Gettin' My Sing On

This year, for the annual UC Davis Wine Auction (a benefit for the non-profit student-run clinics), my friend Y and I decided to perform a little set together.  In case you don't know Y, he is one of my favorite study buddies, and he is a genius on the keys.  The two of us practiced every day at lunch for the couple of weeks leading up to the event, and our performance turned out okay, I think!

Practice (Notice the weird-ass sculpture hanging in front of our school in the background)

Funny story about the performances... There were several group performances by med students, and the week before the event, we realized that three different groups were all performing "Someone Like You" - Adele, including us!  It actually happened to be the first song we started practicing, so by the time we heard everyone else was performing it too, we were getting a little sick of it, so we abandoned it for a different song.  We did:

• "Ordinary People" - John Legend
• "Nearness of You" Norah Jones
• "Yellow" - Coldplay
• "At Last" - Etta James

It was so much fun working together.  Also, I just love singing, so I had a blast with the whole thing.  Here are our songs on youtube!

Ordinary People

Nearness of You

Yellow

At Last (the still image for this one is kinda funny...)

This Won't Hurt A Bit

   Ever since I got the "save the date" way back in July, I have been extremely excited for one of my favorite bloggers (and author of This Won't Hurt A Bit), Dr. Michelle Au, to visit my school.  She gave two separate talks, both having to do with work-life balance in medicine, and the different expectations that are put on physicians (and trainees) by society, tradition, and ourselves.  One of my favorite things she said was, "To train humanistic doctors, you have to treat them like humans."  I feel lucky that my med school seems to share the same thought.   

   My roommate (who is also a fan) wasn't able to go, so I brought her copy of This Won't Hurt A Bit for Michelle Au to sign.  Sadly, I do not own the book, so instead, I decided to make a (somewhat creepy, I admit) bookmark for her to sign.  Hey, what could I do?! I am a fan, and I knew this would be my only opportunity to meet her, so I had to be creative... She didn't seem to be too weirded out, so that's a plus!

   One of the things she mentioned about in her talks was the importance of finding mentorship, especially for women in medicine, who are sometimes faced with obstacles that men in medicine don't necessarily face.  Though I have met a lot of really inspirational women in medicine in my journey so far, I haven't really gotten the privilege to get to know of any of them on a really personal level - which brings me to why I love Michelle Au's blog and book so much.  I feel like they really give me insight into what life outside of the hospital is like for a female physician, which I otherwise wouldn't know all that much about.  Though I only met her for a brief moment today, her honesty and candor in her writing make me feel like I know her on a more personal level, and I can say that she is definitely someone I look up to in medicine.  I absolutely love the fact that even though she is a physician, not only does she still blog, but she even wrote a book!  I would have never even considered being able to do something like that as a physician, but now I have actually made it a goal of mine to write a book sometime in my life.  

   On a more personal level, I was always unsure about whether I could ever see myself having children.  I'll admit, I used to have a really narrow idea in my mind of what being a mother would be like, and in my mind, it just didn't fit my idea of what kind of woman I wanted to be.  But after reading This Won't Hurt A Bit, I feel like Michelle Au painted a really good picture of what type of mom I could see myself being.  So, you can see why I am a fan.

Lottery

    I'm not sure if other med schools do this too, but at my school we have a very interesting way of picking our third year clinical rotation schedules.  It's infamously known as the "lottery", and this year it coincidentally fell on Friday the 13th.  The staff at school decorated the lecture hall with all sorts of omens of good and bad luck: black cats, ladders, broken mirrors, four leaf clovers, lucky charms, etc.  It was pretty exciting!

Filing in to pick our numbers out of the hat

   You might be wondering, "Why the big fuss over the order of the 6 rotations that everyone has to do, anyway?"  Well, there are pros and cons to doing different rotations before or after one another, depending on what is important to you.  For example, the benefit to doing things sooner is to get them over-with, or they can help prepare you for subsequent rotations, however, you are more inexperienced early on.  The benefit to doing things later, is that you will have more experience under your belt by then, but you run the risk of being burned out by then.  The only thing I really cared about is having Surgery some time before OB/Gyn to help prepare me for it.  In the end, it doesn't really matter which order you do your 6 clinical rotations in, like I said - pros and cons to everything.  But some some control freaks get pretty worked up about having a particular order.

    So the way it works, is that we all filed into the lecture hall, picking numbers out of a hat.  There were six rounds of picking spots in each rotation, one for each time slot in the school year.  To make things fair, each round started on a different random number, so that different people would get chances to have first pick for each round.  I didn't think it was going to be very stressful, but it was hard not to feed off the tension in the room.  The whole picking process went really fast, and it was pretty nerve-wracking trying to come up with strategies in the moment, as you had to adjust for what other people were picking and filling up.

