the things you learn as an M1

There's an article out in there in the depths of the interwebs about the 100 things you learn as an M1. Pardon some of the strong language on it...I didn't write it.

Well anyway, not all of them apply to me, so I thought I'd make a list of the ones that do! Here we go...

1. You'll develop strange study habits--like talking out loud to yourself, or repeating stupid mnemonics every time you have to recall a certain piece of information. Honestly, most of my mnemonics are inappropriate for this setting, but it does help you to remember them!
2. You will more than once find yourself at a table with a laptop, an iPad, two textbooks and several pages of notes all open in front of you and you will question your existence. I can't even tell you how many days of my life this is true. 
3. Don't study the night after an exam. Only gunners start studying the night after the exam.
4. Study a little bit every weekend. Not just exam weekends. 
5. Stop trying to get through the end of the week--just get through tomorrow. I struggle with this one. I'm too much of a planner, but you'll kill yourself if you plan to the end of the week! 
6. Learn to ignore the internet for a couple of hours at a time. Yeah...I'm terrible at this one...
7. Don't be a gunner, don't ask other people about their grades, don't volunteer information about yours either.
8. Don't ask questions in class just to look smart.
9. Never wear your anatomy scrubs outside of the lab. Disgusting. No thanks. 
10. You will learn how to deal with being in the anatomy lab alone late at night or early in the morning. It will no longer be creepy to you to be the only living person in a room with 30 bodies. 
11. You will lose the ability to remember to get your oil changed on time, remember your mother's birthday, or even remember what day of the week it is, but you can name all the interleukens or all the anti-arrhythmic drugs--this is more important. I once couldn't remember what a hubcap was called. I called it the "pretty shiny part of the tire" when I was getting a flat taken care of. The tire shop guy thought I was a complete idiot. 
12. "Because I don't have space in my brain" will become a valid excuse for everything from reasons you didn't call a guy back to reasons you forgot to buy bread at the store. 
13. You'll finally understand what it meant when other people said "people outside of medical school just won't get it."
14. Medical shows on TV will be aggravating because you know just enough to know that they're doing it wrong. Nahh, I'm not super aggravated about it. But Grey's Anatomy characters often put their stethoscopes in upside down! 
15. You will more than once end up with nothing left in your fridge except bread, peanut butter, and condiments. Usually I don't even have bread. 
16. You become terrified of ever having children because you know the size of a baby's skull in comparison to a female pelvis, and the long long long list of possible birth defects. And not to mention all of the diseases pregnancy is a risk factor for. 
17. TAKE THE SUMMER OFF before you start medical school. Enjoy the last bits of freedom. And the summer between M1 and M2 years!
18. Sometimes you will laugh because there's nothing else to do. Sometimes you will cry because there's nothing else to do. I do a lot of both. 
19. You will, at least once, have a break down where you're not sure why you're in medical school. You will get past it. I also have lots of those. 
20. You will have good days and bad days. The good moments (I'm not even sure if you can qualify them as days sometimes) make the bad days worth it! 
21. You will start the year going to every social event, but by the end of first year you would rather spend a Friday night alone in bed with trashy television than out with friends at a bar. I didn't really even start the year off very social. But now I'm definitely all about being in bed early watching Netflix. 
22. You will realize that whenever a small group of people are in a high stress situation it's just like high school all over again--if you're smart you will stay out of the drama. 
23. You will, more than once, have awkward conversations with the non-med school friends you have, or your family members in which you mention that you held a (insert random organ here) today. I talk about body fluids more than the normal person should. 
24. You will be asked by someone not in medical school if your life is like Grey's Anatomy/House/ER/any other popular medical show. No. It's not. There's a reason that they aren't making shows about medical school. Internship/residency and being an attending are far more exciting for television purposes. If you videoed my life, there would be lots of sleeping, eating and studying. 
25. Make time for your family, significant other, or the friends you want to hang on to. They will keep you sane!
26. You'll learn to be okay with saying "I don't know" when attendings ask you questions.
27. You will get pimped. Luckily most attendings know you're still an MS1 and that you're stupid. 
28. Learn to let go of your fear of imperfection--you will make mistakes.
29. You'll finally realize that you can't learn EVERYTHING--this isn't undergrad anymore. There's so much left to learn! 
30. You'll learn to compete with yourself and yourself only.
31. Laugh at yourself. Laugh because it's better than crying.
32. Life happens. Sometimes someone needs you, or you fall in love, or you get sick and fall apart. Push through those times and take the time you need. 
33. You're not alone. Everyone struggles. Most importantly, there are tons of people around to support you whenever you're struggling.

