1/4 MD!

As of about a half hour ago I am officially DONE with my entire first year of medical school. I took and passed my exam and now its SUMMER TIME! So happy to have made it through the last ten months successfully. Tonight we are having a class BBQ and hanging out together down town, and for the next 5-6 days I will be prepping for my trip to Africa. I can't believe how quickly that has come up, its ridiculous. 

Baby Picture Fun!

My mom sent me a ton of pictures from when I was little and I am loving looking at them. Here are some of my favorites :)

Halloween 1987 (I think, 1988 at latest)

Preschool Halloween

Visiting Grandma in Hawaii

Go Bears? (Go Stanford)

Hula time

Go Niners!

My BFF the chimp :)

Last M1 lecture

Today was our last day of lecture for the first year of medical school! I have two small groups tomorrow, a patient presentation on Friday, and a short final and then we will all officially be M2s! I can't believe that in 48 hours I could be done with my entire first year (assuming I get my exam done early and don't procrastinate that is).

Also, a random thought of the day. Looking back on my blog and calendar, on this day last year I was exploring Berlin and heading to Dresden. Fun times! I think I could have done a better job exploring Berlin. I guess that just means I will have to go back someday. I learned from Zurich that first impressions of a city during a quick trip can be deceiving. I will definitely have to give it another chance. Also, I love Germany and German food. A lot.

Grandma and Grandpa visit!

This weekend Grandma and Grandpa came to visit! I loved having them here. We only really had one full day together, so it was really nice. I drove them around and getting Grandma in the backseat of my two door car and fitting Grandpa in all his tallness in my front seat was quite the endeavor. I showed them the stadium and the golf course, drove them around the medical center, and showed them the architecture school where Molly will start next month. We also got grandpa a newspaper and then I took them to Zingerman's, yum! We also ended up with $32 worth of Iberian cured ham, which was delicious, but only amounted to 2 ounces! Worth it for one time for sure. They were both pretty tired so after lunch Gramp went to nap and Gram and I took my bike to the bike shop to get the final accessories put on! In the two hours my bike was in the shop we hung out at home and Gram took a nap while I studied. I wish I could have napped too!! We eventually picked my bike up (I am getting so good at getting my bike in and out of my car!) and then got ready for dinner at Gratzi! I hope they enjoyed the restaurant as much as I did. We even got a little free appetizer because the waiter though the food was taking a while (which I hadn't even noticed). Another great night. After dinner we all watched the first new Arrested Development and part of the Memorial Day concert and then went to bed.

This morning they left for Petosky and I studied for and took my Embryology final. I also had a little movie marathon and ended up balling during the last one which I didn't expect. Lsat sequence starts tomorrow which means its the last week of school! I can't wait for summer, but I have so much to do to get ready for my trip! Miss G and G already, but I know I will see them at the beatch in August! Hope they enjoy golfing up north and don't get too much rain!

Gram relaxing on my couch

Grandma and Grandpa reading the electronic menu at Gratzi

Fun end to embryo

Today was the last day of class for the embryology sequence and it definitely finished with a bang. We had an awesome lecturer who made being there fun. He brought lollipops for the class (well those of us who were actually there) and gave out prizes to people who answered his questions. Someone won a pinwheel, a whoopee cushion, some snappers, a whistle, and some huge oversized shutter shades. One of our classmates also got a lei at the begging and was "welcomed to lecture." Halfway through the lecture the lecturer came up and put a lei on me and said "welcome to the middle of lecture." It was great. Definitely entertaining. Now I just have to get ready for and take my embryology final and do my open book/internet CFM exam. Grandma and Grandpa also get here tomorrow evening so I'm really excited to hang out with them for a few nights! One week from now I should be done with my first year of medical school, ahh!!

Cedar Point

Today six of us decided to take the day off of school and drove to Ohio to go to Cedar Point. Don't worry, there were only two lectures and I'm watching them tonight and tomorrow so I really didn't miss anything, just missed it live. Anyways, Cedar Point is in Sandusky, Ohio and is the second oldest operational amusement park in the US. It opened in 1870! It has a ton of roller coasters and some other rides and was a great time. I have realized though that as much as I love the thrill of roller coasters, they now give me an awful headache when they jerk around. I like the coasters that still give you that adrenaline rush without the head banging and jerking. There were a few of those luckily. We had a great morning and rode a bunch of coasters before lunch. After lunch we got on the newest coaster that opened two weeks ago and just after we rode that it started down-pouring. The rain caused most of the rides to shut down, but at least the forecast had thinned out the crowds. We sat and relaxed for a bit and when the rain cleared we got a couple more rides in before the rain came back. We decided to leave after the second down-pour and drove back in the rain all the way to Ann Arbor. I am totally exhausted, but had a fun day. Now it's back to work for the end of embryology!