Before all the spots filled up

All the spots almost full!

    I didn't end up with exactly what I originally wanted, but I'm pretty happy with my final third year schedule:

1 - Psych
2 - Surgery
3 - OB/Gyn
4 - Pediatrics
Winter Break
5 - Family Practice
6 - Internal Medicine

Now that I know exactly when I am going to be doing certain rotations, it makes third year all the more real, and I'm getting really excited to be in the hospital!

This is what we do with our "free time" in med school...

This last Friday was Mirth Control - a school wide roast of everything med school/medicine related.  Each class puts on a skit/video and they are judged by a few faculty (the 4th years always win).  I am one of the directors of the class of 2014's production, and while it took up a lot of my time the last few weeks, it was so worth it!  We lot a lot of our classmates in the video and the final product turned out really funny (I think), and at least we really impressed the rest of the school even though we didn't win.  I wasn't able to be at the actual event since I was already enjoying my Vegas Vacation, so I missed out on the other class' skits.  Anyway, here it is! I hope you like the song I wrote/sang (Anatomy Sabotage Song) hehe... Enjoy:

*the premise behind our video is that since med students are always hanging around the Medical Education building ("MedEd") at all hours of the day, it becomes a sort of "club"/social scene.  This is our take on that.

Good things come to those who wait

I just got one of the best Christmas presents ever today!

My friend ordered me award-winning lobster pot pies from Maine.  OMG they were divine!

This was my contribution to the meal: garlicky spinach and mushrooms (tryin to make it a tiny bit healthy)

Oh yeah, and this weekend was the 31st annual UCD SOM Wine Auction to benefit the free student run clinics.  I bought my mom a ticket as her Christmas present, and we both had a wonderful time.  There were lots of wonderful wines, everyone dressed up all classy, live performances, and cool stuff to bid on.  It was really fun!  I definitely hope to go all four years!

We have our first quiz on Friday.  I'm not really looking forward to it.  So far, I haven't really liked the stuff we have been learning the first week back in class.  Lots of boring, detailed, stuff.  I like Pharmacology so far though.  It's cool to learn about the drugs and how they work.  Next weekend I am off to LA to visit my friends and my bf.  Look out for a post from that!

The Honeymoon Ain't Over Yet!

I survived Red October! :)

I can't believe it's already November!  Fall is my favorite time of year, and I am really enjoying a REAL fall this year.  The leaves are red and orange, the air is crisp... its such a great feeling!

I bet you thought only 5-year-olds liked playing in the leaves....

Which brings me to the point of this post:  I still love medical school.  There are days when I get a bit stressed when lots of things are going on at once, but at the end of the day, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here.  How many people get the chance to truly say they are doing something they absolutely love?!  Every day I have to pinch myself and ask "Am I really here? I have been waiting for this so long!"... I am still in the "honeymoon phase" I guess, but after a pretty intense, LONG block, I think that is a good sign.  I know I belong here.

Speaking of Block 1, we are almost done!  I can't believe how much we have learned this block, yet how much more we have to learn.  Its such a weird feeling to feel like I have a lot more under my belt, yet to still feel extremely useless in a clinical setting.  That's okay though, the upperclassmen say that will go away with time (a lot of time)....

I survived my first med school test! (kinda)

So yesterday we had our first quiz (more like an undergrad midterm).  It wasn't TOO bad, and I passed all subjects except one (oops)!  It's okay though, I have plenty more opportunities to make up for the few questions I got wrong.  I definitely feel like I studied enough, but the questions I got wrong were just really tricky and threw me off.

Moral of the story: I survived!

Other than that, everything else is pretty much the same.  Loving life!

Oh yeah, I had a GREAT birthday this year.  Went to dinner with my family, got a very nice surprise from Omar in the mail, and my friends threw me a mini surprise party/study break!!!  It was so awesome and I was legitimately surprised!  No one has ever surprised me before so it was really cool.  I can tell I have made some really good friends here :)

:)

Gamma Phi Davis

We even have our own composite! Love it!!!! :P

This is what we do in medical school......

This is why UCD SOM rocks.

First day of Med School!

Just like I am in Kindergarden again! hehehehe

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

Yet another lazy day in good ol' Roseville.  Spent the day watching a Monk marathon with Tiana, which is one of my fave shows.  What a life I live! Hahaha.

At the moment, Tiana (my sister) is making me a smoothie.  After all, what are sisters for?!  She is getting her belly button pierced later today.  At least she has a life....