There's still more to learn! But I think I'll learn it from this 3-year-old. This video series is absolutely hilarious. And this particular one doesn't let down at all!

8 reasons you should be dating a female doc

Hello all! Something moderately funny. You'll have to ask Mr. Justin if any of these things are true! You can find the original article here. For those of you who won't click the hyperlink... here's the list! (I'd suggest reading the real link though...much funnier than mine!)

1. We know CPR. My knowledge of CPR has thankfully never been put to the real-life scenario test. One of my friends gave her dad the Heimlich over Christmas break when he was choking though. 
2. We understand hard work. It's no secret (hopefully) that med school is hard. Someone's gotta do it though!
3. We handle stress well and multi-task like pros. Let's not ask my parents about how I handle stress; I don't think they would qualify it as "well". However, I am quite proficient at listening to lectures and also looking at Pinterest. 
4. We are financially viable. Jokes on you, I don't have any money right now. Maybe I will in the future. But I don't really care who brings home the bacon...mostly because I'm not about to eat bacon. 
5. We are smart. Again, please don't ask my parents about this one. Actually maybe don't ask anyone that I've ever interacted with either...
6. We have good personalities. People seem to like me! Sometimes I wonder if it's just because I am small and they get me confused with a small animal of some sort. 
7. We tend to be low maintenance.  (no comment.)
8. We have a unique perspective on life. My current perspective is of how un-fun it is to spend a million hours looking at and re-writing notes. I hear that when you get to see patients though, it's pretty darn awesome. Perhaps someday that day will come for me! Until then...I have a test Wednesday and one next week too! 

Happy Monday! Have a wonderful week! 

the view from your seat.

Recently I read a really powerful and hopeful post from a wonderful friend/colleague/mentor/fellow sushi lover. It's so good that I've just quoted the whole thing below for you.

It's not surprise that the Church is broken (I'm personally feeling this one right now), but yet, incredible things are still coming out of the Church. Young people in age and in spirit are still flocking to the Church because the Gospel has transformed them. 

My seat in the auditorium has seen both highs and lows in the past few years, but I for one am hopeful for the new view I will see in the coming years! 

Rev. Dr. Adam White
Campus Pastor
The Lutheran Center
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

I wish that you could see what I see.

The past few months I’ve been thinking about perspective. Perspective is such an important thing. It determines how we see everything around us. We might like to think that we can step back and view things from some objective standpoint, but the truth is our vision is always limited by where we’re standing and what we’re expecting – we see things dimly, as Paul put it, because we are finite (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Kenda Creasy Dean once put it this way, “We see Christ differently based upon where we sit in the human auditorium.” She continues, “[S]o no matter what I do to translate Christ to my children, they will always encounter him differently.”

The same could be said of the Church: We see the Church differently based upon where we sit in the human auditorium.

Where we sit in the auditorium matters. This reminds us that the Church is always in the process of translation – of inviting others to see things from different perspectives, and creating language that does the work we need it to do.

And this matters because taking the fact of perspective seriously means being open to the reality that even when we are doing our best to follow Christ, we will, at times, see things quite differently. This means that the Gospel is always particularized and concretized – that we encounter it where we are, not in some privileged position where we can see the whole as it is rather than, as I perceive it. Generalization of one’s (or one congregation’s) perspective to the level of the whole picture is akin to looking at a toe on the Body of Christ and absurdly asserting, “This is the whole body.”

Still this is a game too often played with denominations like ours. When we don’t like things from our perspective, we point to a part of the body we think is ugly or malformed and we suggest that it’s the whole thing, the entire denomination, and that we’d be better off if we weren’t joined with a body that’s just an enormous, fungus infested, crooked toe. In acting in this manner we misperceive in two important ways: first, we fail to see the body in its rich diversity, and second, we fail to see the ubiquity of the Church’s brokenness. (i.e. If we focus on the illness of another part of the body we often forget that we are ill, too.) As Paul reminds us, all have sinned and fall short.

