Endings and Beginnings

I am forever finished with taking anatomy in medical school (I have this really odd feeling that somehow, someday I will regret saying that, but for now it's true!). It really is a wonderful feeling! I adore our professors; they are so much fun and are very knowledgable, but I can't handle smelling like formaldehyde any longer!

Just some anatomy/pop culture humor. I wish our anatomy was as easy at this! 

We are now beginning Cellular Processes (aka biochem). It's the bane of most med school students' existence. We shall see how it goes...

And now some biochem/psychology humor! Complex carbohydrates...baha how punny!

And now for other life updates...

• We've been having several long meetings about do juSTIce (the project I'm president of that works with the incarcerated population on STI education as well as chlamydia and gonorrhea screening) and planning for the future of the program. I'm SUPER JAZZED about the direction we're heading! There are great things happening in the realm of STI education and prevention in Douglas County--which is good because our rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea transmission are unreal! I have the most wonderful board working with me and incredible community partners to make these things happen for us! We've also had some really great feedback and questions from the inmates hearing the presentation, so we can use that information in future planning for the program. 
• Speaking of do juSTIce...some of the gang is presenting at an international conference this Friday about our program. Go us! The program really has made a huge impact since its inception in 2008. We are struggling to get all of our awesomeness into a short 20 minute presentation. 
• My poster was delivered for my other conference (the one I'm presenting at about Mild Cognitive Impairment in DC). It's B-E-A-UTIFUL!! I'm getting pumped/nervous for that presentation as well. I suppose I'll quit stressing quite a much about that one and get through this week...
• This week we also have our OSCE (Objectively Structured Clinical Examination). Basically it checks our understanding of the clinical skills practices. This is week 4 of 7 for tests/conferences. As soon as I finish the OSCE, I will have survived 1/2 of the crazy fall testing/presenting schedule! Thanksgiving break is coming up very quickly and I'm quite grateful! 
• I've been going to my preceptor regularly. I get to see all sorts of things this year and do more physical exams and patient interviews than I was able to last year. It's really great fun! I'm sure everyone that knows me is utterly surprised that I prefer being around people to being around books and studying...not! 
• Challenges: I finished last month's stretching for 15 minutes/day challenge. It was hard towards the end of the month to carve out that time because I was busy and tired, but I know that I always felt refreshed when I did. This month's challenge is a technology and social media fast. It's been sort of hard (sort of like going through withdrawal!) so far, but I am also plenty busy this month, so I imagine that I'll survive just fine. The silence of not having technology around you is actually quite deafening, if that makes any sense. More on that later though... 

Just a quick and dirty update of the things going on in my world. I'll keep y'all updated on how the conferences and the technology fast are going as the weeks progress!