I really shouldn't be blogging

I'm super stressed. I've never taken an anatomy course before and it shows. I have no clue what's going on in class and he moves way too fast for me to take anything in. So I'm thinking that today was my last time attending that class. Ughs. I'm freaking out, people!


But, I am taking a break to blog and then perhaps hit the books again. We shall see. So, let's focus on what you guys are really here for...wait, what is that again?


Today I woke up nice and early at 6:45 a.m. and my eyes were seriously angry with me for requiring them to do real work. Well, sorry eyes, I wasn't exactly thrilled about being awake either! I also wasn't thrilled with my weight this morning. That's right, because today is Wednesday, I did a weigh-in. I'm still down some pounds, but I was hoping to be down a bit more by now. Let's shoot for a 2 pound loss for next week!

I showered and then got to work preparing breakfast. Today it was oats, eggs (2 egg whites + 1 whole egg), and a particularly good-looking banana.

After breakfast, I biked to class and got there nice and early so I could set everything up that I needed. Then I sat talking to Lawrence about if I want to attend lecture anymore. He's feeling the same way as I am: like it's pointless and we're losing study time by being there. 


Today we had two hours of biochem, followed by one hour of anatomy, and finished with one hour of physiology. It was rough. Very rough. It was made even more rough by the fact that I forgot to bring all the snacks I packed last night. Not cool. Surprisingly though, my stomach didn't get all grumbly like it normally would. However, by lunch, I was starving. So, I munched on some watermelon while I prepared some tacos (I had some leftover turkey taco meat that I needed to use).

While munching on this awesome cookie, I signed up for my second 5k.

That's right folks, I signed up to run 3.1 miles again. But, this time it's not just for fun. I'm also running for a reason. I'm running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a race that helps fund research to find a cure for breast cancer. As 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their life, any funds you can donate would be very much appreciated and I would love, love, love it if you would donate to me! Any little bit counts so if you can only donate $1, $5, or $10, I would be ever so grateful!


But because I took too much time fiddling with my personal race page, I lost track of time and ended up being about 3 minutes late to my first histology lab. Whoops! It wasn't a big deal as nothing had started yet, but I really need to get my act together. And for the record, histology is a million times better than anatomy. Maybe I'm not meant for surgery after all. I really like dealing with things on a small scale (hence being a chemistry major). We shall see!


After lab I came home to find that the frame for my desk had finally arrived. Thus, I spent quite a bit of time putting everything together. Good thing IKEA included pictorial instructions - I was not in the mood to read anything else. It came together quite nicely!

But then I realized I didn't have a chair so that I could actually sit at my desk. Novel concept, I know. So I added going to Staples to my list of errands I needed to run. The list also included the following:

• Go to Brian's Books to buy the Anatomy Atlas we were told to only buy at the bookstore
• Go to the post office to mail some time-sensitive stuff (i.e. rent and contracts)
• Go to Staples to buy a chair, a day planner, and some colored pens
• Go to meijer to buy more make-up and conditioner
• Go to the Apple Store to pick up Arthur and return the MacBook Air
• Go home and collapse out of sheer exhaustion

So, after munching on some watermelon, eating half a pickle, and scarfing down a Luna bar, I headed out to get everything done on the above errand list. The first three tasks were no big deal (though I did spend a lot of time testing out chairs at Staples), and then when I got to meijer, I was majorly excited when I saw that garden fresh gourmet salsa was on sale. The only problem was that I didn't have chips. And I didn't want to get just any chips, I wanted to get the healthier chips. So, I ended up buying three bags of different tortilla chips (after all, I didn't know which ones I'd like the most). Excessive? Yes. Necessary? Yes.

After meijer, I went to pick up Arthur and turn in the MacBook Air (which I was actually really happy to see go. I missed Arthur!). While I was returning my MacBook Air, the guy doing my return got a tad confused. He asked me if I used the $100 iTunes/App Store/iBookstore gift certificate that came with my purchase of the MacBook Air. Of course I hadn't - I knew I was returning the computer. I went to give it back, but he told me he couldn't figure out how to include that in the return so he told me to just keep it. Um, what? $100 of free music!? You bet I put that back in my purse as quickly as possible! Also, when he did my return, he credited my card with $1005 when the computer only cost me $1000. So I basically made $105 screwing over Apple. Job well done!