If I’m honest about this issue, I’ve been thinking about this largely because when I was most recently serving in a parish, perception created a powerful frame for seeing the larger church. The way that we talked about the larger church was given a particular shape by the convictions, attitudes and biases of those in leadership (including me). Everything the larger Church (Synod, ELCA, etc.) did was interpreted in light of particular assumptions about the nature of things. It was easy to misrepresent things in this context, and increasingly this perspective became something of a dark, dismal view of the ELCA that shaded virtually everything.

This frame of reference was deeply powerful and, at times, persuasive. It generated its own canon of credible sources (in an internet and cable-news age this is far too easy), and it provided me and other members of the community a way to make sense of things happening around us. It gave us a potent story to make meaning out of our experiences.

I do not wish to indict this particular story now or those who have told it. I even believe that this story—and the way of seeing it encourages—has been told out of a deep desire to be truthful and to have integrity. So I have a more modest aim. I simply want to suggest that where we sit in the auditorium matters.

I want to make this suggestion because I have a fairly new seat in the scheme of things. I just finished my third year on campus and what I see is not dark or dismal. It’s quite the contrary. What I see is hopeful. Good.

And the truth is, my view is much broader than it used to be because I work with students from multiple congregations who are being raised—and raised well—in the Christian faith. I can list youth directors and Christian educators who are doing marvelous things in faith formation, people who get it. I see the very realfruits of their labor every day. I travel to congregations who are proclaiming the grace and love of Jesus Christ with boldness, who have looked outside their own interests to serve those on the margins as Christ calls us to do. I have had the experience of working with a Synod office that is deeply concerned with the life and the vitality of the Lutheran form of Christian witness, a Synod that has inspiring vision for what it means to be the Lutheran Church in the 21st Century.

I see congregations, denominations and educational institutions working together so that mutual ministry happens even in financially challenging times – risking for one another. And it’s beautiful.

Somehow I have been blessed with a box seat from which to view the stage of the ELCA and, I have to tell you, I love the view. Really. From where I’m sitting, I see a church that is first and foremost interested in proclaiming Jesus Christ and raising up disciples to bear witness to this good news in the world. Yes, anEvangelical Lutheran Church.

For a little perspective, last spring, I sat with the Bishop of the Nebraska Synod of the ELCA and fifteen college students, from across our Synod, denomination, and beyond, who in one form or another are discerning calls to ministry in the church of Jesus Christ. I had the best seat in the house.

The bishop asked them, “What are you here in spite of?” In essence he asked them, “What parts of the body are so ugly that they almost kept you away from this table?” And invariably they had some nasty big toes to name:

“I felt like my church had been lying to me the whole time.”

“My church didn’t teach me how to pray.”

“My church put expectations on me that were not consistent with who I discerned God was calling me to be.”

This is but a sample of the many responses. There were ways, real ways, that the Church had wronged young people. There were ugly big toes to be sure that could have easily been blown out of proportion. These students had not experienced a pure and perfect church – far from it.

But somehow these students had caught sight of something bigger. Right alongside those admissions of the Church’s sin and brokenness the students also told stories of mentors, and Sunday school teachers, and sermons that stirred something in their hearts. In the broken mess of a sinner and saint congregation they heard the Word of God proclaimed and found themselves becoming part of the body of Christ they consumed at the Lord’s Table. Somehow from where they were seated “in the human auditorium,” the story of the Gospel grasped them, the story of God entering into our particularities, meeting us where we are, and dying for us while we were still sinners – a story so BIG that it had to be captured by at least four different writers from four different perspectives who didn’t agree on all the details. Somehow this Gospel story relativized the students’ perspectives and transformed them…

It’s always amazing to me when the gospel takes hold. It’s nothing short of miraculous when the Word causes us to see something beyond the genuine ugliness of our experiences of the Church.

