18th grade
My second year of medical school has started. I'm still spending a little time each week in my lab because it feels like home. MS2 is supposed to be harder, so I guess it might explode in difficulty soon. So far, it's much easier than I expected. I discovered that I have the bizarre ability to memorize drugs. In 6 hours of studying time, I memorized 80 drugs: their generic name, biochemical mechanism, and clinical use. I have most of the extra tidbits of information about some drugs memorized as well, though at present it's still kind of mobile within my mind. I guess all that time as a very strange child has finally paid off. I memorized roughly 900 digits of pi when I was in middle school. I memorized movies down to very specific details (license plates on cars). Now I've decided to be a professional memorizer. As long as I don't go all math-robot and scare my patients out the door, this will be a good life.
I've started volunteering at the student-run clinic. It's been wonderful for me. We speak Spanish during most of our cases, so my medical Spanish has gotten a lot better. I've gotten much more comfortable taking patient histories and presenting to attending physicians. It's hard to remember that the patients are ostensibly the ones being helped; the patients have been so warm to us, and the other students and doctors are welcoming to each other in addition to the patient. I leave feeling so nurtured. I guess an extra perk of doing a PhD before my clinical years of medical school is that I'll be able to volunteer at this clinic for a whole lot of years.
All of my muscles ache from lots and lots of hot yoga. Though I took a few weeks' break during the summer, I finally got back on the wagon. I think yoga isn't just a habit but a whole relationship for me. Which makes sense, I guess, since yoga is a deeper and personal activity than pedaling an elliptical machine. Yoga is a mirror for me, and I anthropomorphize that mirror. I get mad at it, I think about it constantly, I miss it, I love it. I stay faithful for a while and it lets me reconnect with myself. Literally, as in, "Oh, those are my shins against my face."
I'm pretty excited to see that, so far, my schedule isn't actually that overwhelming. Tomorrow I'll go to school early and get to the key to the single piano room in the student center and sing like crazy.
I've started volunteering at the student-run clinic. It's been wonderful for me. We speak Spanish during most of our cases, so my medical Spanish has gotten a lot better. I've gotten much more comfortable taking patient histories and presenting to attending physicians. It's hard to remember that the patients are ostensibly the ones being helped; the patients have been so warm to us, and the other students and doctors are welcoming to each other in addition to the patient. I leave feeling so nurtured. I guess an extra perk of doing a PhD before my clinical years of medical school is that I'll be able to volunteer at this clinic for a whole lot of years.
All of my muscles ache from lots and lots of hot yoga. Though I took a few weeks' break during the summer, I finally got back on the wagon. I think yoga isn't just a habit but a whole relationship for me. Which makes sense, I guess, since yoga is a deeper and personal activity than pedaling an elliptical machine. Yoga is a mirror for me, and I anthropomorphize that mirror. I get mad at it, I think about it constantly, I miss it, I love it. I stay faithful for a while and it lets me reconnect with myself. Literally, as in, "Oh, those are my shins against my face."
I'm pretty excited to see that, so far, my schedule isn't actually that overwhelming. Tomorrow I'll go to school early and get to the key to the single piano room in the student center and sing like crazy.