I'm greasy and happy!

When I got home, I put my salsa in the fridge to cool, and put my chair together. It's very sharp looking. The only problem is that it doesn't tilt backwards like it's supposed to and I have no idea what I did wrong. I will be calling their product helpline tomorrow, worry not.

After everything was put together, I tested all 3 types of chips and both types of salsa I bought:

Since I know you're interested, I shall give you my rankings of the chips in terms of deliciousness (1 being the most delicious):

1. Teal bag: meijer's whole grain sea salt tortilla chips
2. Yellow-white bag: meijer's organic yellow corn tortilla chips
3. Blue-brown bag: Tostito's multigrain tortilla chips

As per the salsa, the sweet onion salsa was definitely better and I will be buying that from the point onward.

After finally settling in to my new desk set-up, I did some studying for anatomy and would like to proclaim myself officially lost. Tomorrow we have a required class at 8:00 a.m. and I think I'll be skipping the next three hours to read for anatomy since I don't want to be an idiot during anatomy lab in the afternoon. The book is much better than the lectures. I hope that by reading the corresponding pages, I will understand the lectures better when I review them. We shall see. Also, by skipping biochem and physiology, I can review those lectures later tomorrow at a bit of a faster pace since the material is all review thus far.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if this was a bore to you, but my posts will probably be all about school and stuff now because I assume it will take over my life. And now I'm off to attempt to learn more anatomy. Ughssss.

Med school is already eating me alive

Tuesday is our latest starting day of the week. We begin at 9:00 a.m. Whoop de doo. Sleeping in until 7:45 a.m. is not really sleeping in, folks. Last night I made some oats and threw them in the freezer so that I wouldn't be too pressed for time in the morning this morning (unlike yesterday when I was 4 minutes late...). I also took the time to make some scrambled eggs (2 egg whites + 1 whole egg). Twas a good breakfast:

I also packed snacks for this morning's lectures last night:

Watermelon, grapes, organic teddy grahams, lemon Luna bar

I ate all of this during our three hours of lecture this morning and then I came home and went to the gym immediately. As I did weights yesterday, today was a cardio day. I ran 3.1 miles today. Well, I ran/walked 3.1 miles. It took me about 41 minutes. I was really trying to run the whole thing because I know I can do it (since I did on Sunday), but I started getting a stitch in my side and decided to take a few breathing breaks.


Then I came home and made a chocolate banana protein shake which was amazing! I drank that down while I made the rest of my very random lunch:

After lunch, I took a quick shower and headed to school to change into my scrubs for my very first anatomy lab. When I thought about it, I regretted having one of the awesome cookies my mom brought for me as I was walking out the door. Eating shortly before seeing my first cadaver may not have been my brightest idea.


I changed into my scrubs (pic below) and then headed into lab to listen to the lab instructor for over an hour about what lab would be like.

Pumped for the first anatomy lab

Then we headed into lab and started poking around trying to find a few things on the cadavers. So, for those of you who have never had the pleasure of poking around on a cadaver, let me tell you what that's like. First of all, cadavers are yellow. Like very yellow. Having seen surgeries where organs are functioning and different colors, I didn't realize how yellow these cadavers would be. It makes identifying things kind of difficult. But, with the help of some girls, we identified everything we needed and even left a bit early.


Monica and I walked out together and talked about how we're feeling about school so far. I'll talk more about my feelings shortly.


After leaving anatomy, I headed to the Christian Medical Association's welcome picnic. For those of you who know me, I'm not exactly a religious person. But, it's something I want to explore a bit more. So I figured there's no time like the present! I met a second-year at the picnic and I'm going to go to church with him this Sunday since he was pretty much in my same shoes last year.


The other great thing about the picnic was that there was food! We had burgers and an array of different types of salads. There was also cake and ice cream. Unfortunately, the kids served us our cake and ice cream and the portions were small. Womp, womp. I was really excited about the cake!


After the picnic, I headed home and got right to studying. I have my first histology lab tomorrow so I had to do the prelab and learn all about hematoxylin and eosin staining in addition to how microscopes work (I've learned this way more in-depth in my analytical chemistry classes). It was not so fun. Then I worked on some anatomy and poof! it was 11:00 p.m. And I still need to prep stuff for tomorrow.