I suppose in this light it’s not at all surprising that in Luke’s gospel when the women return from the empty tomb and tell the other disciples what they had seen that the disciples thought it was nonsense. From those disciples’ perspective, their leader is dead, crucified, and the empty-tomb story that the women told can only be a cruel joke. For many of the disciples, it would have been hard to not write off the whole Jesus experience as something gone wrong, something distorted and ugly.

That’s why in response to the women telling them that the tomb was empty, the other disciples call, “lerios”, a Greek word that Anna Carter Florence has argued is best translated, “’drivel’, ‘trash’, ‘garbage’, ‘crap’, ‘bull’ or in its more vulgar form ‘&^%^*%(@!’.”

To the witness of the women, to their testimony of a better reality, the others call lerios in unison.

That’s the power of perspective. It’s easy for those who see only big toes to call lerios when they hear about something good going on in the church, when they hear that reality of things is more hopeful than they could possibly imagine.

But Peter is the one who moves on despite his horrible experience. He’s the one that has faith in-spite-of. He has to see for himself before he writes off the women’s story for good, and when he changes “his seat in the auditorium,” everything looks very, very different. Peter discovers a God is still at work right in the middle of human brokenness, even amidst suffering and death.

Don’t get me wrong; there are ugly big toes, fingers, armpits, and even open festering sores in any denomination. In the ELCA there are things we do very poorly. There are practices we have that are suspect. Sometimes our priorities seem entirely misguided. Still, more importantly, I also know full well that however good my seat is, it’s still only my seat.

Still, where your seat is in the auditorium matters. I know this is a radical suggestion in a tradition where many like to sit in the same place week after week after week after week. But for those of you out there who have a small frame of reference, I’d encourage you to change your seat. Take a look around. See what things look like from a different angle. Quit thinking that your perspective is right over and against all the others. Get a broader view. Talk to those who are telling a different story about what’s going on. And don’t be so sure that anything good you hear is lerios. It’s really interesting what you might discover.

I wish that you could see what I see. I really do.

Today I became an orphan.

Today my home church officially voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and become a member congregation in another denomination. The details of why they left or where they moved are currently unimportant.

The abandonment I feel seems to me to be the more important matter. 

I feel like a plastic bag blowing in the wind. I no longer have a church home to claim.** My root system has been ripped out from under me (quite violently it feels, I might add). That place has seen some of my favorite moments. I was baptized there (admittedly, I don't remember this...I'm sure it was lovely though), took my first communion, was confirmed, attended youth group, was on staff there for two years, and partnered with them as the home congregation for the campus ministry program of which I was in charge. I volunteered at VBS for several years. Was involved in choir and praise team. Served on several committees. Traveled to mission trips and ski trips both domestically and abroad as a student and a sponsor. 

FSP was formative for me. They taught me to pray. They taught me to praise. It seems they are also teaching me to mourn and lament. 

I keep hearing from those that are moving with the church that they are not abandoning anyone. But that's not how I feel. I feel like an orphan. I have not felt exceptionally welcome in that building for years. I wasn't even invited to the vote today, although I am a voting member of the congregation. 

I know that I'm not the only one to feel this way either. 

Although I am truly saddened to say goodbye to a place that I called home for many years, I am happy that a definitive decision has finally been reached. It has been a very long, very trying process with many people wounded along the way. I pray that this decision is a healthy one for the congregants that are moving to the denomination. And I pray that the rest of us who are left behind find a place to plant new roots and to find peace. 

**It is true that lately I have been attending an ELCA church here in Omaha and plan to make it my church home. They are quite welcoming and truly incredible, but it is not officially my home yet. I was hoping to wait until this summer, but it seems as though I will need to become a new member sooner than planned. 

Post-test happenings

I bet each of you have been wondering exactly what I do on my afternoons off after a morning exam. I mean, who doesn't constantly think about me and what I'm doing every second of every day? (Don't actually tell me if you do think about me that frequently...that's creepy). Lucky for you, my roommate Megan caught my happenings on camera!

I spent most of my afternoon on Skype, but there was some interweb trolling too. 

Luckily you can't see the bum imprint on the couch too. To be fair, I just ate one of the chocolates
to hold me over until I could brave the cold to get cookie dough.  

