2019 Word of the Year

     Every time I come to write these posts, I'm in awe with how quickly the previous year passed and it's always crazy to think back on the things that happened. How I've overcome the obstacles that at one point might've kept me up. All the blessings that surprised me as I made my way through 2018. And also how well the word I selected last year fit into the theme for my year. For 2018 I had selected the word Self. I wanted it to be a year that I focused on me and my personal growth and in some ways I did an incredible job and in other parts I know I'm still a work in progress. What I do know about the year was that I learned so much about myself. I passed my first board exam, I started the last half of my medical school journey and I grew in ways I never expected. With all that up my sleeve. I'm very hopeful for what is to come this year.

     With all of the self reflection from 2018, what I learned is that sometimes I need to just take a step back. Of course being action oriented and trying to make things happen have their place (hello, that's the Type A drive that got me into medical school), but there are times that you just need to let go of the outcome. Let go of the expectations of how something is supposed to happen and trust that no matter what, what will come to you will be the best thing for you. I could go through my life and tell you all the times that I didn't get what I wanted or when what I got was so much better. How my shortcomings lead my to my greatest victories and that sometimes when you think things are falling apart they are simply doing so, so they can fall into place later. This is something that I reflected on a lot this year and what has inspired me to choose the word Trust as my word for 2019.

    This next chapter in my life is going to bring so many opportunities and excitement. This year I embark on my last full year of medical school (I graduate in the spring semester of 2020!) as well as applying for residency and deciding where I want to spend the next three years of my life. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I've gotten to this point when it feels like I had just put on my white coat for the first time yesterday, but it is so nice to see how far I've come and how close I am to the finish line. With all this change on my path I want to trust that everything is going to work out exactly the way it needs to. To trust that I can do anything that I set my mind to and that I am being guided to where I need to be, and I know it might not be easy. I am definitely someone who wants certainty in everything, so I'm challenging myself to just go with the flow this year and just trust.

    I hope everyone had a beautiful 2018 and I hope that 2019 brings you everything that you could ever desire.

- Gen<3

Sunday Reflections

For a while now I've been thinking of how I could do more with my blog and although I enjoy the posts where I share my advice on getting through medical school, I also just want more informal reasons to write. And the other day it finally came to me...Sunday reflections. The whole point of Sunday reflections is for me to share a little bit more about my life as well as have a chronicle of where I am in my journey. The whole intention of starting my blog was for me to have something to look back on years from now, so I think Sunday reflections will be a great way for me to share what's been going on recently, where I am in school, and maybe just random thoughts/anecdotes that I'd like to share. A lot of this stems from the fact that one of my favorite things is to learn about people. I love to hear their stories. How they grew up, what excites them, and why they do the things they do. I feel like understanding people allows for us to have a better connection as humans and serves as the foundation for deeper friendships. So in the spirit of promoting that, I am choosing to let people hear more about my story.

This probably has to be one of my favorite times of the year. I know a lot of it has to do with my birthday being in November and with Thanksgiving bringing my favorite people together. My birthday always serves as my reset point for the year. I love to look back and see what has changed since my last trip around the sun, the lessons I've learned, and the people that have come and gone along the way.  And Thanksgiving is always the time that I take a pause and look around to see all the things that I have in my life and everything that I've been blessed with. This picture speaks volumes in those regards.

I won't tell the full story as it's not just mine to share, but over the past several years my parents had their fair share of hard times. So believe me when I say that this house has been a beautiful blessing for them and every time I take a walk to the backyard, I'm reminded how everything seems to work out in the end. On another note, I remember for years wishing that I had a place to run.  Our old house was set in the middle of a forest preserve and our street was the only street for miles. It was beautifully secluded, but not the ideal place to hit the pavement. When they showed this house to me, I fell in love. I'd always wanted something like this and I couldn't believe I was finally getting it.

This was the first holiday that we were celebrating in our new house and I was really happy that it was the one where we get a chance to celebrate the things that make us thankful. It was a great start to all the memories that we'll get to create here and a chance to look back on how far we've come. And that has been the thought that has been on my mind the past couple weeks. My birthday week I just felt so thankful that I have been blessed with incredible people in my life, friends and family that make me feel so loved. And of course how far I've personally come on my journey.

I'm currently three weeks out from being half-way done with my third year of medical school and I honestly can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Next year at this point, I'll be interviewing for residency and deciding where I would like to spend the next three years of my life and that's both exciting and terrifying. Either way, I know wherever I end up it'll be where I need to be.

Clerkship-wise, we are at the midpoint of our pediatrics rotation and so far I've been loving every second of it. I was a bit nervous at the beginning that I was going to change my mind and that all these years of saying I was going into peds was a lie, but I swear the past couple weeks have felt like coming home. I have worked with the different residents and attendings and it feels like I've found my people. I think it also helps that my patients are adorable and even when they just come in with colds I'm delighted to see them. But, it does make me excited to start residency and finally getting into the good part of my career.

For this Sunday, I hope you are reflecting on all the good things this week had to offer. The things that make you grateful in this life and all the things that you still have to look forward to.

-Gen<3

Internal Medicine Clerkship

     When I was picking my schedule for M3 year, I was a bit nervous to start off with IM as it's known to be one of the more challenging clerkships. But, I knew that it would be a great foundation for the rest of the year and that my knowledge from boards would carry me through. I'll be honest, I didn't think I would like IM, so another reason I wanted to have it first was so that I could "get it out of the way." But to my surprise, I was a bit sad to end my rotation.

What is Internal Medicine?

     

     I feel like for the longest time I didn't quite know what it was, but IM (internal medicine) is the medical specialty that focuses on the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of adult diseases. It sometimes gets confused with family medicine, but family medicine doctors also see pediatric and Ob/Gyn patients in addition to their adult patients. Although some family medicine doctors work on inpatient (in the hospital) medical services, a bulk of the doctors that see patients in the hospital are the internal medicine docs (the internists). Internists act as the team captain of a patient's medical care and call in specialty services for more complicated cases. This is due to the fact that internal medicine doctors deal with complicated patients, so of course, they aren't expected to be experts on every part of the body. There are specialists (e.g. Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Cardiology etc.) that handle those cases where the patient's care is outside of the internist's knowledge base. That being said, internal medicine doctors do know a ton and a majority of their patients have multiple active problems to manage, so they have to know how to treat the patient in a way to get these problems stabilized, so the patient can safely go home.

     After residency, internal medicine doctors can choose to do inpatient (as a hospitalist), outpatient (in the clinic),  a combination of inpatient/outpatient medicine, or do a subspecialty (like those specialties mentioned above). So, many doctors that know that they want to specialize in a particular area of the body will train as an internist and then continue their training with a fellowship in their area of interest. In that way, internal medicine is a great way to explore the medical subspecialties if you know that you want to practice adult medicine.

