LAX

Mexico to San Francisco, stopped and changed overnight in Los Angeles: the city of devils. Five hours in the coach station:
dank, sweaty, flourescent illumination and the crusted bodies of a million passers-through; lines winding around each
other, baggage piled high... I didn't ever want to come back.

And here I am. Not through any choice of my own - really. Well, maybe kind of, a little bit, but not the city that enticed
me: a whole other desire. And no, not a woman. I'm here for my exam: Step 2, Clinical Skills, of the USMLEs about which
I've extensively written before. Haven't done much revision: but it's all patient encounters, right? I've been told I
should be fine: I'm a native English speaker, I've done all this before for years - interviewing and examining patients.
Maybe different sized patients, but I've still done it - and I had to question the parents/guardians. In any case, I
have done this before: I did adults a few years back, and I wasn't bad at it.

I've been fortunate this trip, though. I had the foresight to contact a guy I know - we drove across the States a few years
back together: he was moving house and wanted help with the driving. Great trip! Took in loads of sights and sounds and
experiences along the way, quite an experience...