One class down, 4 years to go

 I can't believe it, but my PreMat Course is over and I'm officially done with my first medical school class. I took the final yesterday morning and found out by yesterday afternoon that I passed with flying colors (as did my classmates--they said we were a bright bunch and that we had the highest grade average for the final on record!). I met so many amazing people (mostly my classmates) but so many others as well. The UW School of Medicine Staff was so welcoming and I know that the transition in the Fall will be easier now because I took this course. I'm so happy I decided to apply for it! I loved it. Sadly, I wasn't able to be there on the last day of class (the day after the final), because we were already in Hawaii (more on that later). However, I thought I'd include a photo of the group (minus me...I'm in Hawaii :).

Prior to my departure and the conclusion of the class we all had quite a bit of fun along the way. We had several happy hour outings, one of them to include our professors. We lovingly called them Chip and Andy. These guys were the ones who helped us through the 6 hour days of lecture and lab and made it fun with their dry humor. You can see them here, talking to the boys of our class -- over some beers of course. 

 

Also, on July 11th (7/11) me and two of my closest girl friends--Josephine (middle) and Amanda (right) in the class enjoyed the free Slurpee day at 7-11.  We have a full hour for lunch so we hopped over to "the Ave" (which is actually a street called University Way so I find the nickname funny) and got ourselves a way-too-sugary-but-oh-so-delicous summer-time treat. Unfortunately, Amanda is headed off to "WWAMI-land" for the first year, but Josephine will be in Seattle like me and I have a feeling that her name may show up again in this blog.  

 Also, if you don't have facebook, you may not have seen this photo. On the last Friday of the course, we got to tour the ISIS lab at UW. It's the simulation lab where you can practice all sorts of things, like intubation, suturing, and even the use of the DaVinci Robot. Below is what I call my "ridiculously happy face" after successfully intubating the dummy.

 I was also volunteered by my classmates to design and orchestrate making T-shirts for our group. Everyone thought it was funny that I was counting my "dough" in the classroom and snapped this snapshot of me counting out the totals.

The weekend before the final we moved into our apartment in Seattle. It was a whirlwind of a weekend since I was prepping for my final and such, but it could not have happened without the help of John and Diana Glassman and David Shipley! Thank you all so much! Since we moved right before the final, we haven't unpacked anything (that comes after we return home from vacation). so, for now--we're just enjoying paradise. We're in Maui for 10 days with our friends, Geoff and Jessica who as it turns out got engaged on the day we flew into town! :) We're having a wonderful time--and it's been less than 24 hours on the island. The weather is perfect--in the mid-80's with a nice breeze. Of course, we're missing a lot of items that I usually never forget to pack, but in the midst of the final and moving and boxes scattered everywhere I managed to forget our waterproof/shockproof camera as well our guidebook of the island, but who needs that anyway right? Stay tuned for photos (but i'll probably just keep putting them on Facebook instead of here). Aloha from Maui!