     Before discussing the rotation, there are a couple things that I think I should define for the novice med folk as well as the non-med folk. In inpatient medicine, "rounding" means that you go and see your patients as a team. Who is on your team depends on how the team is structured. At community hospitals, a team consists of at least a senior resident and two interns (as well as a teaching attending for some parts). And in my case, I was the medical student on the team. At an academic hospital, our team was pretty large. We had an attending, a third-year resident, a second-year resident, two interns, two sub-Is (4th-year medical students doing their acting internship), and two medical students. When we "pre-round" that means that you go and see your patients on your own prior to rounding as a team so that when you round with the attending doctor (the doctor that oversees the work of the resident team) you are ready to present your plan for the patient.

     Finally, the last term to define is "call." If you've watched any medical shows or have seen any of the jokes about being a doctor you've heard the term being "on-call." What it means in general is that you are the doctor or the team that is in charge of patients at a given time and that you are contacted to care for them. In internal medicine, what it means to be on call depends on your hospital. At my community site, Being on call meant that your team would stay past sign-out to care for the patients until the night team showed up. We were also the team that responsible for responding to codes and accepting new admissions from 3:00 pm until the night team came in at 7:00 p.m. (we didn't accept any admissions to our team prior to 3:00 pm though) At my academic site, we were on call from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. We accepted all new admissions, responded to codes, and if there were admissions overnight after our call, they would go to our team until the next team started their call the following morning. And being "post-call" means that it is the day after you are on call. If you did overnight call that means that you are just coming off being on call for the whole night and you probably didn't get much sleep if the night was busy. Thankfully, we didn't have to do any overnight calls as M3s, but it is something to look forward to in residency.

Rotating Through As An M3

          The specifics of your internal medicine rotation will depend on what your school requirements are, but I believe most internal medicine clerkships are between 8-12 weeks in duration. Our school happens to have affiliations with many of the community hospitals in the Chicago, so our IM rotation was an 8-week rotation split into 4 weeks at an academic center (our home institution or the Veteran's hospital) and another 4 weeks at a community hospital with one half-day a week spent in an outpatient clinical setting during the entire 8 weeks. For my clerkship, I started with 4 weeks at a community hospital and ended with 4 weeks at our home hospital. Personally, I had a great experience at both, but the vibe from each experience was a bit different.

     At the community hospital, the schedule was a bit more consistent and we only had one call day a week. On the weekends, I only had to come in when my senior resident was working. If she worked on Saturday, I was off on Sunday. Our weekend day usually consisted of us rounding on our patients together, I would work on my notes, and then as soon as I finished, she'd send me home. The goal was to get out early on the weekends and I'd say I was usually always done before noon. I definitely appreciated starting off with a schedule like that and I definitely missed it when I was on my second month of IM.

What my community month schedule looked like:

- Monday-Thursday (regular, non-call days)

• 6:30-7:00 A.M. - Get sign-out from the night team, look up labs, ask the night nurse if there were any events overnight, and jot down some notes for the patients I was following.

• 7:00-8:00 A.M.- Round with my team on our new/critically ill patients. Our teaching attending would come around to see the new patients and this is usually when she would pimp me (a.k.a ask me questions about my medical knowledge...I still don't know why they call it that lol)

• 8:00-9:00 A.M.- Morning Lecture. This was usually on a topic that the residents were learning.  Occasionally, we had our own student lecture instead, but either way, they were focused on teaching us a topic in medicine (i.e. EKGs, Treating a patient with heart failure, etc.)

• 9:00-12:00 P.M.- Finish rounding on the patients we didn't get to see before morning lecture, work on coming up with plans for our patients, call consults, and work on notes. 

• 12:00-1:00 P.M.- Noon lecture. Same as above, but usually for these we had our own student lectures.

• 1:00-4:00 P.M- Finish notes and prep everything for sign-out to the team on call. Sign-out was scheduled for 3:30 P.M., but sometimes it happened later depending on how many patients we had on our team and whether it had been a busy day. As a medical student, they usually sent me home by 5:00 as long as I had finished my notes.

- Call days: Same schedule as above, but the day was longer and we were in charge of responding to codes.

• 3:30 P.M.- Get sign-out from other teams (there were 5 teams, so on-call days you were carrying all those patients until the night team came in)

• 3:30-7:00 P.M. - Take all new admissions, respond to pages for any of the patients we were caring for, and prep sign-out for the night team.  Any new admissions got distributed among the teams the next morning according to how many patients each team had, so even if we admitted them while we were on call, that didn't mean they would all get admitted to our service. We didn't really present patients to our attending, so post-call days were just like regular work days.

    As you can tell, an average workday was about 10+ hours depending on the schedule. On the days that I had clinic, I usually stayed until 6:00 p.m. And usually, I was at the hospital by 6:15 a.m. every morning (even on weekends). Our call day ended at 7:00 p.m. but I was usually there until 8:00 p.m. But, on an average day I was usually home by 5:00 p.m. Which wasn't too horrible and I really appreciated the fact that my weekend days were pretty light and consistent. That really helped me make it through the month, and as I was busy it really flew by. 

    During my academic month, the schedule was a whole other ball game. We were on call every four days which meant that most of the weekends during that month I was either on call or post call. And as we presented all our new patients on our post-call days. This meant earlier mornings in order to get everything ready to round at 7:00 a.m. (We'd typically come in at 5:30 or so to pre-round on our patients...These were the days I didn't get much sleep). As most of my days off were either a weekend day if we weren't on call or post call, I don't think I had a weekend day that was a regular work day. 

Our general schedule:

Non-call day: 

• 6:30-8:00- pre-round on patients, talk to nurses, work on your presentation.

• 8:00-9:00- Morning report. This is where the chief resident would do a case presentation for all the residents and we worked on coming up with a diagnosis. There was always coffee and for the most part. the cases were pretty interesting.

• 9:00-11:30- Morning rounds. We'd go see all our patients as a team, we'd present to our attending, and if time permitted, the attending would teach us something relevant to the patients on our service. If we had time after rounds, we'd start tackling our task list before heading to lecture.

• 12:00-1:00- Noon lecture. We went to the internal medicine department for a lecture presented by one of our attendings or professors.

• 1:00-5:00-Getting our work done. This was when we'd work on notes, call consults, help the residents with all the work that we didn't finish in the morning. If the day wasn't particularly busy and we had finished the work for our patients, the senior resident would send us home early (3:00 pm or so). 

