Cleveland Clinic... at last!

Having to move to a new city all by yourself, knowing nobody, and starting from scratch is pretty much challenging. It is not always fun. All these years of moving from one place to the other has sort of given me an idea of how to adapt and survive, but as you start to have too much of it, it kinda got ugly. Moving to the states was nothing like coming here for vacation. Well, with all my networks in the east coast and west coast, it could have been better.

Cleveland is not so much of a happening place to be when you are stuck with public transports. You could move around with buses, but probably not the time you want it to be. I checked-in at the Intercontinental at Cleveland Clinic the first 2 days in town. Things was pretty good when you have a 5-star hotel, and the working place is just a minute walk away. The Clinic is like a huge city by itself, and with the new fountains and constructions being done, it shall be pretty awesome.

Well, things turned ugly when I realised that I couldn't find myself a nice apartment and I started to live a life of a nomad. I was lucky enough to got myself connected to 2 Malaysian residents and was crashing at their living room for 5 days. Things went pretty well, and I got myself a temporary place not too far from the Clinic. The apartments downtown looked promising and I decided to move there when it is vacant in August.

My fellow Malaysians brought me around town. We had great fun checking out restaurants and gelato shops. There was a parade at the University Square, not too far from the Clinic during the weekend, and it was a blast. My orientation starts on Monday, where we had this gathering with the residents and the new interns. It was the first time I got to know my fellow colleagues. There were 15 in my pediatric residency alone, and I was the only one doing the 5 year child neurology program here at the clinic. I was happy to know they are such friendly lots. Well, it is always safe when you are in pediatrics. You hardly get the nasty people there.

Tuesday was the Epicare training, where we were briefed about the electronic charts. It was a pretty long day, but I had fun getting to know my fellow colleagues better. Wednesday came with a long day of getting our documents settled, and a long lists of speeches from various departments. There were like probably hundreds of new interns and fellows in the room. It was hard to know who is who by then. We had a small party in the evening, and the crazy trainings started the day after.

Thursday was the BLS training, and we got some pediatrics procedures training in the afternoon. Friday was our ACLS training. After my ACLS, I was being toured around by a Japanese lady I met at the clinic, and then met up with another Brazilian friend I met during the parade. We decided to explore the night scenes in downtown. There was a party going on in downtown that Friday, and I guess everybody was out, because the whole street was packed with young people, drinking and shouting.

All the clubs and bars were packed. My friend Gustavo and I managed to squeeze into one of the bars call sushi rock, which is famous for their sushi. We decided to get a tequila shot, a kirin-ichiban, and couple of cocktails. The crowd was pretty crazy there, and Lisa the bartender was kind enough to entertain us while complaining how crazy the place was. There were like 4 bartenders on the job, but still overwhelmed by the crowd. We were glad that Lisa was very attentive to our needs.

Couple of booze got us pretty much all set for the party. We hopped to the other club, and started going from one floor to the other until we reached the rooftop. And again it was packed with youngsters coming out to party. It was awesome. That actually got me feel a bit more at ease, and was happier than before. Well, at least there are still parties here in Cleveland. We ended up pretty drunk that night.

Saturday was a nice day to start of with. No work. No ACLS training. I went to downtown to check on my apartments, and later visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Later in the afternoon, my Brazilian buddy called me and invited me to a Brazilian party in one of the apartments downtown. I ended up drinking and eating non-stop again. The party was nice, I get to know a whole bunch of brazilians in town and a few other foreigners. At least my circles of friends are expanding everyday.

Sunday was pretty much a lay-back day for me. I went downtown to use the internet, and later meet up with a friend to attend an independent film screening kinda thing. It was fun meeting up with producers and actors in the area, and get to know about the films being produced here. I got a few remarks from some people that I look like Jet Li. Well, this is not the first time I heard of such, but I haven't quite figured out where they find the resemblance from... :P