Christmas

It's December 26th and another Christmas has come and gone. As usual it was great time spent with my family. On Christmas Eve we did a little shopping in the morning and then went to my grandparents house to make our annual gingerbread houses. By some miracle there were no dead people on any of the four houses this year, yay! Eventually my parents showed up and then we were all able to take pictures, eat dinner, and open presents. It was really a wonderful night (and it always is)!

On Christmas we woke up and had breakfast together and then opened our family presents. We watch some Christmas movies (well they were on and we sort of watched them) and just relaxed. In the afternoon we went to my cousins house to give their mom the presents we got her and hung out with them for some time. After we went back home we relaxed some more and then got ready to have everyone over for dinner. We once again had a great time at dinner though I was exhausted from waking up so early thanks to my bed being just across the wall from the TV which was turned on quite early. We had a delicious meal and played Telestrations, which is a really fun game that's sort of like telephone but with drawings.

So that was my Christmas in 2012. Looking forward to the New Year, the Rose Bowl, and more time with my family while I am on break!

My Gingerbread House

All four Gingerbread Houses

Kelly, Molly, Me, and Christine

My Fam :)

Packing and cleaning

Today's is Christmas Eve Eve and I'm finally getting ready to go home for the holidays! Lots of packing and cleaning to get done, but I still have two hours and I should be able to make it! Can't wait to see my family and my puppies!

DONE!

I am now officially done with my first semester of med school! That makes us all 1/8 MD haha. Renal went well and I passed yay. I finished my practical yesterday and then met up with a friend from college and her fiancé for a bit, which was nice. I also hung out downtown and did some Christmas shopping, and then went out to dinner with some of my classmates. It's so nice to not have anything school related at all for the next two weeks. Today I am volunteering at the student run free clinic and then I need to desperately start cleaning because one of my friends is coming over to watch Christmas movies since we haven't had the chance to hang out in a while and I need to make sure everything is clean before I leave for break tomorrow night!

Oh and I almost forgot, yesterday was the first real snowfall of the season! Woo hoo!

Snow outside my window

On the walk downtown. You can see the hospital in the background!

Christmas Shopping Fail

So today we attempted to go Christmas shopping and ended up with nothing. We basically just walked around and went in some stores and fought our way through the crazy crowds. Yesterday I was really nostalgic about the city and today I was on a totally different wavelength as I remembered how much I despise crowds, haha. Anyways we still had a good time. We also went to see Elf on Broadway and we both really enjoyed it. It was different than the movie version, but luckily I was in the right place today because for once in my life I really didn't care! Its a Christmas miracle! Molly was pretty beat after the show so we fought through crowds once again to the subway and went home. I can't believe how fast this weekend has gone. I've already been here two full days and it's my third and final night. Tomorrow we are going shopping again and then I fly home.

Rockefeller Center

Molly looking at the installation she helped build at the W Hotel

New York City

Right now I am with my sister in NYC! This week overall was pretty low key. I had the first week of renal sequence complete with some anatomy, histology, and lectures. Yesterday my small group went to the hemodialysis clinic at the VA to see what can happen in renal disease first hand instead of just talking about it for two hours. We also got a tour of the VA hospital which was pretty cool to see. After class I packed and headed to the airport to fly to NYC. The flight was good and I slept the entire way, waking up to a sunset over Manhattan!

When I got here I went to S'Mac for dinner and then Molly and I watched some TV. Today I let myself sleep in a bit and then went to Pilates class with my old instructor (who remembered me from two and half years ago!). I tried to watch the lectures I missed at school today at the New York Public Library, but the internet was too slow so I eventually went back to Molly's apartment and downloaded them so I didn't have to deal with anymore internet issues. I watched one lecture and then went to Molly's work to see it, grabbed some yummy cupcakes and banana pudding at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, and walked back to the apartment to watch the second lecture. Now I'm finally done learning biochem today and we are going to Union Square tonight for a birthday celebration. Fun times!

The New York Public Library all decorated for Christmas

Molly and I with Beth

My Christmas Decorations :)

I just realized that I never put up any pictures of my Christmas decorations that I have in my living room area! Enjoy! I also posted pictures from my Toronto trip in that post, so please peruse those gems. Theres a special picture for my sister and my mom near the end. Someday soon I will also post pics of my whole apartment, since I still haven't done that. Has to be after I've cleaned though :)

Light up fake tree I got from Costco and my monogramed stocking

The cute snowmen I got at Costco

Christmas night light

Costco wreath that smells so pine-y and Christmas-y

My two amazingly Christmas smelling candles

The whole room!

On to Renal

Today was the beginning of our renal sequence, which is only two weeks long. We learned the histology of the urinary system as well as the beginnings of renal physiology. It looks to be an interesting two weeks! I remember enjoying renal in human physiology in undergrad for some reason. That was years ago though so I could be remembering the exact opposite of what I actually felt.

