Saturday, November 23, 2002

 

Okay, so it's been a while since my first blog. Anyhoo, I am sooooooo ready to go home for Thanksgiving. I'd already be there except for the exam I have on Monday afternoon. I guess us first years are lucky, since the second years (the second year med students) have classes up until Wednesday. Welcome to med school, where the days off are few and far between. Once again, I shouldn't complain, I chose this.
 

Got my schedule for the first half of next semester. Doesn't look pretty, don't know how much free time I'm going to have. I guess it just depends on how the classes are, though it doesn't look very promising. A bunch of second years have already warned us that these classes are rough. At least Anatomy will be done. But then someone told me that Pathology was like Histology gone bad. Faaaaaabulous. And we start Physical Diagnosis, which is where we learn about clinical experiences, like taking patient histories and actual diagnosis and stuff. For those classes, our "tests" are SPALs, which involve an actual "patient" (it's actually a volunteer from the community who is pretending to have certain symptoms and an illness - like Kramer did for that one episode of Seinfeld). You take their medical history and their health complaints (in 20 minutes), then you have to take a written exam, then you have to write up your evaluation of the patient's condition. And did I mention that they videotape you examining the patient? The gist I'm getting from the 2nd years is that it's 2 hours of fear and sweating. But really, I'm not afraid. RIIIIIIIIGHT.
 


Me, Christine, Jenn, and Matt spent this afternoon and night at Borders, studying for Monday's exam. I don't know if it's good or bad that I'm there so much studying on Saturday nights... Ran into Britt, Tyler, and Kim (second years), who kindly told us to stop studying, the exam's not as bad as we think it's going to be, and that we should go out. Well, I did stop studying for the night. Didn't feel like going out (need to save money, and I was sleepy), so instead I'm bumming around at home, watching the Osbournes on MTV. I'm watching the episode where Ozzy is trying fo figure out 1) how to get the DVD out of it's shrinkwrap and case, and 2) how to work their mammoth of an entertainment center. This show is cracking me up!
 


Alrighty... Off to bed I am so I can study some more tomorrow.

Claud 10:06 PM 

Monday, November 04, 2002

 

Wow, my first blog.
 

Sorry it's taken so long for me to post, school has been crazy. But this week I get a teeny tiny bit of breathing room, then hell starts right over again. But I shouldn't complain, I chose this/it chose me and I know I wouldn't be happy doing anything else.
 

So oddly enough my first post will have little to do with the actual medical school part of my life. This past weekend was my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend Dan. A whole year! I'm sure not many people thought we'd last this long, but as my sister Christine once told him, Dan and I are "eerily compatible". Suffice it to say, it was a fabulous weekend. Here's some highlights...
 

Friday, we went to a Des Moines Buccaneers hockey game (USHL, Junior A league, basically a bunch of 16-21 year olds playing for the love of the game and hoping to get noticed or to score college scholarships), then to DMU's Halloween Party. Dan must really love me, because I dressed up in a bear costume, fur and all (and sweating bullets underneath), and he still acknowledged that he was with me =P. Saturday, after driving around West Des Moines looking for a freakin Jiffy Lube on Hickman Road, he took me ice skating! Just like he had on our first date... All we needed to completely recreate our first date was for me to get his car towed. Then he made me a very tasty dinner ( I AM SOOOO PROUD OF HIM! He doesn't cook!) and spoiled me rotten. And then he made french toast Sunday morning, we watched some football, did a little gambling at Prairie Meadows, went to eat, and then poof, he was back on the road to Chicago. =( So yeah, it was a fantastic weekend (beyond fantastic), and in short, I'm incredibly lucky to have him. =)
 

Luckily Jenn called me not more than 5 minutes after he left to ask if I wanted to go study at Borders. Girl's got a sensor or something, she promised on Friday not to call me again for the rest of the weekend (she called in the middle of dinner on Friday night), and she manages to call me just after he leaves. Good thing too, it was weird coming into my empty apartment after having had a roommate for a weekend, I knew I was going to get a little lonely for a bit. So rounded out my weekend by studying a little at Borders and hanging out with my friends. It was a good weekend.
 

But now I have to study. Phooey.

Claud 8:42 PM