It's possible that I don't have the most healthy post-test rituals. However I think a little R & R is deserved after written essay exams (like actually written...with a pen/pencil, not even typed!). 

Part Four: Psychosocial Health

This is the random left over blog post. Honestly, this post could be much longer because there are a million awesome articles out there, but I'm trying to be concise (yeah, I realize I'm terrible at it, but at least give me some credit for trying!).

• 20 Things Poor People Do Every Day: There's lots of misinformation out there about poor people and that they are lazy and doing nothing all day. These are the things that are actually done: find food, find shelter, find warmth, try to stay safe, live in chronic pain (and poorer health outcomes), and do everything in their power to stay alive. 
• Appendectomies are Expensive in the US: This person posted his bill for his overnight stay in the hospital after getting his appendix removed on Reddit. Apparently it's about $55,000. His insurance covered the bulk of it, but still. That's a lot of monies! Our healthcare reform isn't perfect by any means, but hopefully it's a step so that people don't have to pay these enormous bills! 
• Med Students Save Lives!: Remember those OSCEs I talked about taking? Well this student at Virginia found out something that was really wrong with his fake patient during one of his OSCEs and he saved his life! Sometimes medical students are idiots (myself included), but sometimes we are awesome too! 
• Inactivity Changes Your Brain: I sort of alluded to this already yesterday. But here's some science to back it up more! Being a lazy bums changes your neurons. And not for the better. Inactivity leads to greater sympathetic nervous activation which may causes higher blood pressure (due to vasoconstriction) and ultimately leads to heart disease. So work your little body...Make Your Day Harder!
• Vaccinations...good or bad?: This is a post from someone who grew up being unvaccinated. And why she decided to vaccinate her children. And why she suggests that you do too! Her parents lived the organic, healthy lifestyle (let's be real...this is not me condemning that lifestyle. I love organic foods!) and yet she contracted measles, mumps, rubella, viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, chickenpox, HPV, and penicillin-resistant quinsy by not being vaccinated. She says, "If you think your child's immune system is strong enough to fight off vaccine-preventable diseases, then it's strong enough to fight off the tiny amounts of dead or weakened pathogens present in any of the vaccines." I someday will be having children and plan to vaccinate them! But here's a side of the argument that you don't often hear! 

All of these things affect health in some way. Take a look! I have lots more posts planned, so keep your eyes peeled!

Part Three: Videos

And now, a bunch of random videos that I've watched over the last month. There's a little something for everyone in this post. Educational to purely entertainment. Hard sciences to liberal arts. It's all in there!

• Tap dance + Beyonce = GOLD.....This is so ridiculously amazing! You can expect me to look this awesome at my recital...(not!)

• Let's make our day harder. This is an interesting video about technology becoming ubiquitous. And how that affects our movements (now we pride ourselves on not needing to move to change the channel, buy clothes, and to talk to people who are 1,000 miles away). This is a movement to "tweak the week" to make it harder...take the stairs, have a walking meeting, etc. Such an interesting concept, especially since I just got out of the cardiac physiology unit!

• Empathy. What is it, how you can get practice it, why is it important? This is one of the most important skills we use as doctors (and doc wannabes!). The key is being vulnerable...being fully human! 

• Halftime with Lee Brice. Okay, this is WAY cool. Pepsi filmed a commercial in Milligan, NE over Christmas break. It's about an hour and a half away from my hometown. They brought in Lee Brice to put on a show (he's a big country star, in case you didn't know that...I didn't until about September of last year). It was a huge deal and tons of free Pepsi. The York High School band and spirit squads filmed a commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl. I wussed out of going to see the concert (hello, once-in-a-lifetime experience...even if it is country music) because it was freeeeeeezing outside. But here's a sneak peak! 