Call-day:

    The same schedule as above, but we were on call until 7:00 p.m. and the day could get hectic as we were getting all the new admissions and responding to codes. I want to say the latest I ever left the hospital was 9:00 p.m. 

Expectations as an M3

     As this was our first rotation, the expectations were pretty lenient. At this point, we were more so expected to get used to working in a hospital setting after coming off of two years of being strictly academic. They wanted us to get used to talking to patients, working on writing effective notes, presenting patients to our attending, and getting comfortable working on a medical team. What we were allowed to do really depended on our site. At my community site, I feel like my role was more limited. I was allowed to see the patient and write progress notes, but I didn't do much else. My notes were also for my practice and didn't count as much for patient care.

     Since my home institution is a teaching hospital, we were allowed to do so much more. I was allowed to call consults, talk to families, put in orders/meds (they still had to be signed by the residents), and my notes were actually used in patient care. The residents would check over our notes, add in an additional information, and the attending would sign off on what everyone had written. As we were more involved in our patient's care, there was way more pressure to do everything well. As you didn't want to make mistakes in your patients care and look bad in front of your attending. But since they did give us more responsibility, it really helped me feel like I was a part of the team and for the first time what it felt like to be a doctor.

Prepping for the Shelf

   
      Unfortunately, at the end of each rotation, we have to take an exam to be evaluated on what we've learned. This meant that in addition to working a full-time job, we were also coming home to study for an exam. As the breadth of information tested on the internal medicine shelf mirrors that tested on our board exam, it was a lot of information to review. It was the first time that I was in this situation and I handled it as best as I could. It was definitely really hard to have the motivation to come home and study after a long day at work, but somehow I did it.

     As far as resources, most people recommended finding a review book (i.e. Step-Up to Medicine or Case Files) and reading that cover-to-cover in addition to doing practice questions on Uworld. Personally, I am not a textbook person and I found it really hard to get through reading a review book, so I just focused on doing practice questions. I believe there are 1,400 or so questions for internal medicine on Uworld and I got through about 1,000 of them. I used some online videos ( Online MedEd is a great resource) for topics I was weak in before my exam. But, throughout the rotation, I was looking up information on my patients on UpToDate every day and learning that way as well. For me, that was enough to do decently well on my shelf exam and in combination with a great clinical grade it worked out well for my overall grade on the rotation.

My Take-Aways

     As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my time on internal medicine. I will say that something that I know really contributed to my experience was that both of my teams were great. I had so much fun with them when we weren't busy practicing medicine that it didn't feel like we were at work. I know this wasn't true for some of my classmates on IM, so your team can really make or break your experience. It was the first time that I really got to experience medicine full on and I loved it. I enjoyed taking part in a patients care and when I was able to get really involved, it confirmed that I had chosen the right field. I won't sugar coat it though, there were some days that were really rough. I spent most of the two months just feeling exhausted by the long hours and worried that I wasn't studying enough for my shelf exam. And the learning curve from being an M2 to being an M3 is pretty steep, but eventually, you do get the hang of it. By the end, I was so tired and ready for a much-needed break (hence the laid-back past five weeks), but sad that I had to leave my team. 

     Overall, I realized that I really enjoy inpatient medicine (clinic is not my fave). I don't mind long days or rounding and rounding will be way more fun when I'm the attending that gets to ask all the questions.  As I had just taken Step a couple weeks before starting this rotation, it was really cool to see the things I had studied in practice. I felt so smart and like I mentioned above, it was the first time in the past years of schooling that I actually felt like I was becoming a doctor and not just studying for another class. And actually working with people was so rewarding when you could see them get better under your care and witness that you are making a difference. At this point in time, my heart is still saying pediatrics (even though my teams were trying to convince me to choose IM...It might possibly be my back up), but IM will hold a very special place as it was where I started my journey as an M3 and where I learned that I do really enjoy this field. It was certainly not an easy rotation, but I learned so much, I had so many great experiences ( I got to do my first arterial blood gas draw on a patient) and I feel ready to take on the rest of my M3 year.

     I know that was very long, but I wanted to give a detailed account of my time on IM. I start my Ob/Gyn rotation on Monday, and I can't wait to share my experience at the end of that.

Take care,

- Gen<3

On My Differential

I realized in my last post that I didn't really touch on anything that has been going on in my life (Whoops!) and I know that part of what I want to get across is that when you're in medicine, your life isn't completely medicine (Well, for the most part haha). As I had mentioned before, the past couple months have been a bit busy as I was adjusting to being in my clinical years and getting used to working a full-time job. Thankfully, students aren't required to work the same hours that the residents do, but some days are pretty close. The long hours coupled with having to study for the shelf exam at the end of each clerkship can lead to long days and exhaustion ( I've always had trouble sleeping and during my last rotation I would knock out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow). I won't lie, some days have been particularly hard. Especially when I come home and I'm just so drained from the day, that even having a bite to eat sounds like an arduous task. But, the days off in between paired with the incredible experiences that you get to witness during your clerkships fuel you during the trying times and help you get back up to take another round in the ring.

So, on that note I want to talk about some of the things that have been on my differential in the past couple months:

1. The End of Summer:

     One of the hardest parts of starting with Internal Medicine as my first clerkship was missing out on having a chance to really enjoy the summer. My internal medicine rotation started in the middle of June and for the subsequent eight weeks, my life consisted of long days at the hospital. My second month of IM was the busiest as I spent most of my weekends on call which meant that I was stuck in the hospital all day. While I loved what I was doing, I definitely got FOMO watching my classmates and non-medical friends post themselves out and about living their best lives and enjoying the summer. And some days it was pretty hard. But you understand that there are going to be many days that I will wish that I am anywhere but the hospital. But, there are also so many times that I am so thankful that I get to live this experience and that this is what I will get to do for a living that makes the tough times worth it and you accept that this is just part of the process.

     Not having a summer also hit really hard with the realization that our true "student" days are over and that from here forward we are just like the rest of the people working jobs. There's no more anticipation of summer break and knowing we just have to "make it through the semester" before having time off. We still get time off, but it's not on a particular timeline and surely not at the length you get in undergrad or for us like we had after our first year of medical school. So it was a bit bittersweet when we came back from our dedicated study time knowing that this was the mark of a new phase of our lives where summer break was no longer a thing and I was now on my way to becoming a real adult. Kinda scary to think about...

2. Free Time

     From what I said above, I didn't want to give the impression that we don't get any time off. You do get spaces where you can schedule it, but it's up to you to choose how. We were given six weeks of dedicated study time to study for step 1. I personally chose to use four of them to study and two of them to relax and take a quick trip before starting my third year. Some of my classmates did use all six weeks to study and only had a day or two before starting M3 year. So, it just depended on how we felt. Apart from that, each of our clerkship tracks have built-in elective space. We get to use that space to either explore a specialty of interest or also just take a break. After my internal medicine rotation, I had a 5-week block to use as I pleased. I took two weeks of break, I'm currently on week two of an ultrasound elective in the emergency department, and then next week I'll have a week off before starting my next rotation.