Removed the spiders

Just in case you were wondering. The two spiders I found last night resided under their respective cups for roughly 24 hours (don't worry I quickly lifted them up to ensure some fresh air got in but that they couldn't escape). Tonight I saran wrapped the top of the cups and brought them both downstairs and let them go near the start of the park. I had chills all over my body. Spiders are so creepy.

Other than spider removal I ran some errands today. I biked to school and then biked to the locksmith. I had some new keys made for Molly so she can access the mailbox and the condo, and I had the deadbolt re-keyed so we can finally lock it from the outside with a key, yay! I also went to the bike shop again just to make sure that I had the correct size bike. I am getting a piece changed out to put the handle bars slightly more forward, but other than that, all is great. It's so hot out here. So sweaty after biking.

Spiders in their cups

Spiders everywhere

This weekend my mom was in town to finalize some stuff for the kitchen upgrades. The meeting took forever, but outside of that we had a great time together! We went shopping, had an amazing meal at Gratzi, and cleaned! Yay for organizing things and getting rid of old stuff we don't know why we have.

I drove her to the airport this evening and when I got back I found at least four spiders making webs on the screen of my sliding glass door (won't be opening that for a while!) and two spiders inside my apartment. Ugh, I hate spiders. They are both currently under cup while I get brave enough to deal with them. Can't throw them off the balcony as I would usually because the other spiders would get in and they are blocking my way. The ONLY reason I throughly miss the winter cold: the spiders disappear.

New Heaters

The new heaters and the Nest thermostats are going in as we speak. One of the units hasn't arrived yet, so there is one awkward spot on the wall that looks awful, but it will be fixed eventually. Not sure why they didn't just wait until all of the units were ready to be installed. Oh well. Anyways, yay for cheaper heat (right as the weather has gotten crazy hot).

Getting out

I only had one hour of class today, so in an attempt to not sit around on my couch all day I got and and did stuff! First I got everything together for the Zambia visa I need for my safari this summer and then went to the post office and sent it all off. Hoping that I get my passport back as soon as possible. I don't need any pre departure stress. After the post office I went to see the animal at PetSmart, went to Target and Meijer, went to Costco and got some gas, then went to the mall. I got a new pair of jeans that actually fit (the ones I have now I bought on a day I was feeling a little big and managed to buy two sizes too big so they dont fit all that well now that they've stretched out) and I got  a dress. I then headed to Dominick's to hang out with my classmates and then went to dinner downtown with a few of them. After grabbing some froyo after dinner I ran into a friend from undergrad who I've been meaning to meet up with all year. She just graduated from the business school and moves on monday, so good timing! After that I went home and watched part of the finale of American Idol and some other stuff and now its bed time!

Beautiful day in Ann Arbor today!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom and grandma I could ask for! I love you both tons and hope you are having a wonderful day :) 

ID, check!

As of yesterday at roughly 7:30pm I am officially done with all five weeks of our Infectious Disease sequence and all associated exams. Woo hoo! So happy. Second look weekend also a huge success, so all of my stressors are gone and life is good. Now we just have two short sequences and then in SUMMER. I can't wait. Today is my first day off in weeks and I am just enjoying being lazy and watching some Harry Potter. Fun times!

SLW Committee on the field at the Big House!

Almost done with ID!

We are finally into the home stretch of ID! I cannot wait to be done with this sequence. It is definitely interesting, but it's such a jumble of information so my brain is ready for a little break. Going back a few days, we ended up getting fourth at nationals, but at least I was player of the game for one of our games! In two of the four games I scored half of our teams goals, which also felt pretty good. It's weird going to a collegiate nationals and not winning, but 4th in the nation isn't half bad. Anyways, I took quiz four for ID tonight and did well, so now it onto focusing on the final. I need to clean tomorrow too since I'm hosting for Second Look Weekend this weekend. Thats all for now :)

Nationals

This weekend I am in Minneapolis at CWPA Collegiate Club Nationals. So far we have played two game and beaten Columbia and Middlebury. I was even the lead scorer and player of the game against Middlebury! Tonight we play UC Davis in the semi finals, so hopefully that goes well. Can't wait to play!

SUN!

While Ann Arbor has not been the most wonderful to us weather-wise lately, she has given us a wonderful gift and greeted the beginning of MFM'13 (that's May Fun Month) with a glorious sunny 80º day. I am so happy to be warm and free of any SAD that I may have unknowingly had during the gloomy days of the cold cold winter. The leaves are coming back to the trees, we all ate lunch outside on the grass today (and it was an extra hour long because lab ended really early), and tonight is my last water polo practice of the year. Tomorrow its off to Minnesota for nationals, where it is unfortunately going to snow and be below 40º, but for now I am relishing the ridiculously amazing weather I have been blessed with today. Thank you Ann Arbor for kicking of MFM'13 in the best of possible ways!