So since I have been such a recluse this week, I decided to get out and at least be a loser with someone else.  I am going to go hang out with Audrey for a bit, and who knows.... maybe we will even go for a bike ride!

I am getting really excited to start school, even if it is going to be hell.  I just want something to do! I am going stir crazy!  I hate having absolutely nothing to do like this, because then I don't feel like doing ANYTHING.  I like it better when I am at least slightly busy, because it forces me to get out and do stuff.  After next week, things should start getting more exciting though.  Next week, Tiana and I are having lunch with Nan, getting some plants for my new garden, and visiting Omar in LA next weekend! I am so excited!  Then, when I get back from LA, I am moving in officially to my new place and getting all situated.  I can't believe my time off is almost over.  I haven't really done much, but at least I can say I am well-rested!  Then, orientation is the last week of July, followed by our White Coat Ceremony (induction into medical school).  I am really excited about that.  And I am glad that Davis decided to go to a more traditional white coat ceremony rather than their usual "stethoscope ceremony".  I wish my mom could go, but she definitely won't be back by then.  (If you want to go, just let me know!)

Well, sorry that this post is so boring... but it is a very accurate reflection of my life at the moment.  That is all.

Six Weeks of Nothing

 So today is the first day of my six weeks of break before starting my first year of medical school.  I watched ER and a bunch of other mindless tv, tool my sister to the mall and then to her friends house, and took a three hour nap.  My life is boring.  Haha, not gonna lie, it kinda feels nice to do absolutely nothing though.  My goals for these few weeks I have off are:
-wash my car
-read a shit ton of books
-watch a shit ton of tv/movies
-exercise
-shop for furniture/stuff for my new place
-move in / decorate my new place
-get my vegetable garden in the backyard started
-hang out with family and friends
-video chat with a special someone
-go to SF to see Avery, Jackie, etc
-go to SF with Juliette, Tara, Leigh
-go to the waterfalls with whoever
-go to Yosemite with my dad and sister

Here's to having no responsibilities, no schedule to follow, and no obligations for six weeks.  I know it's gonna go by fast!

Home is Where the Heart is!

My roomie and I have found a house for next year!  It is a fabulous two bedroom right down the street from the med school, and its so cute! I will post pics as soon as I move in.  The only downside is that the landlord needed to rent it ASAP, so our lease starts May 15th.  That means we have to start paying rent for a month before I can even move in!  Oh well, we really like the place, so it will be worth it in the long run!  I can't wait to start buying furniture and decorating!  And hopefully I will get to bring my cat! (Crossing my fingers that my roomie isn't allergic).  So as soon as I move back after graduation, I can already start moving in and getting things situated, but also living with my parents and spending time with my family before school starts.  At least I will for sure have something to do now! :P  Steph and I want to start a vegetable garden, so I am definitely going to take that time to read up on gardening and maybe start things off! Exciting!!!!!

We are already heading into 7th week here at UCLA... 7th week! Can you believe it?!  This quarter is going by way faster than I ever anticipated!  I have been trying to spend lots of time with all my friends before I leave... I'm really gonna miss everyone!

Tomorrow Howard is taking senior portraits if Juliette and I, so that should be fun! I am excited!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I went to Vegas last weekend with 9 Gamma Phi's.  It was a blast!  Here are a few gems from the trip:

HAHAHA Poor Marrin.....

UCD SOM Revisit Weekend

   Today and yesterday was the "re-look" event for UC Davis School of Medicine.  It was AMAZING!  I already knew I wanted to go to UCD for sure, but this was really just a confirmation that I belong there.  The mission of the school, the vibe, everything... it's all just so perfect!

   We spent a lot of time mingling with our future classmates and the current med students, and I really feel like I am going to fit in.  UCD is such a family, and I love that!  I know that I have the type of personality that I need to be surrounded by supportive friends to succeed in school, and I know I am going to get that there.  The classes are pretty small (about 95 ish per grade) so everyone knows eachother, which I LOVE!  It's kinda like joining a sorority again haha.

   Also, S ( my future roomie) and I went house hunting, which was really fun!  All of the houses are old and super cute!  We really really liked one, but we are not sure if its the one we will go for yet.  It is everything we want, except the ONLY problem with it is its on the side of campus where the neighborhood isn't amazing.  I mean, it's only a block or so from the school, so the neighborhood is fine, but if you go further down, the neighborhood gets pretty sketchy (Oak Park).  Either way, there are a lot of cute places out there, so I'm sure something will work out!

   I still have to pinch myself everyday because I don't believe this is all happening to me!  I feel like my life is finally starting, and I actually feel like I am becoming an adult for once.  It's a pretty awesome feeling.