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Here's hoping that 2010 is the best year yet!!!!

10 Things I've Learned

10 Things I have Learned About Myself this Semester:

1. I am capable of learning much more than I had ever thought possible
2. I am more outgoing than the average medical student
3. I am capable of cleaning up after myself (in fact, I feel like I am turning into my Mum)
4. I am capable of withstanding the smell of anatomy lab (since I really truly thought that I wasn't going to make it through the semester at the beginning of school)
5. I like biochemistry (despite my horrible undergrad experience)
6. I dislike immunology (memorizing Th2 cytokines is not my idea of fun, clinically-relevant information)
7. I am abnormally close to my family (p.s. haven't missed calling home a single day)
8. I can survive off of less than 6 hours of sleep and still go to class all day and study all evening
9. I learned that I need to be proactive and make sure that I do what is right for myself to maximize my education
10. I KNOW this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life and am super happy that I have made the right decision to go to medical school

P.S.....
I am 1/8th of a doctor!!!!!! :)

So Happy I Pre-Prepared!!!!!!

Right now I have to say that I am SUPER happy that I worked my butt off these past couple of weeks to prepare ahead of time for my anatomy exam.

Tomorrow morning is going to be my 5th exam in one week. Which is insane (if you didn't already figure that out...lol) But when I came back from Thanksgiving, I was scared that I wouldn't be prepared for my anatomy because I knew how hectic my schedule was going to be, so I studied a whole bunch of anatomy before; and now it is paying off.

Not that I know more information, nor will I guarantee that I will get a better grade on this exam, but my stress levels are within manageable limits and I hope to get at least 6 hours of sleep tonight (which sounds glorious at this point).

Well, enough procrastinating, now off to learn about the leg and foot!

The next time I post I will be DOOOOOOOOOOONE my first semester of medical school!!!!

Here I'll Be

When you think of me for the next couple of days just think of me here:




...sitting on my butt, sipping on coffee/Mountain Dew, sucking back vast amounts of anatomy into my brain :)

Phew!

Well, I just finished by oral examination on my manual therapy class. Man that was stressful! I mean, REALLY stressful! But it turned out alright and now I am on my mission to study for the next exam that is tomorrow morning.

So I can't waste anymore time here, and will post something tomorrow to prove that I am still alive after this immunlogy exam :)


4 days until I'm home :) :) :)

Ah, the life....

4 cups of coffee + 2 showers (to wake up) + 10 Facebook breaks + 5 lectures + 14 hours of studying = one tired, yet smart(er), medical student.

Ah, the life of a medical student.

6 days until home :)

yay!

Now to bed...

zzzzz............

Still Cramming

Yup, still cramming some histology into my brain. I feel like my brain is going to explode!

Sometimes I wonder why God made us and our cells so complicated?!

Frustrating and fascinating at the same time.

I have just one question...

Why can't roommates just do their own dishes?!

I don't think that is too difficult for a medical student to handle.

Snow Day

Today is officially my first snow day of medical school! Yesterday we got some pretty insane snow, but nothing that I hadn't seen before. Then they closed the school yesterday around 3PM. I thought they were just overreacting. Last night around 11PM they closed the school for today. Again, I thought that they were overreacting....that is, until I woke up!

We have snow drifts outside our apartment that go up to my waist. It is blowing like crazy and there is no way anybody could get their cars out of the parking lot to our apartments.

Furthermore, the temperature has dipped to a chilling -13*C ....but it feels like -26*C. Brrrrr!! I just checked the Weather Network and our county is still under a blizzard warning.

Well, no school = more studying today! :)

The Small Victories Count

After my dreadful post prior to my immunology exam I thought that I should follow up on the outcome of the exam. I ended up doing 1% of above the class average! I am absolutely ecstatic about this. I couldn't have been more happy with an 85% in my life! Honestly, just imagine if I had covered all of the lectures how well I would have done! (not to toot my own horn, but I think that this is pretty impressive!)

So it is the little victories like this that make all of the cramming, late nights, coffee, etc. worth it.

I have been studying histology slides for hours on end and thought that I would take my break by writing here. I have been EXTREMELY productive these past couple of days. I hope that it starts to pay off by alleviating some of the stress of the next week and a bit. I have five exams coming up and all of them seem pretty difficult. I am trying my best to prepare ahead so as to reduce stress levels, allow myself a bit of sleep, and, most importantly, allowing myself to kick all of the exams in the butt!

On another note, we are under winter weather warning / blizzard warnings until Thursday. We got a couple of inches of snow last night, but apparently there is a lot more to come. At least it makes it feel more like the holiday season. I have a hard time seeing the Christmas-spirit right now since I am so darn busy. Ah well, it will come soon enough...soon enough :)

Thank Goodness for Coffee

Thank goodness for coffee! Honestly, I never thought that I'd miss coffee so much. My coffee maker broke two days ago and I haven't been able to get to Walmart to pick up another one. That is, until today. Although I have walked over to the coffee shop at school and across the street, it still isn't the same as being able to have a cup anytime I wish.

I just finished drinking the majority of the pot I made. I am quite surprised that my $14.88 coffee maker makes such good coffee. I didn't even know they sold coffee makers that inexpensive!!!

Just think, trying to do medical school without a coffee maker is analogous to trying to play hockey without a hockey stick....almost impossible! :)

Freaking Out

So I had to take a break from studying because I was starting to get worked up. I know that this is only one stupid test, but I am really ill-prepared and it will be a miracle if I pass. I don't know why this has blown up in my face, but it certainly has and I have to deal with what I've got.

I have an immunology test tomorrow morning and I still have 2.5 lectures that I haven't been through. I don't normally feel this stressed about tests but this time it feels different. I feel like I simply stare at the words and it isn't going in. It has felt like this all week and now it is the night before the test I feel like I don't know enough to pass. :(

So I am on here to simply put it down in writing. Here's hoping that this has helps!

Also, I apologize for this seeming so down and depressing. I really do enjoy what I am doing, but at the moment, I'd rather not be in this predicament.

Shocker in Lab

Despite the fact that I am in the midst of cramming copious amounts of immunology into my head I thought I would just procrastinate for a while by posting here.

Yesterday in anatomy lab we opened up our cavader to find that he has only one leg and the remaining leg is detached from the rest of the body. Talk about a shocker. He doesn't even look human anymore.

Poor Riggy :(