     As my next block might be a bit busy, I've been really trying to make the most of having free time. I worked on some finishing touches on my apartment (I painted, found decorations, organized the hot mess of boxes I still had around, etc.), I spent time with friends and family (The pic above is from a trip I took with some friends up to Wisconsin for a music festival), I traveled (I went to Key West post step and I had/have some mini-trips to Wisconsin) and then I've just been trying to do things that have been on the back burner for a while (i.e. working on my blog). It isn't always easy to do the latter especially when free time is scarce and you want to catch up with the people you haven't seen in a bit. But, I've been trying to balance between the two and since I had a larger chunk of time off, it's been manageable. That and I keep telling myself that there's never going to be the perfect moment to do things, so you just have to take it a day at a time and try to do as much as you can.

3. Life Changes

     Honestly, the past 9 months have been filled with so many life changes. I took my first board exam, I transitioned from my pre-clinical to my clinical years, I moved into a new apartment, and my parents moved to a new house from the house that I grew up in. All the change has made my life feel like it's been rapid fire, but I feel like now things are feeling a bit more settled. My parents have been living in their new house for a couple months now, my apartment is mostly set up the way I want it, and I feel like I've adjusted to the change of being an M3. I know life is going to speed up when I start my next rotation but for now, it's really nice to just have some time to breathe. It's given me time to just take a step back and see where I currently am and where I'd like to go next because before I know it, my fourth year will be upon us (it's honestly so crazy to think about).

      I've given a lot of thought to what I would like to do in the future. Currently, I'm still heavily set on pediatrics and of course staying in Chicago still sounds really good to me. But, I've also been exploring the possibility of doing my residency in another city. When we took our trip to Key West, my sister and I spent a few days in Miami. On an afternoon that she was back at the hotel taking a nap, I drove around and stopped in at the local target. And I don't know, it felt so interesting to be by myself in a completely new city. Of course, I had the comfort of knowing my sister was back at the hotel, but my curiosity of what it would be like to explore somewhere new was definitely piqued. I really haven't spent much time alone outside of Chicago and I think that it might be a great experience and the perfect time to do so. As of now, If I had to talk about how I would rank things, I would want Chicago at the top of my list, but closely following would be the cities that I'm curious to explore. We shall see.

4. Creativity

     As I mentioned in my prior post, I had really been struggling with my creativity and what I wanted to do with the blog. My initial mission was to provide a resource where people could see what is on the other side of the medical school doors, to learn about the process of getting here and knowing what it's like once you actually make it in. But, that isn't the only thing that I want to talk about.  One of the benefits of having my two high school best friends in the city is that they are not in medicine and when I'm with them, I can completely step away from it. Of course,  I'm passionate about what I do, but that's not all I do and it's not all that I think about. So, when I think about having a creative outlet where I only talk about one aspect of my life, it feels limiting and then I get discouraged. So, I think for me the best thing going forward is to just write what's on my mind. It'll be a little bit of medicine and a little bit of real life, and you can pick and choose what you'd like to read. I think that's a fair split.

    Also, YouTube...It's been a hotttt minute since I've posted anything on there. But, I went and took a peek on my channel this week and one of my videos ( Being a Biology major) had 25k views. 25k!!! I honestly am shocked that so many people took the time to see what I had to say. And it's really been making me want to go back and create more content. I'm still in the process of figuring out what I want to talk about on my channel and how to proceed going forward. But, that's just a thought I wanted to put out there.

     Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and this post could probably go on much longer, but I think I might save my other thoughts for a later post. Take care.

~ Genesis<3

From Boards to the Wards

     Hello, Hello! I seriously can't believe that it's been a hot minute since I've written anything. And to be completely honest, it was due to a multitude of things. For one, I got really into my schedule studying for my board exams and when I had the opportunity to write I didn't have the inspiration to spend time creating something that I thought was worth sharing. Going off of that last point, I feel that I've struggled with what I wanted to do with this blog. 

     When I started blogging, it was my way of documenting my journey to medical school as well as creating content in the hopes that it would help someone that was interested in being a medical student. Apart from that, I know when I was applying I loved reading about other people's experience and that made me want to share my own. But, as I came into medical school, I didn't know if my life was all that interesting or if it was blog-worthy. And then another thing happened, some of my classmates started following my blog Instagram. 

     I don't know if it was my way of protecting my creative space or the fear of having my classmates think I'm weird because I like to write about my life and being a medical student, but every time I saw a name I recognized come up with the "is now following you" notification, my heart started to race. Then the thoughts would come in. Do I still want to do this? Do you really want people knowing about your life? Is your life even that interesting to blog about? The doubt kept me from wanting to share what ideas I had and the effort needed to continue creating content was easily excused by the demands of medical school. And that's how we've gotten to the point that it's been nearly 9 months since my last post.

     But, then something happened the other day. I was casually going about my evening when I got a DM from a student that I happened to work with last summer during one of my summer projects asking for help as she was a junior and needed advice on the application process. She mentioned how she had read some of my earlier posts and how they had been really helpful. And the quote "Remember why you started" came into my head.

     Now, I don't consider myself an expert on medical school or anything, but my whole goal with creating this blog was to share what I did know and to let people see my perspective on what it's like to be a medical student in Chicago going to the school that I happen to go to (I don't think I've ever specifically mentioned which one, but I feel like eventually, I might share it). I know that while we go through many of the same core classes and milestones, we all experience them in different ways. My personal experience is my own perspective and I think it'll benefit others to have another perspective of what it's like to be a medical student.

     So is my life interesting enough to blog about? Mmm... maybe. maybe not. Depends on what the person reading it thinks. I think my life can be interesting depending on the day. Do I really want people knowing about my life? If it'll help them, sure. Why not? I personally love getting to know people and I love reading blogs. So, I don't mind talking about my life. Do I still want to do this? My favorite quote and life philosophy comes to mind, "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded." To me knowing that I have helped anyone in any way makes me feel like I'm living out my life purpose. When it comes to friendships, patients, and of course blog followers if contributing what I have to offer helps I will keep doing it. 

     I know this has been a very long introduction to the purpose of this particular post. But, the underlying theme is very important-Remember why you started. Transitioning from my classroom years to my clinical years has been a very drastic change. From spending two years stuffing information in my head and 6 months of intensely trying to learn every detail possible to take a board exam, it's difficult to keep in mind why you're doing this in the first place. The fatigue, the self-doubt, the amount of information that seems to never fully stick in your head no matter how many times you've highlighted it on the page in front of you, makes you question if this is even worth it. But, as I've learned from starting my clinical years, it so is. 

