We did it! We made it through the didactic year of the program. I say that with the upmost relief and have a satisfied, but tired, smile on my face. I am exhausted. The month of December was 3 weeks straight of unrelenting exam after exam. We were taking normal exams in between final exams and it was just a chaotic last couple of weeks. In the end, after the dust had settled, I came out on the other side as a battle-hardened warrior, ready to take on the next year. After a brief rest, of course.
The rest was brief, as I had said. It turns out that when you're dealing with only focusing on exams for nearly a month straight, you forget that Christmas is less than a week away. You are forced to go out into the world full of fellow last minute (sometimes psycho) Christmas shoppers. After that, you spend a couple of Christmas gatherings with Mom's side of the family, Dad's side of the family, significant others' (if you're able to hold onto them), and so on. Then the next day you have to turn around and pack your apartment in two days before moving into a house in Pittsburgh. So it turns out, that I didn't get to relax much. I say this to prepare you: enjoy your Thanksgiving break and relax as much as you can during that. It's really the only opportune time. This whole Christmas break was just getting ready to live in a new state and start the clinical year.
I moved into a house in Pittsburgh, located near the zoo and i've been there for about three weeks now. The house comes with its quirks. For instance, it is severely raised up towards one corner of the house. You get used to it eventually but I have yet to see what happens when I come home not in a sober state. Despite that, it's a great place to serve our purpose for the year. My roommates are a plethora of my classmates. There are 4 bedrooms with 3 of us there on a more permanent basis. The extra bedroom will house anybody with a rotation in Pittsburgh that needs a place to stay. The living room is a decent enough size that a fifth can stay also if needed. First year students may want to consider taking over our lease next year for their rotations, so go ahead and contact us about that.
My first clinical rotation is at Children's hospital. I have already made it through the first week, but in my next post I will go more in depth about this rotation. So far, I have learned so much and I've seen some specimens that you would rarely see at a "normal" hospital. We were also given reading assignments for our class. The amount of material that we have to read is enormous. The best advice and can give, and I hope to stick to this, is to do about an hour or two each day. It's so easy to get behind and I can see it all piling up towards the end of the month. I have found it difficult to go to work for most of the day and then come home and have to read or study. You just have to keep reminding yourself to push through this year, and it will all be worth it. We are likely to never study in our lifetime again to study again after this year. We can do this.
So far Pittsburgh has been an adjustment and somewhat of a challenge. It always is when you are used to a daily routine and you completely change that around. Regardless, it has been interesting and rewarding. I am excited to continue my clinical and I look forward to hands-on learning every day. I have to make a quick shoutout to my parents and my aunt and uncle. They all selflessly moved me to the new house over the course of a few days. I literally could not have done it without them. There's nothing I can do to repay them back right now, but someday I can do something for them. It meant a lot. Cheers, to our parents and family members, for helping us with all that they continue to do.