Wow, what a relief. I took my last final today, a comprehensive pathology test and can say officially now that I have survived the fall quarter of my second year of medical school- claimed to be the hardest one of them all (this is yet to be decided of course).
Our tests are changing in style as we get closer to the ever-present event we are working towards: the Boards. Since we're getting closer to them, our exams are starting to mirror them in style and in toughness to try to prepare us. After reading over 300 clinical vignettes over the course of the week of tests, I'm ready to take a break but realize what I'm headed towards on June 27th (in case I forgot to mention it, you won't see or hear from me 7 weeks prior to that date). It's going to be a beast of an exam. But, I did have to take a moment to realize how far I've really come in just 1.5 years of medical school. If you had given me these questions even half way through my first year of school, I obviously wouldn't know the answer, but I would in no way be prepared to even approach questions like that, let alone start to think about them in the context of real people with real problems. Baby steps-but I'm getting there.
The last week of classes brought about a nostalgic moment from my undergrad as we were learning about the respiratory system's response to exercise. We were treated to a live VO2max test in the lecture hall. It felt odd to not be in the lab in shorts and a t-shirt sitting on the bike because in undergrad each of my classmates and I completed one of these tests. I am not afraid to admit that I was the first med student to jump in and cheer my classmate on because that's the only way we made it through our tests in college! People thought I was weird, but my fellow exercise science nerds would have been right there with me!
So, now that' it's all over (for me...Tom has another final on Tuesday) I am fully in the Christmas spirit. Our tree turned out beautifully and now I can finally relax as I sit by it rather than feeling like I need to be studying (at least for another 12 hours or so...I'm not sure how long I can go without withdrawals :) ).
And another highlight of the past few weeks: Tom finally shaved off the no-shave-November beard! He had to capture what it was like after a quick first-trimming of the beard to mainly just have a mustache for a moment. I vetoed it quickly:
And, we got an amazing surprise in the mail from Santa this year. Santa wasn't sure if we'd be able to make it out to cut down a tree, so he sent us one in the mail! Now we can continue my tradition from when I was a child about having a christmas tree in the bedroom! Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?
Tonight, to celebrate after our last final of the quarter, the med students had a lovely get-together complete with BBQ'd oysters! It was a first for me.
A friend of ours, Claire, thought that such a new experience warranted documentation:
What do you think? Tasty? Yes. It was weird, but tasty--but all I tasted was butter and garlic :).
Alright I'm exhausted and ready to sleep off a week of studying. Before I do, I thought I'd show you evidence that it has been cold and dry in Seattle lately. All the students that came to Seattle from Montana or Idaho or wherever were conviced that we were lying to them about the rain because it hadn't rained for what feels like weeks on end. I have been loving it--dry, sunny and cold, just like Montana. Check out the fountain by our house:
It was obviously photo-worthy by more than just me. It's big news around here. But, it has warmed up and we're back to the normal drizzle winter of Seattle. At least until Tuesday when we fly back to Montana!
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