Favorites.

Two places I love here. The Tuba Museum aka The Traveler's Club. And Horrock's Market.

This is the awesome tuba fountain on the back patio!

 This Monday after CMA a group of us went over to the Traveler's club to enjoy some delicious food and drink. We had some new first year med students and Alex (Bre's main squeeze) join us!

Here we all are enjoying one of their hundreds of options of beer from all over the world :)

 Today, Erin and I ventured to Horrock's Market and our fridge and pantry our filled with wonderful, healthy and delicious food. With it, we had crab stuffed flounder, homemade hummus!!, cooked carrots, and wine for dinner tonight.

The spice wall at Horrocks, and Erin admiring the aloe juice

 I have decided to do the unthinkable....and run a marathon. A bunch of med students are running either the half or full in Detroit this fall and I figured now is as good a time as any to do it. Mostly because of the flexibility of my schedule and even more because of the fact that I have awesome friends to train with. I imagine this is about what I'll look like...hopefully smile and all! I wish I could take credit for this picture, but it was from one of our most recent OMM lectures. How can it not make you laugh! I love it.

hahaha...ha...ha...ha...

Guacamole Hummus!

Last night a bunch of my friends and I had a litte post exam week BBQ and my contribution was a new recipe from Martha Stewarts Food magazine that I'd been wanting to try. It's super easy, the perfect excuse to invest in a food processor if you don't already have one, and it's delicious!

Simply add the following ingredients to a food processor and pulse til smooth.
- 15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed
- about 2 cups of fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 large avacado

Once it is thoroughly pulsed, add about 3 TBSP of olive oil and 1 TBSP of fresh lemon juice while the processor is on to allow it to mix evenly. Then add salt and pepper or more lemon juice to your liking.

Serve it with tortillas or pita!

Weekends.

There are a few things about med school that are, can you believe it, actually good. Please note that I am referring to med school, not to being a doctor. Those are two very different things.

One of those things is how much you appreciate a few days with no tests. Not that there's a lack of lectures to watch, but it's so relaxing to study without the added pressure of the exam at 8am the next morning. By the way, after my last post, I'm happy to report that I'm still alive, not that I thought it'd kill me, but I'm alive in the sense that I'm still on track to passing all my classes, most noteably, pharmacology. How I miss the days of homework assignments, extra credit, and attendence points to boost your grade. Pharm tests leave little room for error.

In addition to appreciating a few days of regular studying, med school has made me procrastinate in a new way. I hesitate to call it procrastination, but, I read the Bible with a new sense of anticipation and a new need for the comfort it provides. Almost everyday I think to myself, why am I doing this? (pretty lame huh?) But, I am quickly reminded that the desire to be a doctor wasn't something I picked, but that God has entrusted me with. Otherwise I'd be perfectly happy sharing God's love with people in a coffee shop or leading hiking expeditions through the rocky mountains.

Awesome friends. That's another good thing. And on that note! Erin is in the process of moving in! It's been so lonely here without Katie and I need someone to at least be around so I don't let myself refuse to do the dishes or leave my stuff all over the place. It's such a blessing to have a sister in Christ, fellow med student, future/current AF collegue, gun shooting, country music listening, sports loving friend. I think we're gonna have a good time :)

Here we are in Haiti on the back of a crazy moto!!

Tests, tests, and more tests...

One soft taco minus lettuce and a cheesy gordita crunch please. This is my brain food, more for its tastiness and less for its nutritional value, to get me through the last push of the most absurd pharmacology test. Roughly 200 antibiotic, chemotherapeutic and anti-inflammatory drugs, their mechanism of action, numerous side effects, drug to drug interactions, and contraindications all in a mere 7 days. WHY 7 DAYS?! I don't get it. And I need to vent. I thought the "weeding process" was over. We're all gonna be doctors, so why the torture?? And I thought microbiology was bad?! If you read this between now and 8am tomorrow, please say a prayer for me and 500 of my closest friends taking our exam, Thanks! (And the one we have on Thursday and the one on Friday, too!)

...nobody tells you how many tests there are going to be in medical school. This is my warning to anyone and everyone headed in this direction. Start mentally preparing now. Now that it's too late to turn back, I'm banking on that it'll be worth it someday down the road.

**Disclaimer: Most of the things mentioned in the blog do not reflect a well functioning, well rested mind. I know why I am here in med school and glad that I am....even maybe a little thankful...I think feeling this way is part of the process though. Now I can check it off the list.

Dance Parties

I love to dance. Right now, it's my only saving grace. As I am currently cramming 191 drugs (according to a fellow med student who posted that number on his facebook status...) down my throat, not literally, but anyways, to prevent myself from going crazy I occasionally play one of two songs and then precede to turn into a dancing fool into my living room. Here they are...

Just another day in med school...

Our clever way of keeping lunch swippers from stealing our sushi from the community fridge!

"Beware! Contains laxatives and organophosphates!"

CCHF Conference!

http://www.cchf.org/

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is carrying out your convictions in the face of fear.

-John Perkins

Last Thursday I packed up my trusty focus and made the journey to Nashville, TN for the Christian Community Health Fellowship Conference. It was amazing. Anyone interested in healthcare in any capacity (from surgeons to office staff to public health workers) should really take a look at getting involved with CCHF.

The time I spent there challenged me to keep the promises I've been making to God since I was about 13. The ones that went:

"If you get me into the University of Michigan (glad he didn't answer that prayer)...If you get me an A in Organic Chemistry...If you can keep me from running out of the MCAT facility...If get me into med school...If you provide financially for med school...if you promise I won't go crazy during medical school...then, I'll serve as a doctor wherever you send me. "

Leaving for three days put me behind big time at school, BIG time. But, I have a feeling I'd feel about the same had I decided to stay here. Luckily I vented during lunch with Bre and Amanda over sushi...so you don't have to hear it. You're welcome.

Post-conference, I added a lifelong goal to my to do list:

1. Learn Bible stories like it's my job and get really good at telling them.

Deuteronomy 15:11

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."