After class today I tried to fin the puppies that were supposed to be on north campus for de-stressing. I'm not really that stressed, but I wanted to see puppies. After getting lost inside a building I had never been in multiple times I finally found the dogs, but there were older. Not that older dogs aren't great, because they are, I was just hoping for little pups that would run around and you could play with and snuggle. Anyways, I ended up just petting one for a second and then I left and got lost on north campus again. Thank goodness for the iPhone. I did a little grocery shopping after and then went home to eat dinner.

Tonight was also the last water polo practice of the year. We got to scrimmage, which was fun! I hate having practice so late at night, but at least I had a good time. There is even another grad student now so we can be old together!! Woo!

So that was my dad. Not all that exciting, but only three days until NYC now!

Toronto

I had a really fun weekend in Toronto! While it was a long drive, it was definitely worth it (though I wish I had another day or two). We went to the Toronto Christmas Market, to the Eaton Centre, walked along the harbour (yeah Canadian spelling that makes me want to pronounce everything in French), ate some good food and walked around. We also watched Pitch Perfect last night in the hotel room when one of my friends took her final and we were all really exhausted. It's definitely getting cold up here now, so I think I'm going to re-experience winter for the first time in two years shortly. I am now home and ready to start our Renal sequence in the morning. Just four days now until I see my sister in NYC and two weeks until I go home for Christmas! Another countdown begins!

Me, Shea, Stephanie, and Leigha

Next to the Swiss market restaurant Marché that we ate lunch at

The Christmas Market!

Leigha and Stephanie inside the gingerbread house

Tree at the Christmas Market

At the Christmas Market

Eaton Centre -- A huge mall downtown Toronto

Christmas window at The Bay

Christmas window at The Bay

Christmas window at The Bay

Christmas window at The Bay

CN Tower and some other Toronto buildings

Whole Foods in Oakville!

There was a West Marine next to Whole Foods! Our family is covered if we ever need to move here haha.

Lovely display I left for the waiter at dinner :)

In Canada!

We have arrived in Toronto for a fun weekend of shopping and exploration! CFM week has officially concluded (well, besides the exam which I will take sometime while we are here). It was a pretty cool week of learning physical exam things and learning from actual patients. We got to listen to peoples hearts with murmurs, people with fibrotic lungs, and much more. It was really interesting, but its nice to have a few days off. Renal starts on Monday, so it'll be back to the grind of class. Excited to see Toronto and hang out with friends before that all starts though!

It's time for another CFM week!

Today began the second CFM week of medical school. Today was just full of lectures and a small group on ethics. I had a meeting for second look weekend planning during lunch and a Tweet Chat during dinner, so my day was pretty full. I just finished cleaning my condo so now I am going to watch Castle while I learn about the pulmonary exam. Fun stuff!

Lions-Colts

Today I went with my friend Kelly to the Lions vs the Colts at Ford Field in Detroit. We went quite early and had some nachos in a nearby sports restaurant, and then made some friends in a parking lot because they had a really cool intense bus that was all painted with Lions paraphernalia. We eventually made our way into the stadium and had super cushy seats like nothing you have ever seen in a sports complex. We were right at the end of the section with the nice seats too, so I was happy to be where we were and not in the section to our right! The game was good, and I cheered for the Lions even though I was super conflicted about cheering against Andrew Luck. The last drive of the game, however, Luck was orchestrating a game winning drive and I realized I wanted him to win, and with 4 seconds left he orchestrated the winning play on a fourth down and 10! It was fun to be there and I'm really glad I went.

After the game we went to a BBQ place in Detroit called Slows that is pretty famous for its food and my friend knows the owner (who wasn't there tonight). The food was great and I am so so full now! Overall it was a great day! It wasn't cold either which was awesome. CFM week starts tomorrow so I don't have to study for a week woo hoo!

The view from the terrace of Hockeytown Cafe

Ford Field

Kelly and I at the game

Done with MSK!

I have officially passed the MSK sequence!! I made a few silly mistakes on the final exam, but nothing tragic (and I was still no where near the no pass mark). It is so nice to be done though and have nothing to think about for a few days. It is also CFM week next week, which means no studying necessary and lots of time for hanging out with my friends :) Tomorrow I'm going to Ford Field for the Lions-Colts game, so that should be fun! Can't wait.

Rose Bowl Bound

Last night was the Pac-12 Championship game and Stanford WON!! It's Stanford's first conference championship since 1999 and it will be the program's first Rose Bowl since 2000. So exciting! It also marks the third straight year that Stanford has gone to a BCS Bowl Game, which is awesome, especially since everyone coined this as Stanford post-Luck rebuilding year.

In other news I turned in my essays yesterday and took my MSK practical which I did well on. Today I need to go study and take the written final. After the anatomy practical yesterday we went to Heidelberg downtown with three of our anatomy professors which was really fun. I got to eat weinerschnitzel and spatzel so life was very happy. I am still craving it again, so maybe I will have to go back soon.

I have also been loving reading about my parents trip in Europe. It sounds really fun, and like a place I would definitely rather be than taking finals. At least I have Toronto all booked for next weekend, and NYC for the following weekend, and then it's time to go home for Christmas the weekend after that! So much fun coming up!