Ready, set, go!

My apartment is clean, my taxes are done, and my freezer is stocked with Costco goods. I am ready for the next term. It just so happens this will be my last term of classes before starting rotations. Now that is a scary thought. Come July I will be hitting the hospitals and caring for patients. Yikes. To be honest, it still doesn't even feel like I'm really in medical school. I mean, yeah, I'm in school, and working my butt off, but it doesn't feel like how I thought it would feel. My school is a little different. Our main campus is outside of the city and does not have a teaching hospital on the grounds like most other schools. Sure, there is the VA hospital next door, but it's not the same. So, because of this, I feel my medical school education has been different from those who attend other medical schools. You don't see clinicians walking around in their white coats, getting pages and rushing off to see patients. Not that there is anything wrong with this. In fact a lot of my professors write board review books, and my school is known for its students getting good board scores and great residency placements. But it still doesn't feel like how I thought it would feel. So this change coming in July is pretty huge. Not just because I'll be in the hospital, but because I think I'll finally feel like I am truly in medical school.

It's exciting, but I also kind of want to pee my pants.

Done!

Take THAT Pharmacology......hiii-yaaa!


Now where is that beer? :)

A quick peak into hell week

Also known as finals week.

I've had 3 exams already this week, one taken on only 2.5 hours of sleep. We'll see how that one turns out!

Last but not least is Pharmacology. The bane of my existence. It's just a lot of memorization, and trying to remember random drugs with silly little tricks like...

Topiramate. For generalized, partial, and other seizures. It reminds me of America's Next TOP Model. Hmm...models. Weight loss and reduced cognitive ability. Oh, those just happen to be the side effects of TOPiramate! Ha!

This is my desk currently. It doesn't look so bad.



But you can't see the crap I've got spread out on the kitchen table, the couch, the coffee table...

And here are my flash cards.




There's a lot of them. A lot. Look how far up they come next to that pretty little bottle of beer (my treat for tomorrow night when I am done).

And they don't have just one or a few words on the back. They are all packed full of information I need to know. For tomorrow. At 9am. So I better stop blogging and start cramming!

What a wild life I lead

I ventured out of my building for the first time since Friday! It would have been exciting, except it was only to walk to school and take a final. Oh well.

Back into my little study cave until my next exam tomorrow morning. It's gonna be a long night folks.

V Day

Happy Valentine's Day Mom and Dad! Love and miss you both!

Another Saturday spent studying

One of the things a lot of people don't understand about med school, or any other ridiculously rigorous academic program, is the amount of studying you have to put in to know the material. Sure, everyone is all happy and excited and proud to hear you are on this journey, but when you tell them you can't do this or can't do that because you have to study, they just kind of don't believe you. They ask, "well can't you just do it tomorrow?" Um, no, because tomorrow I have another 8 hours of studying other stuff I have to do.

Not that this is directed at any one person. I mean I probably didn't really know what I was getting myself into before starting. I don't think anyone really knows until you are in the middle of it. So here I am, in the middle, not doing much of anything except studying. Incredibly boring, but totally required. So don't get mad if my posts become less frequent and less interesting, m'kay?

Plus the whole Step 1 business coming up. Yikes. Let's not dwell on that.

So life is pretty much the same. Get up, go to class, do some studying, fit in some meetings, more studying, and when I need a break, I'll put something on Netflix while I flip through flash cards or tab my notes for quick reference.

But I think I found a roommate for next year! And sometimes, just sometimes, I'll browse Craigslist for apartments in the city, dreaming of a more exciting life during rotations next year.