     I want to give my experience on internal medicine its own post, but what I can say is that when you are actually working with patients and when what you do for them really matters it'll all be worth it. I've been fortunate enough to have some really great experiences while going through my first clerkship and I know that it's just the beginning. So, to my students that are just starting out or are quickly realizing that step one is on the horizon, remember why you wanted to go into medicine when it gets tough. Because when you get to the other side of the hurdles you'll see that all the stuff you have to do to get here is worth it. It sucks, but it's definitely worth it. 

    On that note, I'll end this post here as I feel it's getting a bit lengthy, but I'm going to be writing more posts to keep you guys in the loop of what's being going on. And if my classmates are reading this, thank you for the support. As that's how I'll interpret the fact that you're following me or even taking the time to see what I have to say. 

~Gen<3

Word for 2018!

 

      I honestly can't believe that it is time to write this post, because it feels like it was just a little while ago that I was picking my word for 2017. Last year, I picked the word awareness. It was something that I worked (and am still working) on cultivating in my life during the year, and although I still have plenty of work to do on this subject, I feel like I built a solid foundation. For me, 2017 was a year of being aware of the opportunities around me and I can say that I am very proud of myself. It was definitely a year of taking chances and making mistakes, but as one of my recent favorite quotes says,
     "...if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before and more importantly, you're doing something."-Neil Gaiman

     Looking back, I can say that it was a year full of life and life experiences, and to me, that seems like a year well spent. This upcoming year, is already set with many big career-oriented milestones for me (i.e. finishing my pre-clinical years of medical school and taking my first board exam), so when I was picking a word, I wanted it to fit the vibe of the year. And, the other day when I was reflecting on the year with a friend, what I was hoping for this year popped into my head. I want this year to be the year of "Self." Self-focus, self-love, self-development, self-discovery, but especially self-trust.

     For those unfamiliar with the medical field, at the end of M2 year, you have to take an exam called Step 1 in order to progress to your third year. This exam is notorious for being a beast because you are being tested on everything that you've learned in the past two years of medical school. So believe me, it's dauting to think about. But, I always try to keep optimistic that everything happens for a reason and that if I've made it this far, I can make it through the entire thing. I just have to trust that I can do it and let the rest fall into place.

    Apart from school, I feel like it's just a good year to build things up in my life. This past November, I turned 25 and it's made me think a lot about what I want to get out of life. It's rather funny because I feel older, but I know that I still have so much life to live. But, I do feel that turning a milestone age makes you reflect more on where you are currently and where you'd like to go moving forward. So, 25 will be a good year for this. I think it's a good year to spend reflecting on myself as a person and to focus on what I need.

    I hope this year brings you many great opportunities and that you do focus on yourself as well.

Take care,

- Genesis<3 

On My Differential

Hello! Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been so long since I've taken the chance to make a blog post, but I'm sure we all know what the usual culprit is. I am about a month away from reaching the half-way mark of M2 year and it's crazy to think that 7 months from now I will be half-way done with medical school and on to the wards! This past week has been a bit crazy as I took a lot of time off to celebrate my birthday. But thankfully, I'm not terribly behind schedule and this current week will have plenty of downtime for me to catch up.

1. M2 Year

     I seriously can't believe how fast this semester is going. Like I mentioned above, we are about to enter our final stretch of the semester and I feel like the past couple months have just been me getting used to the new course material and incorporating more of the doctoring part of medicine. As we approach January, Step 1 is going to be very present as it'll be time to get down to business. Thus far, I mustered up the courage to select my test date and now I'll just have to get my schedule ready to start the Step grind. Overall, I feel like I've enjoyed M2 year more than M1. I would say mostly because we've had way more downtime than we did last year and also I feel like I know what I'm doing more so than last year. 

2. Thinking about specialties

     I know it's rediculously early for this, but this semester I've been thinking a lot about what I want path I would like to pursue. I've had the pleasure of working with a neonatologist in the NICU and I've really enjoyed it. I feel like my heart is still pretty set on peds, but I want to keep my options open until I go through my clerkships next year. So far, I feel like the pediatric environment just fits who I am and I'm excited to see more of it next year.

3. Turning 25

     So, I swear I've been on the mindset that I was 25 since January, but last week I officially turned 25. Talking to my friends about it, it feels like a good age. I am still young enough to feel like I still have my whole life ahead of me, but old enough to feel wise about the places I'm going. There's definitely a lot of learning still going on, but I feel I've become more confident in doing the things that I need to do for myself, so that has been really nice. 

4. Gratitude

In my last "On My Differential" post, I addressed mindfulness and that is something that I've been working on. One of the main things that comes up with mindfulness is gratitude and with the thanksgiving holiday coming up, I feel this has been on my mind. I am very thankful for the place that I am in my life and even on the crappy days I try to remember that I am exactly where I need to be. That and I am defintely feeling very blessed for all the great people I have in my life and the opportunities I have been given. So, I just want to carry that with me as I continue on in to the trickier parts of this school year.

I know this was a short post, but I feel like I will want to do separate posts about some of the topics above as well as other things that have come up as I've been going through this academic year. I am still working on what I would like to have on this blog, and I'm hoping I can be a bit better about posting!

Take care,

Genesis<3

How to Survive Your Anatomy Course in Medical School

     Whenever I thought about medical school, one of the first things that popped into my mind was Gross Anatomy. I personally thought that it was the one class that set medical school apart from undergrad because it was so hands on and I actually felt like I was training to be a doctor. Now, many of you might've taken anatomy courses during undergrad, but this post is for those that are just about to delve into the cadaver lab life. So, I wanted to share my tips on how I made it through this course and how to make it a bit more enjoyable.

The Experience

     If you have never been in a cadaver lab before, the first time can be a little unsettling. The room is typically on the cooler side, right when you walk in you're greeted by the stench of formaldehyde, and oh...there are dead people everywhere. I remember my first time I was a little nervous, but I kept telling myself that I had to get comfortable with this because this would be a huge part of my education. So, as with many things that scare me, I just jumped right in. As my peer educator was explaining various structures, I made an effort to touch things and to follow along, so that this could feel like something completely normal. By the end of the lab session, I had pretty much gotten over my initial hesitation and was ready to take on future anatomy sessions.

     Preparation

     Although anatomy is an amazing class, it definitely takes plenty of preparation to make it through. If your lab sessions are anything like ours, you'll most likely be spending 2-3 hours (possibly more) hands-deep in a cadaver and let me tell you, that everyone will know that was the case when you walk past them. Eventually, you get used to the smell and you don't even notice it, but there were a couple things that I did to make it better.

