Okay, dear ones, I'm back. It has been two months, but I'll try to make up for it with a long one. So take a deep breath. Here goes.
When last I wrote, I had just started neuro and psych. The sheer volume of information I had to learn between then and the end of school is still overwhelming to me. It's amazing how much we know about the brain without knowing anything about it at all. We don't know how it works, or how we think, but we know what some stuff does and we make a lot of guesses. It's complicated and beautiful and weird and awesome. At the time I did not think so, but I'm really glad we had to learn all that junk. Here's a video of Pinky and the Brain naming the parts of the brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li5nMsXg1Lk. It covers about a tenth (maybe) of what we were expected to know for the first test. Also, they inaccurately include the diencephalon as part of the brainstem. But whatever.
We'll take psych again for real next year, when we learn all the drugs and criteria and stuff. This year it was more like an introduction, so basically we focused on neuro and physiology for the last six weeks of school. And now I'm done! Done done done!!
People often ask, "How was your first year?" and, "How does it feel to be finished?" Well, the answer to the latter is, "Awesome." The former is a little more complicated. Sure, there were times when I lay on the floor in my apartment in the dark and stared at nothing for an hour and a half because my brain didn't want to do any more that day. Sure, I could never fully enjoy TV or books because there was always an underlying layer of guilt over my not studying (but I kept trying, of course...because I didn't want to study). And sure, I spent many hours beating myself up over my lack of discipline/motivation/focus to the point where I started to doubt my ability to do this and loathed my own weakness (gracious, I can be melodramatic). But, in the end, the answer is, "Awesome."
I learned a lot this year. I learned about the human body. I learned about some other stuff that seemed not that related to the human body. I learned that even when I bombed a test beyond all recognition, I could dust myself off and move on. I didn't study as much as I should or could have, and at times I clung to the class average like my life depended on it. But I survived. I made good friends. I learned cool stuff. I met a cute boy. I bought a dry erase board. All in all, it was a good year.
Next year will be more of the same, only different. The scheduling is different, but we'll still mostly be in class. Clinical skills start to phase in, then we take the Step 1. After that, we start rotations at the beginning of next summer. But for now, I'm an M2, enjoying the heck out of my summer.
What have I been doing, you ask? Before school ended, I got to go to Sarah and Tray's wedding, which was wonderful and lovely, and I got to see lots of Starkville friends. Once I left that last test, I didn't have anything to do, so I did just that. For a few days I watched episodes of The Big Bang Theory on DVD, ran small errands, hung out with friends passing through town. I've been watching movies with (and occasionally cooking for) Carlisle, working out with Denise Austin, and, as of yesterday, spending time at the pool until there was a righteous sunburn on my back. Oh, and I went to Fresh Market for the first time Sunday.
Let me tell you, that place is awesome. I'm in love with the probiotics snack mix, but I took it to the pool yesterday, and the chocolate and white chocolate on the chocolate- and white chocolate-covered bits, respectively, melted in the heat. So I now have more of a snack lump, which, as it turns out, is still delicious.
this past weekend I went to Water Valley to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of my cousin Danny with his adorable fiancee Ashley. Danny is coming to UMMC in the fall, and I'll be his M2 buddy. I'm so excited about getting to see him (hopefully often) next year. It was also really fun to see most of the extended family this weekend, since I missed family Christmas last fall in order to study. The party itself was a good time. Fun band, great food, and a lot of people I love. What could be better?
My plans for this week include cleaning my apartment, shopping for me and the aforementioned apartment, gardening with Carlisle, trying to keep my own neglected plants alive, and hopefully revisiting the pool. I'm liking this new lifestyle. It doesn't suck.
For some reason, I just felt inspired to go back and look at the first post I put on here. And then I laughed and laughed. Man, I was so stupid. But, live and learn, my friends. Live and learn.
I think that's all, folks. Until I post again, I hope you're having a lovely summer. Go outside! Play!
cheers
Erin
