Where It All Began

Strolling along the streets of Chinatown I came upon the Greyhound station. And then it hit me; this was kinda where my journey of self discovery began.

11 years ago, after LP and I graduated from medschool, this was the humble start of an incredible journey. We flew into Philadelphia to begin our month-long journey across six states to interview at various locations for residency. We intentionally picked locations that would work for both to allow us to share hotel rooms to cut cost (no wonder one program actually thought we were gay partners!)

One month. On a very limited budget. So we took the Greyhound to most places. I remember flying in to PHI and then waiting a few hours to take a late night bus which then dropped us off in a smallish town at 5 AM, to wait for the next connecting bus. It was my first foray into the USA. And truth be told I was overwhelmed initially. The bleeding man who came into the bus terminal asking for money didn't quite help with first impressions.

By the time we were close to wrapping up our journey we were pretty much broke. At our last stop, we stayed at a budget hostel, sharing room with strangers. I was hungry all the time. We cooked instant noodles using the coffee makers , taking turns to eat right out of the carafe since we had one only coffee pot. Though on the very last night we did treat ourselves to a nice Vietnamese dinner. 11 years ago. Who would have thought where this journey would lead? Then again, the journey is only at the start.