I Must Be A Masochist

   TGS2CKIO. (Thank goodness Step 2 CK is over).  The actual test was a bit harder than I anticipated, but if I score anywhere near my practice test score, I'll be happy.  Unlike Step 1, however, the 9 hours seemed to fly by.  At least it's over! And I am so glad BF and I got it out of the way, especially while all the material from third year was "fresh" in our minds.  Fingers crossed while I wait for my score!

   Since the test, our week off has been a whirlwind.  I jet-setted off to Atlanta for a special Medical Students For Choice conference, which was inspiration and re-charging as always.  I got to meet some  really incredible med students, some of which even have blogs too!  Check them out if you're interested in reading other medical-related blogs!

• Dr Coffee's Brain Banter
• Spelled Like Latte-Man

My last minute packing list, with an extra addition

   And while I was in ATL, I got to visit my sorority friend H, who works at the aquarium and gets to ride dolphins! Amazing.  She even took me to the aquarium and I got to see the spectacular dolphin show she performs in!

ATL

   When I got back from Atlanta, BF and I went wine-tasting in Napa with our moms, which was super fun.

   And Melvie learned how to swim!

  This week break went by way too fast, and we already start up again tomorrow.  My first acting internship (aka "AI" - a fourth year elective where you work your butt off) is the Surgical ICU.  I know, I know.  It's quite ironic that I chose to subject myself to this particularly brutal AI, especially considering what a tough time I had on my surgery rotation.  But my main goal is to learn how to take care of really sick patients, and I'm even hoping to get a letter of recommendation out of it, if all goes well.  I also think I'm in a much better place to handle it, now that I've built up a much thicker skin than when I started out third year.  The schedule is gonna be the roughest I've had to far - Q3, which means you work a 24-30 hour shift, then a 12 hours shift, then repeat.  Over and over and over.  For a month.  So, I'm pretty scared, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end.  

So Close

   Tomorrow I take Step 2 CK.  I've been studying for a little over two weeks now, only taking two days "off" to be able to take school clinical exams.  Studying has been going okay, in fact, it's been really nice to set my own schedule.  I used to hate studying at home, but this time, I've really enjoyed it.  I wake up, take my time, don't even get dressed for the first half of the day, play with the puppy during study breaks.  BF and I took our practice exam last week, and it went fine, so I'm hoping it's a pretty accurate prediction of my score.  I think the only reason we were able to get away with studying such a short time, is because we just came off our Internal Medicine rotation, and we actually studied really hard during that rotation.  I'm feeling a bit anxious for the test tomorrow, but I am so excited to get it overwith, and I am incredibly glad that I don't have to study any longer (for now).  After tomorrow, our real vacation starts. A whole week and a half *gasp* of vacation, where we can just relax.  Well, there actually is a little "work" I need to do during that time (data entry for research, and working on another research project), but at least we'll be doing fun stuff in between.  

Was tired of studying one afternoon, so I got my crafting on, and made these uteri magnets for my friends

Flashbacks to Step 1 studying

Enjoying the view, or plotting their escape?

   Well, here goes nothing.  This first couple of months of fourth year are gonna be pretty stressful, as I really front-loaded my schedule, but I have a good feeling about this year.

Melvie Has a Girlfriend

   My lovely friend from college, J, was in town this last weekend.  So we decided to introduce our dogs, Melvie and Pretty (short for "The Prettiest Princess").  They instantly fell in love.  Well, more like Melvie was smitten with Pretty.  She was trying to play it cool.

J, Pretty, Me, and Melvie

Switch dogs!

Melvie is infatuated with Pretty

I was cracking up because Melvie kept running towards BF, who was taking the pictures

Melvie putting his arm around Pretty

Melvie and Pretty, star-crossed lovers