1. Plan your showers around lab sessions.

     I know this seems a bit crazy, but trust me, the formaldehyde smell sticks to you. I would always aim to shower when I got back from lab and would plan my hair washing days for the days I would have to dissect. I also suggest putting your hair up so that it's as far away from the cadaver as possible. 

2. Get good lab wear

     You're not going to want to wear the clothes you wear to dissect again afterward, so getting a pair of scrubs (or old clothes) dedicated for lab is a must. You can find them on amazon for a pretty good price and in fun colors, so you don't have to give up being stylish to be a killing the medical school game. After dissecting for a while, the formaldehyde will start to seep through your gloves and then you'll be eating dinner with the stench of formaldehyde all over them. What I found worked pretty well was to wear two pairs of gloves and when possible, to change them out midway through the dissection. Also, the sleeves on my lab coat were pretty long, so I ended up rolling them up and just bought a longer pair of gloves (like these) for protection. Inevitably, there are going to be some dissection mishaps (Our lab professor accidentally got some tissue in my hair one time...), but in general, the only real casualty I suffered was walking out of lab smelling like a cadaver.

3. Know your limits

       

       Anatomy lab is a whole new beast for many of us and as such you should know that the fumes can do crazy things to your body, especially when you're sleep deprived. You'll notice that quite often you'll get hungry. No, you're not a cannibal. The fumes just tend to make you hungry. But, something to watch out for is that they might also make you light-headed. I remember one day during a particularly long dissection, this started to happen to me. I took a step back, told my dissection partner that I needed a second, and I stepped out to get some air. This happened well into the semester and was probably one of my last few dissections. But, regardless of how used to the fumes you may be, don't think you need to stay in these situations to prove anything. You're not benefiting anyone if you pass out in the middle of your lab session. So, I always say take care of yourself first. The professors will understand.

How to Study

    For anatomy, I think it's really important to not only know where things are but also to understand the relationship it has with surrounding structures.  What really worked for me, as a visual learner, was to draw things out whenever possible.  This worked wonders for tracing blood vessels from their origin to their target organ and also to help you get a clearer picture of how things are related. But, I would have to say that something else that really helped was to go into lab and touch things. Usually, before an exam, I would go in and point things out from memory. Being able to see how things were situated in the body allowed me to solidify my mental picture and also helped me recognize things come test time. Another suggestion is to buy yourself an atlas and study the pictures in there. The pictures in the atlas are going to be the pretty versions (Which, unfortunately, won't be what you'll see on test day),  but they'll allow you to form a good base to build off of. But as with any other subject, the key factor is going to be repetition. The more you review the material, the easier it'll be for you to remember. And the more time you spend with your cadaver, the easier it'll be to recognize the structures. When you're in lab, also try to check out a variety of bodies. Every body is going to be unique, so it'll help you to better understand where things can vary and how to recognize a structure when it isn't exactly where it should be.

     Otherwise, Just have fun! Anytime, that I was seriously stressing about the volume of material I had to learn, I reminded myself that I was one of a select group that got this opportunity. Many people will never get the chance to hold an actual heart in their hand, and that to me was incredible. So, approach it with positivity, and I promise you'll make it through. Good luck!

-Genesis

On My Differential

     One of my favorite bloggers, The College Prepster, does a series on her blog every so often that she titles, "On My Radar." It's usually more of a laid back post where she details what's been on her mind or what she's really been into recently. I really loved the idea, so I've been wracking my brain to think of what I could title my own version of this series, and magically when I started typing this post, it came to me-"On My Differential." For my med followers, I'm sure you got a giggle out of that one, but for my non-medical followers, I'll give a brief explanation. The term differential is shorthand for "differential diagnosis" which is the list of diseases, conditions, etc. that physicians have running in their heads as they are listening to their patient's symptoms and history trying to pinpoint what the diagnosis for this particular patient may be. My friend and I have been using this term in a bit more of a casual manner, such as when we are trying to figure out where we want to go for dinner. He'll ask me, "What's at the top of your differential?" Meaning, "What's at the top of your list of ideas?" So, for my series I will be giving you what's been on my mind for things in life.

1.  MS2

     With M2 orientation starting this upcoming Monday, it's hard not to think about the impending school year. I've been out of school since May 4th, so at times I forget that I'm even a medical student. But, with the days creeping closer and closer to the beginning of the school year, I've been thinking a lot about what is coming up this year, and how to tackle it. I've been slowly trying to get myself back on a good schedule and also doing some prep work so that I can start the school year with a bang. The first semester should be a bit more laid back than what I was typically accustomed to, but from what the previous class has told us, spring semester comes back with a vengeance as we will all be preping for our USMLE Step one exam. So, for now, I'm trying not to freak out, and to just enjoy the calm before the storm. 

2. Goals

     While I was working with my last summer program, we were doing an exercise with the kids where we gave them M&Ms and for each color they had to answer a question associated with that color. For one of the colors, they had to tell us one of their goals and that really got me thinking. What are my goals? In general, I have the same couple goals floating around in the back of my head (live a healthy lifestyle, succeed in medical school, etc.), but what are the goals that go beyond my day to day? Well, one of them (also, inspired by the same summer program) is to share my experience with others. The whole purpose of the program was to expose kids to the medical field, and when I started this blog, I had a similar idea in mind. I wanted to share my experience, so that other people could see what it's like to be a medical student and possibly be inspired to pursue medicine. And although it can be challenging at times, I want to make more of an effort to keep up with this.

3. YouTube

     Going with my goals, something that has been on my mind has been my YouTube channel. It has seriously been a minute since I've posted anything, but somehow I keep getting subscribers. Lately, I've come across quite a few medical vlog channels and for me, it's really cool to see their medical school experience, and it makes me want to share mine. For the longest time, I've been putting off making videos because I don't have my nice camera here at school with me, and I keep thinking that my life isn't interesting enough to film. But, these other medical students are just recording their day-to-day activities and that's surprisingly entertaining for me to watch. It allows me to relate to what they're going through as we are all in the same boat.

4. Mindfulness

     As someone who is borderline type A and needs to know exactly what is coming next, I really struggle with staying in the present. And I'm even worse with meditation. But, recently I've been trying to make more of an effort to take a step back and just be still. Sometimes, it's so much easier said than done, but that's why they call it a practice. I've been testing out some guided meditations and other ways to be present and I think it has helped a bit. But, I'll keep you posted. 

     I have a ton of other things floating around in my head, but in the interest of time, and possible future blog posts, I will end the list here. I hope you enjoyed getting a peek into what's been on my brain recently, and I can't wait for future "On My Differential" posts. 

