I've been wanting to write a post for a while now, but Block 4 got the best of me. It was particularly time-consuming and difficult, especially since I was feeling really burned out, but I made it through, as usual! Block 4 was one of those "semesters" in school where you 'half' understand everything most of the semester - and it's not until the end, when you are studying for finals, that everything really comes together and that lightbulb goes on in your head. I ended up doing surprisingly well on all my finals, so I'm feelin' good. It's funny because during Block 4, I didn't feel like I had a lot to blog about, so I just never did, but now looking back, there are definitely some highlights I could have mentioned. Better late than never!
I went to Baltimore, MD with the other MSFC officers for the Annual National Meeting. We had a blast, met a lot of extremely impressive people, and left feeling recharged and re-inspired. One of my favorite parts about the conference was that we got to take home plastic uteri and IUD insertion kits (Mirena and Paraguard!). You're probably wondering why anyone would be so excited about something like that, but I was so giddy, so judge all you want! My plastic uterus has a very nice home, displayed out in the open on my desk now.
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| Contraception Workshop |
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| Manual Vacuum Aspiration On a Papaya |
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| Plastic Uterus For IUD Insertion Practice |
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| I like this picture, even though almost everyone is blinking |
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| Our Swag |
A few weeks ago, roomie and I had our second annual Class of 2014 Festivus Ugly Sweater Party. If you recall from last year's party, it was so fun that someone's hair caught on fire. If you can believe it, this year was even crazier. It was really fun to see everyone let loose towards the end of an exhausting block and before buckling down/getting serious about finals. For this year's ugliest sweater contest, someone suggested a Zoolander-inspired runway walk-off, and man was it a HIT! It started out innocent enough, but shirts started to come off, etc. It was HILARIOUS. I hope we continue this traditional festive gathering for all four years of med school.
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| They even did the Zoolander underwear trick |
Now back to some school related thoughts. As you may or may not know, the USMLE Step 1 exam (aka "boards") is coming up for me in April. If you don't know about this test, think about the MCAT, but on steroids. Yep, it's like that. At least the material on it is more interesting and relevant to my interests than some of the stuff on the MCAT (i.e. phySUCKS). Anyway, it's a HUGE deal, and the score we get on it determines what kind of residency program we will be able to get into, so it's pretty damn important. I have been dreading boards since we started our first year, but after meeting with one of our student advisors, I am actually feeling ready for it. I'm not excited to devote even more of my precious time to studying, but after the advisor encouraged me, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can rock it if I put in the effort, so I'm feeling pretty ambitious at this point. (I hope this energetic feeling stays for a while!) Now I just need to decide on a date! For some reason April 1 is sticking out for me - we'll see!
That's all for now. Look out for a "2011 Recap" post, and a "2012 Resolutions" post.
