Today is the White Coat Ceremony! It is quite an important ceremony as it signifies the beginning of our journey to becoming physicians.

At 8:00 am, us CCLCM students and family gathered at the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel for our breakfast. At 10:00 am, we, along with the University Program students and MD/PhD students gathered at the Severance Hall for the ceremony. Severance Hall is home to the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, and it is absolutely gorgeous. We all had our pictures taken with our respective program/society.

11:00 am the ceremony starts. As we students filed into the grand hall, we were received with a warm round of applause from our families, deans, and faculty. Dr. Davis who is the Interim Dean and VP of Medical Affairs gave us a welcome speech. We were told that we are the 164th class of this medical school and we were selected out of over 6,000 applicants. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Jackson, whose speech was so touching it brought tears to my eyes.

Finally, it was time for us to put on our white coats. We were called up one by one in alphabetical order. When it was my turn, I shook hands with Dr. Franco, who is the Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs of CCLCM as she handed me my white coat. I walked onto the stage and was coated by Dr. Fishleder, Executive Dean of CCLCM. I shook hands with him, along with twelve other people on the stage, including the president of Case Western Reserve Unversity, and various other deans and presidents.

After everyone was coated, the entire entering Class of 2007 recited the Oath of Professionalism in unison, which we crafted together on Friday:

"We, as students of medicine, don these white coats to acknowledge our responsibilities to self, to patient, to profession, and to society.

Our path is one of diligent scholarship and a lifelong commitment to learning. We pledge to exemplify humility and honesty. We strive to be dignified and composed, approaching our profession with passion, integrity, and excellence, while maintaining a healthy balance between our personal and professional lives.

As we begin our practice of medicine, we will demonstrate compassion, sensitivity, and empathy. We will strive to cultivate trusting and respectful relationships through effective communication and active listening. By serving as advocates and accepting others' differences, we will assist patients in achieving physical, spiritual, and mental health.

As members of a global medical community, we embrace our responsibility as leaders, educators, and guides to our larger society. Through activism, advocacy, and service, we seek to address disparities and improve health care in all communities at home and abroad. As scientists, we must maintain a commitment to research and scholarship, and recognize that innovation will only occur through professional collaboration.

Finally, we acknowledge the living nature of this oach. These words are not set in stone but shall evolve as we progress in our training. On our honor, we promise to uphold these values as we enter the field of medicine."

I have never been big on ceremonies, but this is certainly a ceremony that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Last couple weeks have been incredibly fun. After spending a day at the San Diego Zoo, Jesse and I headed to Catalina Island for a romantic three-day vacation. It exceeded my expectation in every way. We snorkeled, kayaked, swam with fish, watched sea lions feed and play, strolled through the streets of Avalon, and listened to the sound of crashing waves as we fell asleep. Jesse's parents generously paid for all expenses from the trip. It was a wonderful graduation gift for Jesse and the perfect send-off gift for me. Here are some pictures. The first two capture the view from our gorgeous king oceanview room. Unfortunately we do not have pictures of the fish or sea lions we saw. Man, totally should've bought a waterproof camera!

After coming back from the San Diego/Catalina trip, I went whitewater rafting with my ex-coworkers. Class IV was incredibly fun, and I think I'm now ready for a Class V! We had a big party by the camp fire that night. Some people got pretty drunk (yes that includes me). Couple drunk people started eating live bugs (no that doesn't include me). Another drunk group went cave-exploring (yeah, drunk people going into a deep, dark cave full of bats... it's like the beginning of a bad horror movie). Such fun memories!

I am all packed and ready to go. Tomorrow morning my family and I are hitting the road. It will take us a little over a week to drive from the Bay Area to Cleveland and visit Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore on the way.

I checked weather.com. It looks like I will be greeted by a few thunder storms in Cleveland .