Exam Week

I know you've been dying to hear what has been going on in the our lives...but I'm in the midst of exam week(s) and couldn't justify taking any time to write a blog post when I could be learning how to treat gonorrhea or which cephalosporin can penetrate the central nervous system.  Now that my second exam (of 3) is over, I've determined that I probably had all the time in the world to write a blog post because those extra 30 minutes didn't help me, not one bit!

In general, I like med school.  Second year is definitely better than first year because I actually feel like I'm learning things that will be applicable to my clinical experiences in the future.  However, I think this [today] is the first time I've really felt like I'm in medical school.  The stories you hear of med students rarely sleeping, always being hopped up on coffee (or energy drinks, take your pick), of missing major family events because they had to study for an exam, of having zero social life...yeah...I feel like it's finally happening.  I put so much effort into studying for this cumulative exam, covering 5 weeks worth of information (read: mycology, parasitology, antimicrobials, immunology, bacteriology, infectious diseases) and I feel like my exam grade will not be representative of my knowledge.

Yes, I'm bitter about today's exam.  However, I think it is yet another humbling experience in life.  Every time I feel like I shouldn't have to memorize what type of agar to culture an organism on, I remember that my education and future professional career are a privilege.  And yes, I do have to memorize a completely new language and understand how everything works (or doesn't work) in the human body, because someday it will save a life (or at least heal someone).

So what am I going to do now that this exam is over?  Study, of course.  The cumulative final (11 weeks of Immunity & Infection) is on Tuesday, woot woot!  Therefore, I will be spending my weekend just as I did my week: studying at Starbucks.  Cheers!