Dove Wrapper...

Today when I was tutoring, one of the girls gave me a Dove Dark Chocolate (yumm) and I had to laugh at loud at what it said inside.

"Smile. People will wonder what you've been up to."

Hilarious...

OK, this has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen, but I'm still laughing at this video. The only reason I think it's so funny is because I get so much of it! :) Funny med students...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojjUGE2BH_E

Are we there yet?

Sometimes there are days where things go so horribly wrong and not even close to plan that all you can do is laugh...today was one of those days.

After lectures this morning, we had Score One (our clinicals at local schools where we do physicals, etc.)

I got to the student lounge around noon, since our bus was scheduled to leave at 12:20 to sign in and pick up my attendance card. The rest of my group started to slowly show up. As I was sitting there checking email and whatnot, all of a sudden we hear, "If you're going to Stoney Brook you need to be on the bus NOW!" I looked at my watch and it was only a little after noon. Most of my group was there and so we hurried outside (it's freezing here by the way...has nothing to do with the story, but it is SO COLD!). We get outside where the bus SHOULD be and see nothing....Umm....where's this bus we're supposed to be on?

Evidently, it wasn't here yet....joy. I'll just stand out here and count the number of digits I'm losing to frostbite...no worries. Our bus quickly shows up and we get on....only to realize that only aout 8 of us are here....where's the rest of our group?

Long story short, evidently there were about 6 groups that were supposed to be on this bus, but it hadn't been written on our schedule. Most of the people were originally scheduled to be on buses that left at 12:45 and this bus was scheduled to leave the school at noon....SO...we sat there and laughed and talked about how unorganized this has all been.

And then it happened....someone had to say it..."Well, at least it can't get much worse than this." You NEVER say that! It's like saying "It must be a slow night!" at the ER....this is like the beacon for crap to just come in and dump on you....

Once the bus finally left at 1pm (we were supposed to be at the school and already working at this point) we were on the road...on the way to the school our bus-driver got lost and had to turn around. I start laughing, at this point because we're going to be so incredibly late and more things start happening. Well, we get to the school where we're supposed to be and get off the bus and walk in. When we get inside the office workers are completely confused as to why a group of med students are in their school....they told us they didn't have Score 1 scheduled for today. WE WERE DROPPED OFF AT THE WRONG SCHOOL!!! Not a problem....oh wait our bus already left. Nancy goes running out of the school and chases the bus down (how she accomplishes this I don't know) and we all get BACK ON the bus.

We get lost AGAIN on the way to the new school and stop twice to turn around. Finally we make it to the right school and head in. At this point we're an hour late and SO behind. Thankfully things went a little smoother after that, but I just had to laugh at all it took to get there! :)

Well, I'm off to an exciting night of studying...just thought I'd share my laughs for the day!

Distance...

"The distance is nothing...it's only the first step that's difficult."

I heard this quote the other day and I've been thinking about it a lot. Distance can be a good thing or a bad thing. A lot of it depends on your perspective.

Last year, distance was practically killing me at this point...distance from my friends, distance from my family, distance from a life with a lot less stress. I spent a lot of days wishing I could be back where I was a year before that. I was in my last year of college, I didn't have too many committments, and I spent most of my spare time with friends that I loved. A year ago I hated distance. It felt like it was my worst enemy; it was this thing that had camped out in my life for an indefinite period of time, doing its best to make sure I was miserable.

One short year later, things are very different. I'm not so upset with the distance...in fact, in a way, I'm kind of liking it. While it's still hard to be away from friends and people I love, I'm realizing that distance isn't all bad. It brings a few things with it that I had never thought to look for before.

For one, distance gives amazing perspective. Things that seem so huge, unbearable and important from a close view, are pretty menial and unimportant from a distance. Distance gives the opportunity to step back from a situation and just look at it objectively...so many of the emotions, thoughts and stresses that are wrapped up in the moment are gone and you can just look clearly at the facts. I've been able to look honestly at how I've acted in situations and also look honestly at how others have acted in situations. My judgement is no longer clouded by thoughts of "what if?" or "what were they thinking when they said this?" or the thousands of other questions that only muddy up any attempt at making a clear decision. I've got a lot more answers now to questions I could have never answered when the situations were right in front of my face.

