Good News/Bad News..
Oh boy!!! These past couple of weeks have been quite the rollercoaster.
Good new first, or bad news? Let's start with the good since I'm in no mood to list the bad right away...
- Birthday went well... was "surprised" at midnight with wishes and a cake. The surprise might have worked a little better if everyone hadn't taken turns dropping by my apartment every few minutes to make sure I was still awake and would remain so for some time ;) Then I was surprised again with another cake at school by a second group of friends. I was chocolated-out by the day hehe. At night, we went out to a semi-fancy restaurant for dinner and I enjoyed truly delicious ribs in a Guava sauce (don't knock it...that stuff is GOOOOOOOOD!!!!) Wrapped up the day with Tiramisu...which, I'd say, is about the right way to end a birthday :)
- SFH: Students for Health. It's a volunteer group at my school. The main purpose is to go about the island and run clinics for the locals who don't have a family doctor or can't afford to visit a doctor/hospital regularly. By the end of my second training session, I'd already been asked to become a trainer from next semester. Cool stuff :) I owe that to my EMT training. And it's gotten better since then... I've been appointed Adminstrator for the e-board. It's a multi-task-oriented job involving some HR work, training, management, etc. I'm pretty sure I've signed up for (rather, been signed up for... D just wouldn't take no for an answer, not that I was going to refuse) more than I should have, but I can't give up the opportunity to actively practice medicine as soon as possible! And the piece-de-resistance... we're going to set up a Children's Hospital on the island. I'm supremely excited about this project as it's exactly the kind of work I want to do in the future. To get such early exposure and experience in setting up something like this and helping the community out is really significant on both personal and professional fronts.
- I'm going home in 6 days!!! :) Well 5 now! :) I'm super excited to see my family after 4 months. I'm also desparately looking forward to the rest I expect I'll get in during the 17 days I have off. I will definitely cherish every single moment of relaxation as next semester is going to be action-packed and hectic.
On to the bad....
- Finals are, as expected, hard. We're getting pushed every which way, and I swear we've never even heard of some of the stuff that was asked. I guess that's what MedSchool is about... Half way through. I will make it... I have to!
- There was a robber in my building two nights ago. Guns/shooting were involved, but no one was hurt. Unfortunately the robber(s) got away. It's left everyone around quite a bit scared and even slightly paranoid. I'm really thankful that I live on the top floor (the robbery occurred on the ground level) and I triple and quadruple check my locks all the time. But it leaves me feeling very vulnerable and uncomfortable. I just don't like living in a state when every creak and tap has me worrying it might be someone trying to break in. Taking a shower last night was a very scary ordeal. Anyone, anytime, anywhere ... it certainly holds true. They've added an additional security guard at night since then, and both are armed (always have been, and I'm extremely thankful the guard was active on the night of the robbery, not just sitting around for show). Still...
- It's a whole 5 days before I'll be home. 5 days and 3 more tests. And I've run out of Coke!!! Coffee puts me to sleep. Coke is the only caffeine fix that keeps me up for any length of time. Bah!
Oh I forgot to mention, I'll be renting a car next semester. Actually, there's 5 of us pooling together to rent since it gets expensive here... I'm excited about the increased mobility we'll have with our own car. Of course, this on happened because the "free" bus to and from school will no longer be free next semester. $300 is a ridiculous sum of money for a bus pass that does not guarantee us a seat on the bus. And let's not forget that the bus rarely shows up per schedule and binds us to the drivers routine. No, with the additional responsibility of SFH clinics next semester, it will be very beneficial to have our own car.
That's all for now... it'd been 2 weeks, so I figured I'd update you all on my life :) I'll be home within the week... hurray! :)