Take Care,

- Genesis<3

A letter to The Incoming M1s

     At our school, the incoming M1 students will be starting their first week of medical school next week. So, I wanted to write a few words of advice as they start their new journey.

    Hello, my new future colleagues!

     I know that it's a different way to start this letter, but know that you are now the newest members of a prestigious club, and that is such a great honor. I know that it has taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to this point. So, congratulations to be standing at the gates of the beginning of your futures. Every day that you walk this journey, you will be faced with new experiences, new challenges, and new opportunities. I urge you to take every one of them and see how you can use them to help shape you into a better doctor and more importantly, a better human being. I can't promise that this journey will be smooth sailing, and more than likely it won't be, but know that you have it in you to make it through any storm you may need to face.

     You are now among some of the brightest and most accomplished people and in some cases that might make you feel inferior. But, don't compare what you have to bring to the table with those around you. You are a unique individual and what you have to offer is just as valuable as what anyone else has to give. The people around you are not your competition. You are all on this journey together, so my best advice is to try your hardest to support one another as you climb to the top. This journey is not one you can fully do alone, so never be afraid to ask for guidance. But with that in mind, medical school is also a very personal experience. Make sure to cater it to fit exactly what you need and don't worry if that looks completely different from what the person next to you is doing. Don't be afraid to change things up as you are figuring things out, because eventually you will find exactly what works for you.

    Savor every second. Good times, bad times, and all of the above. Because, before you know it, you'll be standing at the end of the journey wondering to yourself where the time has gone. This is a very special time in your life. The time that you are shaping yourself into who you need to be and that in itself is magic. And although this journey is challenging, I promise you that it is filled with so many beautiful moments. So, don't get too caught up in the chaos that you forget to appreciate the moment that you are in. And whatever it is that brought you to choose this path, don't lose it. Use your passion to help drive you to the finish line and you'll see that nothing will seem impossible.

     I wish you the best of luck as you start this journey, but know that you don't really need it. Everything you'll need to make it through is already inside of you, and don't ever forget that.

~Genesis

What Have I Been Up to This Summer

 

     Hello! I feel like it's been a seriously hot minute since I've given you any updates on my life. As I was progressing through M1 year, I realized that my monthly recaps weren't as doable. For one, I don't always take pictures when I'm out with friends, because it's my down time and my main focus is just connecting with the people around me. I was also getting busier and my outings weren't frequent enough to have content for a monthly recap. So, I figure that going forward, I'll try to check-in every so often. That way you can see what is going on in my life and get updated on my progression through medical school.

Summer Projects

     Unfortunately, my summer break is creeping to an end and I feel that it has felt just that much faster because I've been very busy. If you read my post about how to to spend your summer after M1 year, you'll know that trying to find things to build your skills for residency applications over the summer is a big one with medical students. I'll admit, Spring semester I was seriously stressing about what I was going to do. Although there was nothing wrong with taking it easy over the summer, I felt like I just needed to do something. I had applied to tutor for the SPP program (The Summer Prematriculation Program my medical school offers). I unfortunately didn't get it, but then I got asked to be the program assistant, and that was way better than what I had originally wanted.

      I spent the seven weeks of the SPP program helping with the background logistics of what needed to keep the program running smoothly. I reserved rooms for the tutors to have sessions, made sure the participants were coming to class, helped in setting up for testing, created surveys for feedback, organized payrolll for the tutors, helped handle mishaps and did pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to running a program. I practically lived at school for the duration of the program, but my dedication paid off when the program director told me how thankful she was for everything that I had done and that all my work helped the program run without a hitch. I had a great time doing what I was doing and it was so crazy to be on the other end of the program that I had participated in last summer. It was a great leadership experience and I am more than prepared for every "Tell us about a time.." interview question. But at the end, I was so ready to get back to having my freedom.

     Thankfully, that is true for the most part, but I was asked to take on another summer program right after SPP ended. But, this one was more laid back and a bit more fun. The emergency medicine department at my school runs a summer program for high school students that focuses on getting the students exposed to the medical field early on in hopes that in the future they'll be able to go into healthcare careers. In the program, we review some of the systems of the body and do activities where they can practice their clinical skills. A few of such skills were a CPR certification course and a suturing class. Both of which were really great hands on experience for me and really fun to participate in. I also helped lead some of the anatomy sessions which was really fun and showed me just how much I really have learned in the past year of school. The program wraps up this week. And after that, I will be free until M2 year starts in a couple weeks.

     Apart from helping out with programs, I also volunteered at a couple health fairs. I haven't really discussed the things that I am involved with at school, but I am one of the Community Health Committee Co-Chairs for our Latino Medical Student Association Club. Part of what we do during the year is to host health fairs where members of the community can come and get free health screenings (Such as blood glucose, BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol). Another organization contacted our committee to see if we could help out with some of their fairs, so that's how I got involved. Volunteering at these health fairs allows me to put my skills into practice and it helps to make the whole becoming a doctor thing feel a bit more real.

Life

    If I could only tell you all the personal growth that has happened this summer, you'd seriously be amazed. But, unfortunately, a lot of this has to do with my private life, so I don't want to post it for the world to see. Just know that I've had some life lessons that are setting the stage for how I want to proceed with my life and I'm very content at the moment. 

     I really have been trying to take advantage of all the free time that I currently have and spending time with the people that I don't get to see as much when school gets hectic. I've been making trips down to the suburbs to see my family. And when I'm in the city, I try to spend plenty of time with my chicago squad. We have had some pretty great outings and we've also been trying to try out some new experiences (Such as kayaking on the Chicago River!).  Otherwise, I've just been trying to practice self-care and enjoying what the summer has to offer.

     So, although M2 year is right around the corner, I feel like I've enjoyed the summer to the point where I feel recuperated enough to jump right back into the ring and face another year of medical school. This year, we have to take our first board exam (USMLE Step One), so the stress is going to be pretty high come second semester when we enter our studying time. But, I am doing my best to mentally prepare myself and getting ready to take the year on at full force.

Blog

     If you haven't already noticed, my blog has gotten a completely new look. I am really loving the simplicity of it and it has been inspiring me to create new content. I'm still playing around with some of the features (like the little tabs at the top), but I'm hoping that it'll make the blog easier to navigate and help people find resources. For me, this blog is mainly my creative outlet. But, if anyone benefits from the content that I put up, I am very thrilled. Currently, I know that it has a very medical focus because that is what my life revolves around, but I'm hoping to start posting about other areas of my life as well. Apart from the blog, I'm hoping to share more of my day-to-day stuff on Instagram. So, if you are interested in seeing what I do, go follow me on there.

