My Travel Blog

Today was my break day, so I decided to go to Yosemite National Park to get a break from the city. The forest was absolutely beautiful, and such a refreshing break from the concrete jungle. It was a bit colder than what I expected, but the views were absolutely worth braving the chilly temperatures. Sadly, the pictures do not fully capture the beauty of Yosemite. I definitely recommend in going to Yosemite in person! Here's a redwood tree with a tunnel carved into it. Just look at the size of the trunk in comparison to the size of me. It's huge. I had to wait my turn in order to get this picture.  The cliffs. I think this may have been Half-Dome? Sadly it was super misty on this day and I couldn't fully see the cliffs' full height.  Pretty sure this was the third tier of the Yosemite Falls. Usually there isn't much water in the waterfall (due to the recent droughts), but this year California had a record amount of snowfall. The melted snow cont

It's my last day at City Impact. I didn't expect for it to feel so bittersweet, especially since I've only been here for 4 days, but I have grown to really care for the people here. There is just so much love and kindness at this clinic, and the staff and volunteers are so warm and friendly. Today, a dentist and orthodontist came in. I was able to shadow them for a couple of hours, and then ended up having a long conversation with the dentist. I was touched because she literally didn't need to reach out and care for me, but she did. She asked how my journey as a pre-dental student was going, and gave me advice and encouragement. Sometimes the patients that come into the clinic look scary on the outside, but on the inside, they're just people like you and me that want to be loved and cared for. Marvin is one of those people. He comes in once a day (honestly mainly to talk to people), and so I decided to talk to him as he sat in the waiting room. It was interestin

Today was a bit of a slower day, especially since Dr. Clifford wasn't working. Instead, I helped out around the clinic with anything that the head nurse, Katie, would ask me to do. However, I had more time to interact with patients today. I talked to Ed, one of the regulars, as I helped the nurses bandage up his leg. During one of my conversations, I also learned a bit more about the Tenderloin district, which is where City Impact is located. Because of all the big-tech companies (like Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) that have moved into San Francisco, the value of land has soared. Thus, housing costs have shot through the roof, causing an increase in people becoming homeless. The Tenderloin district is the heart of the homeless population, and it's a huge problem for the city. But it's also wonderful that as the population of homeless people increased, so did the number of resources that aim to help get people off the streets, including City Impact. After volunteering at C

Second day at City Impact's health clinic. Today was a busy day at the health clinic, with many patients walking in for check-ups. Because of this, I was asked to help out a bit more around the clinic. I helped clean up, check in patients, and helped get anything a patient needed. I learned how to take someone's vitals- how to take someone's blood pressure, temporal temperature, and how to decide if a person has a regular or irregular heartbeat. During free time, I was able to practice on the other volunteer that was at City Impact with me. I really enjoyed learning this because it was more hands-on and was a skill that I could directly use in real life.

As today was my first full day in San Francisco, I decided to go to the Asian Art Museum first instead of the planned Legion of Honor/de Young Museum. The Asian Art Museum is located at 200 Larkin Street, across from the San Francisco City Hall building. The building itself is grand and impressive, with a large Asian-style statue in the front of its main entrance. I started looking at exhibits on the third floor. The museum is organized in chronological order, starting with the oldest art on the third floor. Having taken Asian Philosophy last semester, I was super excited to be able to learn even more about these cultures. There were a couple takeaways from the Asian Art Museum: I found it interesting how all the Eastern cultures had influenced each other in some way, yet each culture made their own "spin" on the art. For example, as Buddhism spread across the continent and made its way into various countries, artworks portraying Buddha followed. Thai-style statues o

First day of volunteering at City Impact! On my first day, I shadowed Dr. Clifford Lau, the doctor at the health clinic. Since a smaller amount of patients came in, I had some time to chat with Dr. Lau. I learned about how his faith influenced how he treated his patients, like how he does his absolute best to show love to each one of his patients, no matter how difficult they might be. Dr. Lau goes above his required duties as a doctor. He tries to make sure to take a couple minutes to ask each patient how they're doing emotionally or in their personal life, and listens to them. Many of the patients that come into the health clinic at City Impact live on the fringes of society, so the fact that Dr. Lau treated them with such dignity and respect really humbled and touched me. Too often, when people talk about doctors, one of the first things mentioned is about the typical "higher" salary. But it's too easy to forget that the heart of a doctor should be of a servi