Cruising along!

So last week was brutal. Neuroscience test turned out to be a LOT more intensive than I think any of us really saw coming, so everyone went out and celebrated this weekend and looks a little bit wiped today. Ahhh, such is medical school... you nearly kill yourself with lack of sleep studying for a test all week and then once it's over you celebrate by going out and staying up till 3/4am and not really sleeping all weekend.

This all started when I got 3hrs of sleep Thursday night after a long day of studying. Took the test and then after one lecture mom picked me up from school :) and we had an AWESOME mother daughter day. I hadn't spent time with my mom since Christmas break, so it was really nice to catch up. We had lunch downtown and then went shopping. Mom insists that i had so much fun because "i always did enjoy spending time with her when she was buying me things", but I think it would have been a great day regardless. The purchases just sealed the deal :) haha! We went to the outlets at Williamsburg for the afternoon and made out like bandits! (well I did ;) I am SO excited about my new clothes, including a replacement pair of nike lounge pants (long story), and this AWESOME dress from banana republic outlet (originally $90 we got it for $35!). After williamsburg, we headed to Coralridge and got coffee to recharge then mom was on a mission to find me shoes despite my waning motivation (the 3hrs of sleep was starting to wear me down!). Mom prevailed, though, and we found new shoes for me at scheels. She apparently didn't like that i was still bumming around in my Nike shocks from 2005! After all the shopping fun mom headed back to des moines.
I had a calm night of mac & cheese and wine with Karlee planned. We watched grey's anatomy and pigged out. Minor red wine spill, but luckily karlee has done that before so had hydrogen peroxide and baking soda on hand. Which gets red wine out of things like a CHARM!!! We were going to head to bed early (and she did), but my friends were downtown, so of course i gave into peer pressure and met them out, then didn't get home until 3:45 (tho that was partially bc I played DD and drove everyone home!).

Saturday was a fun, calm day with friends. I even left the guys' place (where the drinking and games was still going on) in an attempt to turn in early, but ended up talking with a friend until after 2. Don't worry, though, last night i dozed on the couch starting at 8:30 and then slept in this morning, so aside from some fog from last nights sleep, I'm ready to go!!

Despite the craziness of studying last week, I did manage to spend some time with Brendan and other friends. We went out to eat with Greg & Kat on wednesday night for Korean BBQ to celebrate Kat getting a job in DSM where they will be moving for Greg's residency for the coming year (in case you didn't remember that from the match day play by play ;), so I took most of Wednesday off from studying.

A constant challenge of med school is deciding how much of your life to give to it. You could study every waking minute with no problem, there is more to learn than time in the day. And to a degree you have to give much of your life to studying because if you don't study much you really WILL fail. It's not just a possibility. I think most of the first year is trying to figure out what works for you in terms of studying versus free time. Luckily, despite problems with this last semester, I am doing a lot better this semester. The best thing I can say I've learned is "Balance is a process". You never 'have' balance, you are constantly working at it. And that means some weeks I don't get to have a life, but other weeks I can carve out more time than average. It's not something you ever HAVE, and I think that's a misconception shared by medical students, parents, employees, etc etc etc.

Ok, on that note, i have to leave you all and attend to the other side of the scale, medical school. We are 12 weeks into this semester, so the light at the end of the tunnel is appearing. Finals end May 15th, which is also Brendan's graduation day. Happy Holy Week to everyone.

Love, Andrea