Distance also gives a chance to evaluate how far you've come. In looking back at situations that had me confused and stressed for so long, I am able to see that I am not (and I don't want to be) the person I was before...therefore I don't want the same situation anymore in my life. Distance has been forced in my life and I know it's for a reason...I know I have to focus on what's going on at this moment in my life and give up the past. One thing about the past is that no matter what has happened, it's all come together to bring me to where I am right now... It's been too easy before to see the past as better than it was but distance has helped me to realize things for what they really were... There were things that I once thought were so important in my life that I've come to realize were only distracting me from what I'm supposed to be. I've come a long way from where I was just a few short years ago...there were some hiccups along the way, but I'm moving on and letting go. There are things ahead of me that are too important to sacrifice because I'm unwilling to let go of the past.

Distance also gives a little freedom. There's a part of me that loves to run...not just literally but emotionally as well. As soon as I get scared or uncomfortable in a situation, I'm notorious for just taking off. :) Not necessarily the best quality, but in forced distance sometimes it's a nice little gift to not have to face daily some of the situations that you'd rather not have to deal with at that moment. I know one day I'll have to face things I've run from (and some I'm currently running from), but for now, I'm growing, learning, and getting the lessons learned that I need to before I can face certain things...

My whole concept of distance has changed...it's no longer an enemy but almost a friend in some ways. It's forced me to grow up and move on and also given me perspective on what's behind me. Sometimes the things that you need the most are the things you fight the most when they start to happen...you never know what you might learn from the things that at first seem the worst in your life.

"You won't realize the distance you've walked until you take a look around and realize how far you've been."

My brain...the etch-a-sketch...

So we had an EKG review two days ago that I went to. It was put on by the cardiology club which I'm in and it was a combination review for the first years who are about to have their Cardiopulmonary final exam, and a review for the second years who have boards coming up and haven't looked at these things since then!

I came to the quick realization during that review that I have forgotten just about everything from first year and am completely in trouble for the boards. :) Not really...it's just amazing how easy some things could be to understand last year and now I barely remember them this year!

My theory is that my brain's more like an etch-a-sketch, and somewhere in the last year all of the running, and movement and everything else caused all useful information to just fall out of my head...So I just have to stay really still until boards are over and I should be OK. :)

Fish out of water

I've been making more of an effort this semester to get back to the gym. Last year I was really great at going to the gym about 3-4 times a week and staying in shape. This last semester, with tutoring, classes, clinicals, and a thousand other things, working out was one of the things I just let fall to the side in my attempt to keep up with everything.

Since I had basically stopped working out I just didn't feel as well as I usually do. I was getting sick more often, having a few health problems that I used to have that had just gone away, and was more tired than I used to be (not to mention that I just don't like being "squishy!") :) I know this semester is busier than any I've had yet but I knew with all I'm going through I had to have some sense of normalcy back in my life.

Today at the gym, it was my "off day" for running and such so it meant that I only ran a few miles, did some crunches and then it was into the pool. I haven't been in the water since the beginning of last semester and I really missed it. I can't remember a time in my life where I wasn't in the water. I have always been a swimmer, and it's always been a part of my life up until the end of college. I got back into my swimming workouts last year, but like I said, they'd fallen off since last semester. While I was kind of upset with myself today when I was swimming at the amount of endurance I'd lost, it was just great to be back in the water. I'm never confident that I know what I'm doing at the gym (which is why I'm constantly asking my brother what I should be doing!) but when I get in the water it's like I'm at home...I know what to do. I have it all planned out and all I have to do is just dive in and go.

The other thing that I love about it is that (obviously) since you're in the water, you can't have any headphones on, any books in front of me to study (yes, I studied biochem today while running) or any other distractions. It's just me and the repetitive kick, kick, stroke, kick, kick....etc. It gives me a lot of time to think.

After finally getting back in the water today, I feel so much better. It's not just a physical thing, but mentally I finally feel like I've had a chance to breathe, step back and focus on something other than school. It was great!

Ok, speaking of school, I've got to get back to some board studying...

I've got style...

So, I don't know if I wrote anything about this on here, but last week while I was helping out as an Ambassador for an interview day at school, I lost my winter coat. It's really unfortunate because the day I lost it was the last day of above-freezing weather that we had....I think an interviewee probably mistook it for theirs so for all I know it could be in Pennsylvania by now...

Well, in an effort to help me stay warm, a few of my friends have been looking out for me and offering their help and support. :) Hehehe....Stephanie offered to "cuddle for warmth" if I needed, and I've gotten all sorts of other offers for help! :) My favorite came in an email from Jessica this morning. She found me this "interesting" coat on EBay that I could get to replace my old one....I guess good things do come out of bad situations! Let me know what you think...is it me??

To make it complete though, I'd probably have to accessorize with this..