2nd year completed! (from 6/09)

Finally, I’m done with the second year of med school (YEAH!!!!), a year that seemed to drag on forever and a day. I must admit, the classes were a lot more enjoyable, and I was able to better balance free time with study time. For some reason, however, the last couple months of it took forrrrrever, probably since I could actually see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I just wanted to run as fast as I could toward it. Hey, at least I made it, free of any head pounding or threats to link up all the pages of my pathophysiology text, wrap it around my neck and hang from it. I did have my share of trials and “what the hell did I do that for?” moments (most of them not actually related to school); however, all in all it was a smooth, painless experience, though I must admit that simply the relief of having this part of school over does lend itself to some relative amnesia regarding aforementioned trials. Trials make the victory so much sweeter, doesn’t it? Well, if it doesn’t, I’ll never know. What’s done is done. Let’s just agree that it does and be happier knowing that life will be sweeter in the long run because of it.
I won’t consider the first half of school truly over until I’ve successfully taken my first licensing exam. This is probably the most important test I will take during my medical prep., which means that over the summer I’ll be studying my ass off (you know, that’s such a misleading saying, because I can tell you from recent experience that your ass never shrinks in proportion to the amount of study time you put in). At least this is now on my own time, and I won’t have to answer to anyone for skipping class (not that that EVER happened to me).
I’m also working through the summer as a nurse, gleaning as much as I can from the medical aspect of the job and making some connections. I enjoy being a nurse, and have so much respect for the job and the people who do it, but there’s this underlying satisfaction knowing I’ll be able to diagnose and treat patients on a different level once I’m done with school. After my exam is over, I’ll begin the 72 weeks of clinical training which will lead me to the end of another chapter……the completion of my MD degree. Until then, I have to stay focused on the task at hand, and enjoy the fact that I made it this far, on that road, and came through it relatively unscathed……and almost completely normal.

Let’s get this next chapter started, shall we?