     I hope you enjoyed catching up with me. I'll be talking to you soon!

- Genesis

Visiting Nicaragua

     Growing up, going to Nicaragua during our summer break was one of my highlights of the year. It was an opportunity for me to visit with family, see new places, and gain a different perspective on life. Sadly, as my sister and I got older, it was harder to coordinate trips due to our busy schedules. So when my parents surprised us with a trip this summer, I was elated. I hadn't been to Nicaragua in quite a few years, so I didn't know what I was going to find. I didn't know if it would be just like I had left it last or if it had completely changed on me. Well, let's just say that leaving this time, left me more in love with the country than I had ever been and very proud that I am able to call this beautiful place my second home.

     I remember quite a bit of our travels when we were younger had the same themes. We'd visit family in different parts of the country, eat our favorite food, and of course, make sure we had a couple trips to the beach. But, for this trip, I wanted to do something new. I wanted to see the history, the parts of the country that maybe we hadn't been to before. So, with twelve days, my sister and I hoped to balance a bit of traveling around and spending time with family, and it worked out very well.

Site One: Granada

If I imagined my dream home in a Spanish style building, this would be it.

     The city of Granada is known for its beautiful Colonial buildings. Walking down the streets with brightly colored buildings intermingeled with modern cafes made this such a fun place to visit. Everywhere you looked, there was something beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, this was only a day trip for us, so all we really did here was walk around looking at all the pretty buildings and stopped for some fish and chips. Something that is apparently newly popular in Nicaragua is the craft beer scene. As a Chicago girl, this is right up my alley, so I had to try some of what Granada had been brewing. Just as I expected, it was delicious and really refreshing after walking around in 80 degree weather. 

The old cathedral

The new cathedral

Site Two: León

      This trip had many memorable moments and visiting León is certainly at the top of my list. Before heading out of the country, I was looking up ideas for things that I wanted to do and something that I came across on several travel blogs was to climb to the top of the cathedral in León. 

     For a small fee, you buy a ticket to visit the top of this gorgeous cathedral. I am not quite sure how much it was because our cousin's bought our tickets (you get a discount for being a Nicaraguan citizen), but the experience is so worth it. You take a set of stairs up the side of the cathedral and when you get to the bell tower, they ask you to take off your shoes before stepping out onto the roof. The guard will go through the rules with you (basically, don't step on the domes, don't sit on the ledges, and don't put your shoes on) and then you are free to roam around. Honestly, walking around felt like I was in a completely different world. The views were breathtaking and I just felt so free. We took a ton of pictures and just enjoyed the experience before going back to the real world. If I can recommend something to do in Nicaragua, it'd definitely be to come and check this out. 

The inside of the cathedral.

Fun fact: I played Veronica in our stations play in 8th Grade. So Naturally, this is my favorite scene.

With my travel buddy<3

Pretending she didn't just take a tumble down these stairs before posing for a glamour shot.

Sadly, there was a fine for ringing the bells.

Site three: San Juan Del Sur

     Visiting this beautiful beach town was one of the main focuses of our trip. Last time I was in the country, we had just stopped in for a brief visit to the beach, so this time I wanted to make a weekend out of it. I searched online and found this cute little resort called Villas de Palermo where you can rent little one- or two-bedroom villas. Each villa has a kitchen and living area, so it served as a perfect homebase for our weekend trip. We packed up the car on a Friday morning and made the three-hour drive from Managua. 

   

The master bedroom that I shared with my sister.

The view from our deck.

     Our first night, consisted of relaxing in the villa followed by dancing the night away at one of the local bars. Iguana Bar on the beach front had an amazing D.J. and not to mention a super tasty piña colada, so you can only imagine it was a great time. We made it back rather late, but we still decided to go for a dip in the pool before ending the night.

Getting ready to take on the day!

     The main plan for day 2 was to make a trip to the Cristo de la Misericordia statue. It is quite a long hike if you decide to do it entirely by foot, but thankfully they do have an option where you can at least drive up most of the way, which is what we decided to do. Even so, I would say the hike would've been well worth the view. It was an awesome way to see the whole bay. The view was so stunning that I swear I could've stared at that view all day, but the beach looked way too good to not take a dip. 

The pic doesn't even do the view justice.

It was definitely "booty day" with all the stairs we had to climb.

View on the way up.

     The remainder of the day we spent at the beach followed by more dancing at Iguana...If you couldn't already tell, I really like to dance. It was our last night there, so we wanted to soak in all of the party vibe that San Juan has to offer. We only stayed out for a little while before heading back to the villla to just drink and chat with our cousins. My cousin Chris and I got the idea to stay up, so that we could drive to the beach to watch the sunrise. Of course, as a med student, being a night owl is in my blood, so we decided to go ahead. Unfortunately, we didn't get the exact view we wanted, because we were looking at the wrong side of the bay, but the view was still pretty. That and there's just something so special about the dawn. So, I took a moment to just soak it all in before heading to the villa for some well deserved rest.

Sunrise at the beach

 A couple hours later, we took a little trip to the pool before getting our stuff ready to head back to managua. I really wanted to check out this cafe called Dale Pues that I had come upon while doing my pre-trip google search, so we decided to grab brunch there. And let me say, omg was it amazing. The place itself was super cute, and the food was amazing. Sadly, I ate my breakfast burger so quick I didn't get a chance to take a picture.

I got the mug version of this.

Saying goodbye to all the fun we had over the weekend was pretty rough. That and we had reached what I called the "down hill" portion of our trip as it would be our last couple of days before heading back to the U.S. on Friday. We snapped the pic below on our way out of town and with heavy hearts and full tummies, we made our way back to Managua.

Site Four: La Laguna De Apoyo

I was living for the geofilters.

     The lagoon is part of a national reserve nestled between Granada and Masaya. There is a whole bunch of cool stuff to do at the reserve, but we only headed for lunch and a swim on the edge of the lagoon. The lagoon is the remnant of a volcanic crater, so if you go past the edge, there is a very steep incline, making it a very dangerous place to swim. Since we just hung out on the edge, it was perfectly fine. I'm sad I didn't get to snap a picture from the water because the view from where we were sitting was amazing. You could look off in the distance and see the smoke rising from Volcan Masaya and the water was so crystal clear making for a very zen experience.

The National Palace

Catedral Santiago de Managua

The remainder of the trip we spent doing last minute shopping, hanging with family, and just soaking in as much of managua as we could before heading back home. On our last night, we went out to the national palace to take pictures and to revel in the fact that we had just spent such a wonderful time in such a beautiful country. The memories I brought back with me filled me with so much love for the country that I am proud to call part of my heritage and a desire to make it back there really soon. 

-Genesis<3