Back to it...

Today was the first clinical day of the program that I'm doing this summer. Yesterday we had an orientation for a few hours, and then today (and for the rest of the week) they had me with a urologist basically just watching what he does. It was definitely a different experience to be in the hospital versus just sitting at a desk reading.
To begin with, I had to actually go somewhere (the hospital). Also, I had to look professional, which includes shirt, tie and white coat (what more could you really ask for). In addition, I was actually seeing patients, instead of just reading about the Krebs cycle or something else equally as esoteric (although we did discuss the Krebs cycle this morning...).
Now, I don't know that I will end up being a urologist, but from the one day that I've seen of it, it doesn't seem too bad. We will see how things go...one day isn't very long. But I have to go, because tomorrow I'm getting up bright and early, and I get to sit in on a surgery with the da Vinci machine (it's a robot!!!).

Enjoying the Summer

There isn't too much to say about what's going on... I'm still waiting to start my HME program (on Tuesday). The explanation for these pictures is that I went back into Merry Lea this afternoon and did a little bit of photography. I'm also trying a new way of showing pictures, so hopefully it works for everybody.



That's all for now. Good news, tomorrow is Friday!

The Update

Admittedly, it has been quite a while since my last post. I wholeheartedly apologize for that. Now, down to business… What has Matt been doing for the past few weeks? Well, I finished my trip to the east coast with a visit to Washington D.C., the first time I'd been there. Nothing like all those monuments to remind you that you're an American… After that, I spent a few days in South Bend, and then I came down to the lake and hung out. Then I went down to Indianapolis and hung out for a night. Then I came back to the lake, where I've been since Saturday. Yes, it's true; I haven't worked or done much of anything productive for awhile. However, I am okay with that. It does, however, get a little bit boring, which is why I will be VERY ready to start my summer HME program (like an internship…I wrote about it before) in 2 weeks and 1 day.

In closing, I will say that I am enjoying this summer WAY more than I enjoyed any summer before it. Whether that is because it's my last summer vacation ever or because of something else, I can't say, but I'm liking it.

New York City

Well, as I write this, I am on a little island just east of Manhattan called Roosevelt Island. We spent all day walking around the city, seeing the sights and bsically just trying to have a good time. We went to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, walked around Central Park, went to see the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, and experienced public transportation.

Anyway, we're going out to dinner somewhere in about an hour, and after that our friend who we're staying with here has some friends that are having a birthday party, so we're going to go to that tonight. All in all, quite the day so far. I've never been to New York before, so its been quite the experience to see all kinds of things that I've only seen on TV on in the movies. For example, the tram that takes you from Roosevelt Island (where we're staying) to Manhattan is the same tram that was in the movie Spiderman (remember the scene where the school-children were stuck on a cable car?--that's it!).

I will cut this short. But just so you all know, so far, the trip has been fun.

I am not studying

So far today has been just another day of not getting up early, not studying, no stress, and best of all (redundant, I know) no studying. Although I have to confess, on Monday I went to Border's bookstore and bought "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1", which is a review book for the first step of the medical licensing exam process. But I am happy to report, I have not even gotten in out of the bag they put it in at the cash register, so we're good so far. The only book I've opened since I got done with the semester is "War and Peace", which I always heard was a good book. I have to be honest though, I really had almost no idea what it was about before I went to the library to get it.

By the way, the library at Notre Dame is quite possibly one of the scariest places in the world. I went in there just trying to find my book. So I found the call number and everything, and I thought it would be in the basement. So I went down there. No dice, but there are a whole bunch of books on these huge racks that are on sliders that you have to move around to be able to see what's on them. And if you happened to be between the racks when someone was moving them, you just might end up being crushed between them. Anyway, the book wasn't there. Turns out it was upstairs. So I went up to the 9^th floor. Then after about 5 minutes of looking around, I found a sign that said that the range of call numbers that I was trying to find got moved to the 8^th floor. So I went down there. I took the stairs. And this is where it gets a little weird.

The stairwell seems like something that you might find in a horror film. It's all painted yellow, there's no one else in there, and it's really echo-genic (yep, it's a word). Anyway, that's just to set things up. I got to the 8^th floor, found my book, and decided to leave. I had to take the stairs again because the elevator was broken. Anyway, I'm on the 8^th floor. So it's a few flights down to get to the bottom floor so I can leave. So I start going down. And down, and down. And eventually I get to a door that says "2^nd floor Emergency Exit Only" or something like that. So kept going down. At the next level, there isn't a door. Then I went down one more level (presumably the basement?) and opened the door to find some sort of offices or something. But not where I wanted to go. I still don't know where the door to the first floor is. I ended up taking the emergency exit. It was actually a little bit of an emergency. I mean, I was trapped in the stairwell.

Anyway, my story may not do it justice, but it really is not a place that you want to get stuck. I mean, I think I heard ghosts, possibly an exorcism, and even some inquisition-ing. I also saw Charlie Weiss, and he tried to eat me. Then he sued me because I wouldn't let him.

Feast or Famine

Well, it's official… I've finally gotten over the fact that I don't have to study all the time, and I have become just a little bit bored! Not that I'm really complaining… Its true, though, it's a feast or a famine.

Regardless, I am definitely enjoying all the extra time, even though I don't have a whole lot to do in it. For example, I tried to buy a spear (for spear fishing) today, but the store that I went to didn't have the kind of spear that I want. They just had frog spears, and the prongs on those are definitely not long enough to spear the massive-sized fish that I plan on spearing this summer. Oh well. I guess that I'll have to keep looking.

In other news, I'm in the middle of getting ready for my trip to New York and Washington D.C., but unfortunately, we still don't really know what we're going to be doing while we're there. Just that we're going, and that it's gonna be CRAZY! And by that I mean that we're going to party like its 1999.

Anyway, I think House is coming on now, so I have to go watch it. (it's like medical school, except way more fun!)

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”

Yes, it's true; I am done with my first year of medical school classes! It is a great feeling, and when I finished my Microbiology final on Monday it was like a huge weight just got lifted off of my shoulders. Since then, I've been spending time celebrating, sleeping, jogging, grocery shopping (that tends to get neglected… but you can only eat so much Subway!) and, um, writing papers.

I kind of have to hedge it when I say that I'm done with first year, because I actually have to write a few things before I'm totally done. I've only got one left to go, and if anyone is interested, it is about the ethics of the so-called 'savior sibling'. (The classical scenario is the parents of a child with leukemia who have another child so that they can do a bone marrow transplant to save the first child's life) It is an interesting topic, and I've kind of enjoyed spending a couple hours reading about the intricacies of it all, especially the paper that says things like: "For those who believe it is better to exist than not to exist…" I have to be honest, I laughed when I read that line. Anyway, I refuse to tell you all what I think about the 'savior sibling' ethical dilemma.

Somewhat unfortunately, I have to go to the medical school in a few minutes because they are dedicating the library. What that actually means, I do not know, but I think it probably means that they want to raise money to buy new books. The building for the medical school here in South Bend is only about 2 years old, and the library consists of two bookshelves of books. So I had to laugh when I got the invitation to go to the "library dedication". My first thought was, "We have a library?"

To close, I will say that it is great to be done with classes, and I would recommend that you all listen to a certain Alice Cooper song if you're wondering how I'm feeling about it right now.