Hey guys! Long time, no see!
Well, I finally got my DSL up and running, I have a new phone, a bed, a fridge, a lawn mower (rather essential), and the washer/dryer FINALLY comes tomorrow, which is none to soon, as I already have 3 pair of scrubs that I'm ready to torch due to the formaldehyde fumes. I am also getting cable tomorrow, which is rather amusing, as I have no TV as of yet. Not that I have time for TV right now, mind you, but it's just a nice thing to have. I have updates for you folks, which you may or may not be interested in, but just two cents from someone who was thrown into the deep end the past couple weeks and has managed to keep at least one nostril above water at any given time. Let me tell you, moving into a new house in a new city is bad enough. Add med school to the mix, and that's a recipe for potential disaster. Read on, but I warn you....it's a long one. (If you read anything, please read the part entitled "About living in Baltimore," as I think it's really important.)
About the PSP: I knew that this program was going to be "intense". However, I did not know that by "intense" they meant "impossible." I just took a midterm today that had only 2 weeks worth of lecture and lab material on it, and it kicked my ass. And it's not like I didn't study. True, I forfeited precious study time this weekend to attend a wedding, god forbid, but I was in lab for like 3 hours on Sunday and studied the rest of the evening. I didn't give it my all, that's true, but seriously, who knew that you would have to learn this much in 2 weeks? Undergrad was challenging. Grad school was hard. This is downright suicidal. The good news? The first few weeks this fall is gonna be cake. Or so they keep telling us. I think it's to raise morale, which is so deep in the red now I dunno if it's ever gonna swing the other side of zero.
Also, we all don't really hang out, since most people are commuters. Which sucks, cause I really don't know anyone here yet. The past couple of weekends I have gone back to the DC area, since that's where the majority of my family and friends are. I hope this changes soon! I'd like to find out where the hotspots are in Balto.
And everyone, buy at least 5 pairs of scrubs before the semester starts, so you can rotate 'em and not smell like a horse's patute every day.
About living in Baltimore: I see the ongoing debate between Coz and LS, and you both make good points. At the moment, however, my own personal interpretation of Balmore (as they call it here, hon) runs along the lines of Coz's. Not to turn anyone off from moving here, or to further anger you, LS, but I have to say that I've spent the past two weeks sleeping in this house, and I have been terrified to the point of almost calling the police at least 4 times (I actually called once). The problem is that the crackheads/drunks like to hang out on the streets 24-7, even in the fairly residential section of Balto that I live in. For example, last week on a random Wednesday night, my roommate and I were awakened at 2:30am by a woman walking up and down the block, clearly cracked out of her mind, hollering at the top of her lungs, "ALAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!? I JUST WANNA TALK TO YOU! I'M GONNA F#$%ING KILL YOU!!" over and over. I tried really hard to sleep through this, but after about 30 minutes of this, "Alan" finally appeared, and the two got into it. Someone called the cops, and 6 cops cars (I **** you not, they all pulled up directly outside my house), with lights blazing, come screaming down Washington Blvd and park it directly on either side of my room. So now I have been up since 2:30 because of this b%$%'s hollering, it's already after 3 by this point, and there's no way I'm getting any sleep with the police lights whizzing around my room. So I take my sleeping bag and comforter and go sleep on the floor in the living room. I have no idea what happened, but the cops were pounding on doors and talked to some of my neighbors.
A few nights before that, I woke up at 4 am to the sound of a different male and female couple arguing directly outside my window. At first they were just yelling and screaming, but then the guy broke a glass bottle on the pavement and was threatening her with the broken glass. She walks across the street, he follows, and I grab my phone and am about to call 911 just as two cops pull up and arrest the dude. I guess someone else had heard them yelling and beat me to the punch.
The week prior to that, I was driving down Wash Blvd about 1/2 mile from my house, and saw this woman standing on the sidewalk in her UNDERWEAR. She was flailing and screaming, so I thought that perhaps she was either cracked out on something, or a rape victim. So I turned around where I could see her, and called the cops. Luckily they came pretty quickly and took her away, I guess she was on something.
My point by telling you about all of this? My neighborhood is what I would consider residential, almost suburbia. Granted, the WT abounds (like no other place I've ever been before), but it's a really residential area with houses and kids and stuff (although most of the moms look to be under 18 and the kids have mouths on them that you wouldn't believe, even the under 10-year-olds). So I can only imagine what it is like deeper in the city! It's true that you can go 1 block away in some areas, and it's like being in a different world. But please, PLEASE be careful. I feel like I'm constantly on guard, and I still feel unsafe, even during the day. The crackheads and dangerous types have no particular time, I've heard them hollering at each other at 7 am, at 2 pm, at 8pm, at 11pm, at 2 in the morning....it doesn't matter. There are drug deals going on across the street day in broad daylight. And they are incredibly bold about it, too. Some of them don't even make an effort to hide it. Maybe it's the particular street that I live on, but I think the problem is rampant all over the city. I didn't realize just how bad it truly is. And, as I'm sure you know, drug problems breed other problems, like violent crimes. I honestly wouldn't care as much about the crack if it didn't lead to things like hiked murder rates.
As I'm sitting here typing now, there's a popping noise coming from down the street, and I'm wondering if it's someone's car or something worse. I never know. I try to ignore it, but it's really getting to me. People around here are so gross. They throw trash and broken glass wherever they want, especially in my yard and on the sidewalk out front of my door. They don't talk to each other, they YELL to each other. They curse and spit and throw things at each other. They blast their car stereos and revv their engines right outside my house. They have no common courtesy and no respect for their neighbors or neighborhood. I love the school that I go to, but I really hate this neighborhood, I hate this city, and I'm really starting to hate the people here. There's a bunch of dudes outside right now, yelling and screaming and it's 11 at night. And these are the people who we are going to have to care for when we start working at the hospital. I can't even imagine. I don't care how horrible I sound by saying that. Human beings just shouldn't act like this.
At least I got a security system - thank god for ADT.
About owning a home: First of all, never, I repeat, NEVER, buy a home with a yard. Yes, it may sound great, "Oh I can have barbecues and hang out on my deck and what not," but it's SOOOOO much more hassle than it's worth. When I moved into my house I realized that I don't have any grass in my backyard. It's just weeds. That's right, no grass, all weeds. I spent an hour this afternoon pulling weeds. Pretty soon my yard is gonna be just dirt. Ugh.
Now, if you will excuse me, I think I'm going to go call the police because these *****s outside won't stop yelling and now they're running back and forth across the street into oncoming traffic. What the f$%^ is wrong with people in this city??? I hate Baltimore.