Okay, so let's get to my feelings about med school. Lecture seems pointless. They post all the lectures online so that you can review them whenever you want. However, if you do go to lecture, you get to waste a half hour of your time because we take 10-minute breaks between each lecture (there are 4 lectures). Also, we start pretty much everyday at 8:00 a.m. and let's face it folks, getting up at 6:45 a.m. after staying up so late is rough. So I don't know how much longer I'm going to attend. Also, it's not as though there aren't a bajillion ways to ask your prof a question. I think I'm going to finish off this week going to lecture just to see how it goes and then decide if I want to attend lectures next week. From the second years I've talked to, it seems as though about 60-70% of the class stops going, and I don't strive to be an independent thinker. Nope I don't.


Anywho, I'm off to prep for tomorrow morning so I can go to lecture. Yuck. I'm seriously already considering not going...It'd be so much better! I could wake up, go to the gym, do some studying in the morning, have lunch, go to lab, come home, study more. It's just waaaay better than waking up and sitting in lecture trying not to fall asleep/pay attention. I don't know about you, but I can't pay attention for 4 straight hours. To anything. Ever. Gah.

I did something a little crazy

So today I took my computer (which I named Arthur and will thus refer to as such) in to the Apple Store because his tab key was coming off. Additionally, two of his four pads came off and he may have had his corners smashed in when I dropped him. To fix all these things, they wanted to send him in to the depot. Not good. I literally used Arthur to take notes in every single one of my classes today. So I stressed how important it was that they expedite the shipping and they said they'd do their best. But since I really, really, really couldn't live without a computer, I bought a MacBook Air. Don't worry. I intend to return it when I get Arthur back, but it was a tad crazy. This thing is so small!

Matt setting up my baby computer

So, now you needn't worry about not having updates and I needn't worry about going into med school without a computer. Now, let's backtrack to yesterday, shall we? Glad you have no choice...


Sunday
I woke up a bajillion times during the night because I was super nervous that I was either going to miss the 5k or that I was going to be dead last or that I'd wake up and find that I didn't want to do it. But, when my alarm went off at 7:45 a.m., I was just fine. In fact, I got up and had some oats!

 And I quickly snapped a picture of me pre-race being super nervous

After breakfast, I hopped in my car and had my phone's GPS take me to Riverside Park. I got there in about 10 minutes and didn't see anyone. This was peculiar because I wasn't that early. After driving around for about 20 minutes, I decided there must be some other entrance to this park. I was right. And there were a ton of people there. Apparently it was the biggest Naked Foot 5K they'd had thus far. I registered, quickly threw my bag of goodies in my car, snapped a photo, and headed back to watch the one milers do their thing.

As the time to start got closer, I started getting really nervous, thinking that I'd be the absolute last person to finish. So, to strategize a bit, I headed to the front of the line when it was time to begin. When it was time to go, I started the timer on my heart rate monitor and was off. I was passed by a bajillion people almost right away. But I didn't want to start off going way too fast and burn out by the end. To be honest, though, being passed by that many people made me feel completely insecure. I started having vicious thoughts and wondering why I willingly signed up to do this. Then I had visions of being in absolute last place and wondered if I could sneak to my car without anyone noticing. But, then I started concentrating on my music and telling myself that I could do it.


When I was at the halfway point, I was mostly shocked that it had been 1.55 miles and I hadn't stopped to walk yet. So I decided that I would make it my goal to run the whole time. I use the term "run" very liberally. I mostly was jogging. But I was having a decent time and kept cheering myself on in my head. When I was nearing the finish line, it was great having the crowd cheering for me. I looked at their clock and it was a bit over 36 minutes. When I crossed the line, I immediately stopped my timer.

My time was nearly 6 minutes faster than my previous two times. Sweet! After I refueled a bit (they give you water, apples, and bananas), I headed over for a free foot massage. That was awesome. Ashley (my masseuse) even worked on my calves when I told her that I had to wear heels later in the day (after she got over the initial shock of the idea of anyone wearing heels - seriously, girls/drag queens, they're so bad for you).


I headed home after snapping a post-race photo and made an awesome protein-rich breakfast.

