all for one

So, I'm back in Kirksville and the madness that is medical school has begun again. Thanksgiving was a great time and I got to meet up with the gang again. It was somewhat surreal to be back on the Georgetown campus again, but it was great recounting old memories with the people that I shared one the best years of my life.

the three musketeers...

We spent Thanksgiving at Mary's and at a delicious Thanksgiving dinner cooked by Mary and some of her classmates. It was really interesting to talk shop with students from other medical schools, not to mention students from allopathic medical schools. Although I know that I didn't need to prove anything, I was nice to be able to represent the osteopathic profession intelligently and have productive conversations with other medical students.

So, here I am back in Kirksville again. We started our sixth quarter which promises to be interesting and much less stressful than our last quarter. We start our clinical courses and board exam preparations this quarter. In other school related news, I am starting to think about applying for a fellowship position in medical education. I'm a bit torn because I would really like to get on with my life and be done with school, but I think it would be a great opportunity to learn the dirty details about how medical school is run and work with our professors in clinical education. More on that as it develops...

To Do:

In a recent exchange of e-mails, a couple of my friends had put together a "to do before you die" list. I thought this was a great idea until I realized that my list was basically things I needed to do in the next couple of weeks:

1. Finish OTM final/Pass OTM
2. Finish Neuroscience II final/Pass Neuroscience II
3. Get haircut
4. See Harry Potter IV
5. Read Chronicles of Narnia (again)
6. Georgetown Reunion in DC
7. See Rent
8. Plan ACOEP skills lab
9. Finish Honor Code
10. Watch Chronicles of Narnia

So, those are the plans for the next few weeks.

At Long Last...

That's right. Walleye Slayers of America.

pictures by dominic gargiulo... because my hands were full...

For a full explanation, go to previous blog entries...

Two Points for Honesty

#1. Bring on the finals
#2. I have a myspace.com account. That is how far I have fallen.

Jealous of the Moon

"You've given up the good fight
You're as strong as anyone
You're back where you started from
I see you're back where you started from..."

I guess it is time for my periodic "I'm still alive" post. Its been just under a month and not too much has changed. I remember coming back to school fearing the dreaded Fifth Quarter, where clinical faculty begin their quest to break medical students. Even so, things have been going so well that I almost worry that I'll wake up someday and the burnout will suddenly hit me. Worry not, parents, it doesn't seem like that will happen soon. Maybe its the fact that I've finally figured out how to study or perhaps its the prospect of starting clinical rotations in a brief eight months. Whatever the reason, life as a second-year medical student has been far more enjoyable thus far than I had imagined. Its not to say that the ominous approach of board exams isn't on my mind, I just choose to delay obsessing over it until after the holidays.

On that note, I've been lucky to get down to Columbia in the past two weeks to see a couple of my favorite bands. The first, of course, was Guster. We ran down to The Blue Note in the middle of one of our hellish weeks and I can honestly say, that was probably one of the best ideas I've ever had. It gave a bit of a break to the crazy amounts of studying we were doing for the past ten days and truly re-energized our minds. The venue is great. It is big enough to get a good-sized crowd and small enough that there really aren't any bad spots. The acoustics are great from any spot and since it is open and standing only, there really isn't a bad view. Just yesterday, I ran back down to see Nickel Creek perform one of the best shows I have ever seen. Again, music has been one of the major ways I have been staying sane amidst the books and diseases. Last night was no exception as I stood immersed in every note and word.

Nickel Creek at The Blue Note

So that was fairly fragmented approaching verbal diarrhea, but I guess that's what medical school does to you...