Seaside, CA, her husband Ernesto and mother America for a late lunch at Atlanta Fish Market.  The food was delicious and company delightful.

legacy medallion

ernesto, laura, my mother, me, america, my father

Sunday my parents joined me for my last Sunday at Passion City Church, we had lunch at a Vietnamese/ Thai place, and then we just lounged around my house as I attempted to sell all my furniture on Craigslist.  My bed was the first to go on Saturday night, so I had to sleep on my air mattress for the next three nights.  Lounging around was not unwelcome, as my father had started feeling poorly on the day after my parents arrived - we put it down to allergies as he had bad hay fever with Atlanta pollen in the past.

Monday morning I got up super early and headed over to campus for the Emory Commencement ceremony.  It was scheduled to begin at 8, we were supposed to line up at 7, and I was trying to meet friends in other departments for photos by 6:50.  I only managed to meet Caleb for a photo because the others were late, but it was good to say goodbye before he heads off to do his PhD at Indiana University and I return to the west coast.

pre-commencement photos with friends

After the commencement ceremony in the quad, we proceeded to WHSCAB (Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building) - the site of our interviews, orientation, many lectures, and now graduation ceremony.  Along with my parents, Anika, David, and Lucy attended graduation, and Marius showed up to say hi before we left.  We had lunch at Mary Mac's Tea Room, a historic Atlanta restaurant offering a Southern experience.  Anika joined us and my cousin Rachel met us there.  My father, Anika, and I shared a full rack of ribs with fried green tomatoes and collard greens as sides - DELICIOUS!

with my parents at graduation

my parents and me with rachel at mary mac's

My parents and I went back to my place where I started packing up my car and waiting for more Craigslist customers to buy furniture.  I ended up selling most of it and making a deal with the new tenant in my place for a bunch of the rest of it.  The next day was our scheduled departure date - beginning of Cross-Country Road Trip Version 2014!