Thursday, July 6. London.
After a 12-hour flight, now I'm in Heathrow Airport in London. One thing I was glad to find out was that I don't have to claim my baggage until I'm in Nairobi. I wouldn't want to lug around two ~60lb bags for the next 8 hours while I wait for my next flight. I had to take a bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4... It kind of reminded me of Narita Airport in Japan.
I found a room called Multi-faith prayer room, so I went in and prayed there for a while. I've never been to anything like it before. There were lots of blankets or prayer mats in one corner, and there was a set of drawers labeled with different religions: Islam, Hindu, Christianity, and Shiite. I didn't look into them, but I could guess what's in them. Interestingly, there was a compus on the ceiling which pointed to north, west, south, east and "MAKKAH" in the southeast direction. Everyone I saw in the room were Muslims. They seem so disciplined when it comes to praying. That's something I'm lacking: discipline in prayer. While I'm in Kenya, I want to discipline myself to pray more everyday.
Right now I'm in a place called Quiet Sitting Room. It's more like a place to sleep. There are a few recliners, but mostly there are small cushioned chairs. Pretty much everyone is using two chairs: one for sitting, the other to put the legs up (which is what I'm doing). Whoever designed this place should have put recliners all around so people can just sleep...
So I brought a voltage converter, so I could plug in my computer and recharge it. But for some reason the outlet only fits loosely, and the converter is making a buzzing noise... I've never used the converter before, so I don't know if it's supposed to make that noise or if it's just because of the plug. I just hope the noise doesn't annoy anyone.
While I was in the plane, I realized that I'm seriously going to be in Kenya for a while... Yeah, maybe it's kind of late to realize that, but I had some time to really think about it in the plane. It's a pretty crazy thing, what I'm doing. The song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley comes to my mine... "Maybe I'm crazy... Probably..."
Sweet. I just found another outlet that was more compatible with the plug that I had. I don't even have to use the converter, so there's no more buzzing noise. On top of that, now I'm sitting on a recliner that's next to the outlet. I could just fall asleep when I'm done typing. Double sweet. I almost freaked out when my laptop started to buzz with the converter, like physically vibrate... Not a good sign at all. Anyway...
So this trip will be the furthest and the longest I'll be away from my parents in my life... That's such a strange thought. I want to boarding school during 4th and 5th grade, so I was away from my parents for a few months at a time, but we were all in Japan. This time I'll be almost halfway around the globe from my parents (10-hour time zone difference between LA and Nairobi), and I'll be gone for 4.5 months. Then I'll be gone again for another 6 months from January... Seriously, what is happening to my life? God, where are You taking me, and what are You going to do with me? I can only trust him.
I was going to finish my med school apps before I left, but obviously that didn't happen. I have some ideas on what to write for my personal statement, but I wasn't sure what to say about my trip to Kenya. I figured once I'm there, I would have a little better idea what I'll be doing, and I could write a stronger personal statement... I hope. In any case, I need to submit my application ASAP to increase the chance of my admission.
I'm still not sure where I really want to go to med school. UCLA would be nice, since I could probably live at my fraternity house again and save some money. But I would be glad to go to any California schools... Well they are all pretty competitive to get into though. I'm applying to several schools in NYC because it seems like a really cool place to live and there are a several "safety" schools. I'm hoping to get all my interviews done while I'm back in the the States from end of November to January. It's going to be crazy just flying all over the place for interviews... I don't even know how I'm going to pay for all the airfares.
Hmm... I'm hungry. They never give you enough food on the plane. I usually don't ask for more food because it's not that good, but maybe I should have. Oh well. As soon as my laptop is fully charged, I'll go get some food... Or I'll just go get some food now and finish charging my laptop while I sleep. The latter sounds better. Oh, I also need to exchange the currency. Ugh. Alright. Peace out.
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