August.. Back to the Sandbox

August has arrived, and I just got back from New York a day ago, actually (:

I have lots of mixed feelings about being back in the "sandbox" as my friend would always call it :p After California, I insisted on my parents that we pass by New York again before we go back to Saudi. I won. Lol.. So instead of going back to Saudi on the 27th, we went to New York again and stayed there till the 31st. So, my issue is that wherever I go, EACH YEAR, is how attached I get to the place I travel to. Very attached. Like, I wanna live & study here and spend my whole life here and have kids here and have neighbors and meet people here attached. New York and California were two amazingly different places, yet I enjoyed each one so so much. People would ask me which one is nicer? Which did you have more fun in? My answer: your question is non applicable, sorry :p
so they'd get all pissed and give up in trying to make small talk with me. Unfortunately, I can't make up my mind and I can't give a more reasonable answer. I JUST LIKE BOTH. They're really different. So I can't compare. It's like asking me if I like steaks or oranges better :/ Anyways, yeah, after a pleasant dinner in Benihana of Tokyo on La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, we went for a drive through the city.. Nighttime in Los Angeles was truly something else. The cool chilly weather, the ambience of the streets, the whole setting of the city.. It isn't something you could forget! Especially that on that night, we drove through the UCLA campus, student apartments, and the fraternity and sorority houses with the huge Greek letters.. I gazed admirably at everything around me and tried helplessly to keep each bit in my photographic memory.. I wanted to study there! I really did with all my heart. Knowing that that's not going to happen anytime soon (hopefully for my residency though!!!), melancholy set in, and I started feeling bittersweet about the whole thing :( We got back to the hotel after a much enjoyable stroll around town, and somehow, my dad detected my unnerve-ness and asked what was wrong? I didn't say anything much.. Just a sigh and a hmph,, but what amazed me is what he said next. He put his arm around my shoulder and said while smiling: "Don't fall in love with California, Reem.. I'm telling you. Don't fall in love with L.A. It's a lost battle!" to which I replied.. HMPH! *DEEP UPSET SIGH* I was dumbstruck with what he said that I remained speechless :| To be frank though, that coming from a person who has studied in USC and Cal State and has practically lived in California for the whole duration of his late teens up to his mid-twenties, I think that's pretty unfair *talktohand* He got to fall in love, why can't I? :''''(
Aaah. So, yeah, New York on the way back was uber fun too.. 5th Avenue was a shoppers haven, and Macy's on 34th Street downright CONFUSING! LOL! It was HUGE! I hope I get to visit each year :D A med student needs a break every nine months now, doesn't she?

Moving on to Saudi news, Saudi has been hot, humid, and toasty :D Coming from weather that ranged from 22 to 32 (max) degrees celsius in the afternoon, I am now confronted with a forecast that has 45 degrees as a daily average :D YAY! So that's something I need to get used to.. Ramadan starts in approximately 9 days or so, and I'm looking forward to it! More Saudi news.. Umm.. I got to meet my new cousin Lulu! and I am now reunited with baby Saif, the cutest cousin anyone could ever have. Also, my close friend is leaving to Michigan to study human resources in 12 days. Only 12 days left and my friend leaves forever for the next 5 years (minus Christmas breaks, maybe.) and I can't get myself to come to peace with her leaving. I'm trying to be all happy about it and stuff but I'm just not feeling it :/ Mind you, this is the friend who I had planned my entire future with and the one who was supposed to follow our shared dream of medicine with me at the same university. I guess life likes to take abrupt turns and ruin all your prior plans fo evaaa :D I wish her future luck and all the best, even though things didn't turn out quite the way I wanted them to be.

My Delightful Summer

I'm currently writing (typing, actually) from Biella, an Italian cafe/pizzeria situated right across Virgin on the first floor of City Center in Bahrain. Today, I fear, has been a very very disturbing day for me.

8 hours and 53 minutes ago, I found out my fate for the summer.

I'd been planning to go the States ever since last November, marking each day off my -mental- calendar. As the academic year came to an end, I grew more and more excited. CALIFORNIA BABY! I haven't been there in forever and I desperately needed a booster shot. Planned take off day: July 11th. My god I have been waiting for this day since the 29th of December to be exact :D Anyway, back to the initial story.. My fate for the summer: spending it in good old Khobar. No States (for overpowering reasons we have no control over.) I've been maintaining my mental & psychological state fairly well since that had been announced. For the past 9 hours, I'd been acting pretty damn good. Sure I was sorta gloomy -and who wouldn't be after finding out something like that? But nonetheless, I'd been semi-normal.

