My Happy Place

They say you shouldn't get behind in medical school because it's very hard to catch up. Whoever "they" are, I now believe them. After finally figuring out what study strategies work best for me, I spent hours and hours and hours in the Health Sciences Library catching up. This is my happy place. Specifically, the second group study room on the left hand side of the first floor. That room (now designated "the spot" by Lauriane and me) is where I ate lunch and dinner for four straight days. In fact, on Sunday I could actually see what I ate on Friday night in the trash can, because they hadn't gotten around to cleaning that floor yet. And thus sadly last weekend I was in the HSL more than I was at home.

Lauriane and I are good study partners. For the most part, we study. But often we were dragging a bit, and then we played short games every hour on the hour, allowing a bit of tomfoolery to re-energize us briefly. Last Saturday was a particularly rough day, so we decided to talk about something that makes us very happy for a few minutes each hour (I like having my teeth cleaned and sweatpants with pockets, while Lauriane is a huge fan of vanilla scented candles and tomato juice). Later this week we tried things that piss us off, but that game didn't seem to have the same motivating effect. On Sunday evening right before the exam, we watched Cool Runnings and Lion King clips on YouTube to pump us up for the upcoming test (and we found them in both French and English of course...).

By the end of the week, I was losing my mind. Saturday night I locked my keys in my car, and it took me all the way until Sunday at 2 pm to fully catch up. I definitely wasn't as prepared for our exam as I should have been. 67 questions multiple choice on topics like RNA polymerase transcription factors, mitochondrial inheritance, and gene splicing. Yuck is right. Immediately after the exam, they posted the answers in the auditorium. 67 sheets of paper, each with the question, right answer, and explanation. Sarah and I refused to go. I narrowed so many questions down to two choices, that I couldn't even remember which one I finally chose. There was no point in even looking, so we had a dance party with Klara, Andie, Eric, Omid, and Perry outside of the cafeteria instead. Frankly that was a much better use of my time. And 24 hours later what did I find out, I passed! And I didn't even scrape by! P = MD, right? As a lot of my classmates like to say, "What do you call the person who graduates last in her class in medical school? A doctor." And many of us partied a little too hard on Monday night to celebrate that fact (but I won't mention any names out of respect for the party involved)...

However, I'm not looking to graduate last. So this week I've been good. As of today I'm only one day behind (and I'm looking forward to this 3 day weekend to catch up and study ahead of time - wait, what??). After class each day I head to the spot, study for a few hours, then head home for dinner and some shenanigans. This past week we got 14 guys to head over to Baileys and do a MS1 fantasy football draft over wings, Ryan Funderburk came over for dinner, I met with Dr. Kohn, and I played some basketball with the "med school ballers." So now that I'm starting to get in a rhythm, life is good. Tonight I'm heading to Raleigh for dinner, live music, and an art show. Who says med school can't be fun? Well, as long as you stay on top of it.

This week I'm looking forward to a three day weekend and dinner with the Kleins. Signing off.

RAS ,retired.