After eating a ton of protein, I hopped in the shower and was out only minutes before my mom and sister arrived for my white coat ceremony. I finished getting ready and we unpacked some more stuff from home. I also was finally able to get rid of four suitcases and countless empty boxes.


Then I took my mom and sister on a tour of the Secchia Center, the place where I'll be spending most of my time during the next two years. And because I take my camera everywhere, we took quite a few pics there.

Then I handed off the camera to my sister so she could take pictures at the ceremony. So, what happens at a white coat ceremony you ask? Well, a lot of nothing, really. A lot of important people make speeches (most of the deans) and then we hand our coats to a random doctor on stage and they put it on for us. This happens for each of the 200 students in our class which results in a very long, somewhat boring ceremony. But, it's to congratulate us on getting in and basically encourage us to study hard. I'm sure it was even worse for the parents/family/friends.

They had pics of the entering class playing the whole ceremony

The stage

Entering without our coats on

Dr. Arvidson helping me with my coat

Getting ready to shake the dean's hand 

Matt and me afterwards

The proud family and me

After the ceremony, my mom, sister, and I went out to dinner (Matt headed home so I didn't get to see him much since he met up with my family before the ceremony). We went to On The Border, a restaurant I'd never been to before. I got some combo that was pretty good:

Beef taco, chicken flauta, and fries I didn't finish

Guacomole tostada

After dinner, my mom and sister headed out and I enjoyed a second cookie (my mom brought them for me from my favorite bakery) before donning my new marathon shirt and heading to Matt's house.

At Matt's house, we hung out with his family a bit and then sat in his hot tub which felt amazing on my knees which were struggling a bit after wearing heels for about 3.5 hours. Then I headed home to rest up for the first day of classes.


Today
I slept in as late as possible and was 4 minutes late to my first med school lecture this morning. Whoops. But it was fine. I set up my computer and followed along just fine. Besides, it was just clinical skills. I'm glad I didn't miss biochem or something. Oh, and here's my breakfast (since I definitely made time for that):

After clinical skills we had biochemistry followed by anatomy and then we finished with physiology. It wasn't too rough as we're just reviewing the basics, but our anatomy professor isn't too great. During breaks between class, nearly everyone was complaining about him and how fast he talked. I'm sure this is going to be my hardest class, so I'm not looking forward to it.

After class, I headed home for lunch and then gathered up all my stuff for everything I needed to accomplish this afternoon. 

I quickly ran back to school for the anatomy and histology lab open house and then headed to FedEx to have my coursepacks bound since they're much too big for binders. After dropping those off, I headed to the Woodland Mall and showed them my iPod (which hasn't worked in a while) and Arthur. They gave me a brand new replacement iPod for $62. Um, okay. I guess that works. The 160gb iPod is about $250, so I guess $60 for 120gb is a deal? Whatever. Then they told me they would have to ship Arthur in and I had a meltdown/posted to you guys so you wouldn't think I was abandoning you. Then I had my ingenius plan to screw over Apple (in return for screwing me over - karma's a bitch) and bought this baby computer. I'm terrified I'm going to break it before my computer gets back.


Anyway, I returned two of the dresses I didn't wear on Sunday and then headed to the gym after waiting forever for FedEx to finish binding my coursepacks. I almost didn't go to the gym because I had so much to do, but I told myself that I needed to prioritize myself too. So, I did about an hour's worth of weight lifting and then headed home where Matt was waiting for me.


While I made dinner, Matt set up this baby computer for me. We had chicken fajita quesadillas. They're pretty dang healthy. We paired them with these awesome brown rice chips Matt brought from his house and his mom's homemade salsa (which is amazing).

After gobbling down two of these, we both set to work studying. However, as a break, I spent some time opening all my packages from Amazon that included some of my new medical supplies. I was really pumped when I opened my reflex hammer. And because Matt's an awesome friend, he let me practice on him! Don't worry, he was just as excited as me!

I couldn't find his damn patellar tendon at first, so we switched places and he found mine pretty easily. He should be a doctor, too! Then we switched back and I finally was getting good at finding the right spot. We were laughing uncontrollably mostly because I deemed it "hammer time." I'm going to be the best doctor ever. You just wait.


Anyway, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow's my first anatomy lab and I need to be rested up! Thanks for reading!