• Derrick Coleman--deaf NFL Seahawks fullback did a commercial with Duracell (ignore the part about them trying to sell you batteries...focus on the part where it's super awesome that a deaf person is in the NFL!). My dear old dad (emphasis on the old) is also pretty much deaf. And the deaf community doesn't get much attention or recognition these days, so I think this is very awesome to have a high profile person representing the community in a good way! PS everyone should worry about their hearing health...ear buds and loud music are NOT good for you! :) 

• Sex Education. Are you a parent? Are you nervous about talking to your kid about sex? Just show them this video! Are you a human being? Could you brush up your knowledge about sex? Or about how to talk about to other humans about sex? Watch this video! It talks about the parts, the "who" people love, losing your virginity (with some conversations about sending naked photos of yourself), consent and rape, sex, protection, and STDs. It uses humor and is medically accurate.

• Sugar! It affects our brains. We are addicted to it! Learn about why! (I promise I will not judge you for consuming sugar while watching...) This video has a nice set of animations and diagrams to help out the scientific mumbo jumbo!

That's all for now! More tomorrow (hopefully!)

Part Two: NPR

My apologies readers, I know I promised an update-a-day until I got through all of my updates. But life and rest got in the way. Never fear, there's plenty more of me jabbering about my thoughts to come! Welcome back.

You can't be surprised that I have a whole post dedicated to NPR stories. I just love them so much!

1. 5 Simple Habits Can Help Doctors Connect with Patients: Really it's all of the things we learn in our clinical skills classes, but somehow we forget amidst all of our other training. Introduce yourself to the patient. Touch the patient: handshakes or a pat on the shoulder. Sit down. Talk to the patient. Ask open ended questions. Be respectful. 
2. Defining Death: There have been a few cases lately that have gained national attention about what the definition of death is. I'll just let you read the article (and any subsequent articles about this topic) and form your own opinions on what should have been done in each case. But we talk about the different types of death during class: lung (no breath), heart (no heart beat), brain (no brainstem activity), and neocortical (no higher level functioning...personality, etc). There is lots of crossover here with ethics and philosophy. Even religious views. It's good to be informed though, just in case (God forbid) something happens to you or a loved one. Know the medical measures your family members feel comfortable with. 
3. Talk to your Doc about Drinking: This was a surprising article to those of us in school still. They grill alcohol counseling into our education. I'm asked about alcohol consumption at every one of my doctor's appointments. So I guess I assumed that everyone got asked. But apparently not. Binge drinking (as well as alcoholism) is rampant in this country and that's why it's so important for you to know your risk! Not to mention that alcohol consumption can lead to many adverse health effects. You should all do the CAGE questions on yourself (if you answer yes to two or more questions, talk with your physician):
1. Have you ever felt you should Cut down on your drinking?
2. Do people Annoy you when they criticize your drinking?
3. Have you ever felt bad or Guilty about your drinking?
4. Have you ever felt the need to have a drink in the morning (an Eye opener) to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
4. Autism as an Asset: This is a NPR story about Temple Grandin (TED Talk included!). She is an autistic woman who has used her special ability to see the world in pictures to her advantage. She revolutionized the cattle industry to keep cattle calm on the way to the slaughter house. She is a huge proponent of keeping the arts in schools because often children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are wonderfully intelligent at art. Or computer design. Others are really wonderful with words and are great at acting. If your child is obsessed with legos, use that lego obsession to build different types of buildings. Or use them in math. Just because their thinking is different, does not mean that they are any less intelligent than the "normal" kids (really, is there anything such as "normal"?). Temple suggests that these children need to have a mentor to spark their interest in something. Whatever it is. Turn these kids on to learning. And the world will absolutely be changed for the better. These brains are going to revolutionize our world! 

Okay, that's all for now! Have a great week y'all :) 

UNMC cannot be a University...

Okay, I realize that "University" is the first letter of the acronym, but I swear it just cannot be a university!

Why, you ask?

Because last night I was studying and eating some dinner at Chipotle (burrito bowls=success!) (actually I meant to go to Qdoba, but I always get the two places confused) when the administrative assistant to the Dean of Student Affairs and Admissions came up to me and wished me luck on my exam today.

That sort of thing just doesn't happen at big universities.

She knew #1 that I was a student and #2 that I had a test today. I'm pretty sure that UNMC is actually a small liberal arts college moonlighting as a university.
_____________________________________________________________________

In other news, there apparently is another girl in my class who plays bassoon. I just learned this. And I have also decided that we are going to become best friends.

PS I survived the test this morning!

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!).