My parents decided to go to Bahrain and tagged me along. We saw Toy Story 3 which didn't help in making me feel better contrary to what I believed its effect would be, because it just reminded me of Disney Land and Universal Studios, both in California. Where I'm not going. I'd become idle. And amazingly, not hungry :S I'd gotten a popcorn and a Coke for the movie, and didn't touch either until my mom asked: "are you fasting today Reem :S?" After that I forcibly had almost the entire bucket & chugged down my Coke. I think I thought that nothing was worth anything anymore. After the movie we went around shopping for stuff (with me being utterly uninterested in everything) and eventually we came here to have dinner. Being the gloomy uninterested apetiteless person I am, I barely spoke a word while deciding on what to eat. After a little chatting we ordered -I was obliged to order something or else my parents would've gotten extremely pissed at me. I got spinach and ricotta ravioli.

As we waited for the food, my parents started talking about their trip and travel plans. I just held the menu (yes, I did keep it even though it was far past ordering time. But in case I wanted a drink, since I opted not to get one) and read it. Again and again and again. I'd practically memorized it. Just so that I wouldn't have to take part in their conversation, to block them out. Their discussion was upsetting me and I couldn't -and wouldn't- tolerate it. 42 times of reading the menu later, cover to cover, I can now work as a certified Biella waiter :D

The food arrived, and I have to say, it was very good. Delicious. After 2 tempura prawns, one pizza slice, and 2 ravioli's though, I couldn't have anymore. And that's very alarming for a person like me :) minimal eating at a restaurant -or anytime, for that matter- has got to be a warning sign for something gone wrong. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. I tried forgetting about it and enjoying my time, but it just wouldn't happen. Aaannnddd, as I resumed writing this post in the car, my mom started complaining about my bad attitude and constant bbm use today -the latter being not true, I had my phone shut off the whole time we were in Bahrain. Most likely she meant my use of it in morning and afternoon..

Anyhow, I just wanna go to sleep and wake up realizing that this was all just a dream. Or a false reality. Or a hallucination of some sort. Unfortunately, waking up tomorrow will only make matters worse, as that means my summer days are ending and I'm not going anywhere. After all my planning, my hopes, my expectations, my everything for a half a month in Los Angeles and half a month in New York, it's all over. And its irreversible. It really is over. I have to suck it up till this summer ends, uni starts, JC 1 and 2 are over, and 11 months later, my summer starts again and I MAY or MAY NOT travel anywhere. Again. No London, no States, no Japan, no Lebanon, and no Turkey. Yay. I know I should remain positive and crap etc etc, that this isn't the end of the world.. But you're not in a position to judge me -.- so I'll exert all the negativity I want for the next year until summer '11 is here! Boo ya! Therefore, I'm sorry wall in Saks Fifth Avenue advising me to "think about smiling at everyone I pass on the street today because I wont believe how contagious it is." I just can't find it in me to do that today (or this month). Though I'd usually love doing so, my optimism has officially depleted.

10 hours after I'd found out my fate for the summer, the frustration and disappointment inside me are playing it up and are finally inducing me with a migraine.

As if I need one right now.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from Aljawal

Well, it's official. Summer is finally here.
Yes, as amazing as it seems, the year is over. I mean, it's been what, 9 moths since we started the academic year? NINE MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE I STARTED IN RCSI! I'm done with my first year in uni. Wow. That's pretty cool to think about. First year of med school: check :)
Haha, sorry I'm just repeating myself, but I'm really intrigued by this.
That means only 5 more years enshallah :D
About today, we ended our exam at 2 PM promptly, after which I rode with Noura in her car. Instantly, she hooked her iTrip and by 2:05 we were ready to celebrate! She announced this song to be pretty appropriate for our situation.. After which I declared it to be my official summer song (in my head or aloud, not sure :x)



I love it! So happy and upbeat. Haha, totally complemented the moment!!

We reached City Center by 2:15 and started our movie by 2:30. Let me tell you, Prince of Persia was very very nice. I loved every bit. I wont talk about it here so I wont ruin it for anyone who wants to watch it but it's definitely worth watching..
Aaaannnddd, after that, I was on my way to my beloved home.. Finally, a weekend with no uni on Sunday, or Monday, or any day after that for that matter :")
Anyhow, here's to a great year with the oh so fabulous Nouraba7.. We'll kick ass in JC enshallah! Oo 3ugbal 9aef our 6th year!

Moving on to my summer plans:

• Bake cupcakes.
  
• Bake big cakes.
  
• Bake cookies.
  
• Bake pies.
  
• Bake some more.
  
• Cook.
• Bake.
  

(I'll stop this now)

• Get a license.. Something I urgently need to do.
  
• Lose 15 kg's. (This has been a summer plan {and a new year resolution} for the past 5 years now :D)
• Get my room prettified.
  
• Sleep. Gotta catch up on sleep.
  
• CATCH UP ON SHOWS!!!!!!!!! I have way too many.
• Read a few books.
  

Most are pretty pointless. Lol.. Buttt.. I have a right to be pointless. For the next three months at least.. So, not a very interesting post to you guys, but to me, it's pretty intense ;)
Till next time.. x