The things they don't tell you...

Yeah, yeah...I know I was supposed to have a whole series of posts up by now about my life. But the trouble is that life sort of got in the way. I was studying and then all of a sudden it's a week later. Well, you will have to continue waiting on pins and needles for parts 2-4 on my life updates; HOWEVER, until then, I have this to tie you over....!

The 10 things no one tells you about medical school:
(There are explanations on the link, but here's the top 10 with my input!) 

• It's more like high school than college. 
• Yes. Not only is the tiny community you've become part of in everyone else's biz, but also because you sit down and get lectured to for a longer chunk of time than college. I can't say that mornings are my favorite hours of the day anymore. 
• You lose the ability to communicate like a normal human. 
• Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family is very hard for me. Or catching up with non-medical friends from high school and college. Sometimes I can come up with some fun anecdotes about things I saw in clinic (influenza A is still on the rise in Omaha!), but I'm certain everyone around me is tired of hearing about which muscles are innervated by which nerves (and that they have a strong heart beat with no murmur, sorry Mr. Justin!). 
• Your idea of a typical conversation is actually horrifying. 
• Yeah, I talk about pretty much all of the body fluids at lots of meals. My background in sex education does not help. Just last week we went out for a dinner meeting about things to do with the jail project. The people sitting next to us at sushi gave us some strange looks, when I was yelling about the steps to put on a condom and how to appropriately teach them to students. 
• It's difficult to meet people outside of school.
• Wait, there are people outside of school? Kidding. Although truthfully, the majority of people I know in Omaha that are not medical students are either my family or ladies from dance. 
• It takes you a long time before you actually know things.
• If you like being a complete idiot 100% of the time, then this is the field for you! Kidding, it's only like 99.5% of the time. 
• You only have a 50% chance of being above average.
• P=MD...all you need is a 65% in most cases!
• Asking for help is admitting weakness
• This one hits close to home...last year when I got really sick I didn't tell anyone about it because I didn't want them to think that I wasn't capable of doing the medical school thing. It's hard on the psyche to continually feel like an idiot without asking for help! Asking for help is WAY better than the alternative, in my opinion!
• Your friends grow up around you.
• I've been trying to think about what people who aren't in school, aren't married and don't have kids do when they get off work at night? I cannot wrap my mind around that idea. I study. And then sometimes I go to dance class. On occasion I even do laundry and clean (sorry about the slacking on cleaning the past few weeks, Megan).
• Everyone will ask you for medical advice.
• Ha yeah. Jokes on you. I have no idea what I'm doing.
• Bullsh*tting your way through things won't cut it anymore.
• Someday I will be in charge of real lives. Definitely can't "fake it 'til you make it." Gotta learn a few things along the way... 

Test Thursday. Look forward to more posts this weekend (hopefully...I'm working on an abstract for a research conference just as soon as my mental faculties recover from the essay-beating I'm sure to experience on Thursday morning!).