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

Word for 2017!

     

     One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of each year is to think about what my goals are for the year ahead. As part of that, something that I did at the start of last year was to pick a word that would be my theme for the year. I had seen it over social media and the concept of having a theme as a guiding force seemed like a cool idea. Last year, I picked the word inspire. As I was just starting out my blog and on the verge of beginning my career in medicine, I wanted to personally keep the inspiration going as well as inspire anyone else that happened to stumble upon my blog. I think I did fairly well for the most part, but I will surely admit that my first semester definitely took a toll on my blog presence, but I will definitely forgive myself for that as I was working towards other goals.

     This year, I have chosen the word awareness as my word of the year. Something that really inspired me last year was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (I even wrote a blog post about it!) and one of the major themes was about listening to what the universe was telling you to do. Something that I've noted as I've been going through life is how everything mysteriously seems to fall into place and things are working in ways that we wouldn't even expect. A story that comes to mind when I think of this is how I met my roommate. Back when I had my first interview for medical school, my roommate and I actually interviewed on the same day. Obviously back then I had no idea that we would end up at the same school, and to be honest we didn't keep in contact. Several months after I got into my current medical school, the school had a mixer for the accepted students and that is where I met my current roommate again. I walked up to her and told her that I remembered her from interviewing at this school together. She admitted that she didn't remember, but that was because it was the first school that I had interviewed at. Regardless, we ended up getting in contact about rooming together before school started and it's been working out rather well ever since. It's crazy that out of the thousands of interviewees that could've been there on the same day as me, we ended up in the same place at the same time on both occasions. I don't know if we can exactly call it divine intervention, but it is certainly a crazy coincidence. This year, I would like to be more aware of what the universe has in the works around me as well as be aware of the things going on in my life. I'm hoping that it'll continue to show me how fortunate I am, but also guide me in my journey this year.

~Genesis<3

    

October/November Monthly Recap 2016

 
  Whoa, it has definitely been a hot minute since I've blogged. And for that, I greatly apologize! If you happened to read September's recap, you are well aware that I was working through getting myself into the groove of medical school and testing out what would work best for me. I was super optimistic that October would be the month that I would finally get my life together...let's just say I was overly optimistic, but I do appreciate that I have that trait.

October

    I started out the month hopeful that as I had a couple exams under my belt, it would be easier to navigate medical school, but when October came around, my to do list felt a mile high and time felt non-existent. We had a couple weeks with back-to-back exams, but the worst part was knowing that as soon as the month ended, we would be thrown into the first "hell week" in medical school. I am not going to lie, October was probably the roughest month that I've had in my medical school experience thus far. I had so much going on and I knew that it would be a while before I would have some breathing room. In those weeks, I had also had to miss out on time with my friends and that hit pretty hard. Sitting at your desk studying biochemistry for hours on a Saturday while you are missing out on your best friend's housewarming party, isn't exactly the most motivating, but it was surely a necessary evil. Thankfully, the month ended with a couple fun outings in preparation for the trying ten days that would initiate the month of November. 

Party at a classmate's apartment

Celebrating a friend's Halloween-themed birthday outing with my roomie!

November 

     November started with the busiest ten days of my life. We had four exams in the span of ten days and unlike the finals that we had in undergrad, these were more intense. Two of our exams covered all of the anatomy we had learned since the beginning of medical school (we had a lab portion and a multiple choice component) and our physiology exam was worth 40% of our overall grade. With all that on our plate, you better believe it was a very high stress time for everyone. It was not fun, but I pushed through knowing that the light at the end of the tunnel would be celebrating my birthday the week after. Those ten days pushed me in ways that I didn't know possible, but I can proudly say that I came out and performed well on all of my exams. The rest of the month was simply glorious. After hell week, we only had two courses left (Physiology and Biochemistry), so the amount of work we had to do substantially decreased. I got to celebrate my 24th birthday, spend time with friends, and just have some time to myself. The end of the month was mainly spent celebrating the holidays and getting myself out of my relaxed schedule in preparation for the final two weeks of my first semester. 

At our class's charity auction night

Birthday pic with the besties

My med school squad

 Looking Forward

     The next two weeks we will be wrapping up the semester. It's crazy to think that I will be able to say that I've successfully made it through my first semester of medical school and will be 1/8 a doctor. We get three weeks of vacation and you better believe I will be trying to enjoy those weeks as much as I possibly can before starting next semester. I am hoping to also spend my time off getting myself a bit more put together, so I can have a strong semester as well as creating more content for the blog! I feel like I have a lot of topics I can explore, so hopefully I get around to that. 

     I apologize that this isn't longer. I wanted to get something up for the blog, but I should be studying for the exams that I'll be taking next week...So, unfortunately I had to keep it short. I hope you guys have been having a wonderful past couple of months and I will hopefully be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

July Recap 2016

     I don't know how it was for you, but for me, the month of July was definitely the month of freedom. Apart from celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, July was the month that I was liberated from the chains of SPP and my was that amazing. I feel that this month felt a bit more laid back than many of the previous months. In true summer fashion, I feel that the month had a lazy feel to it, which is a lovely calm before the storm that is coming in August!

Highlights

     Fourth of July weekend is a bit of a tradition that I started with my Chicago squad last summer, so even though I was impossibly busy, I couldn't bring myself to break tradition. As I was in the midst of studying for finals, we kept our get together pretty low-key. We had drinks and dessert on Megan's rooftop, followed by watching the Navy Pier fireworks on Oak Street Beach. The desserts were delicious, the conversation delightful, and my heart was definitely full with friendship. I brought along my roommate Emily and our friend Derek for the festivities and it was a bittersweet moment since they'll be at a completely different campus next year. I was so blessed to have met them during the program and it was so difficult to say goodbye to them. Of course, we plan to keep in touch and visit one another, but knowing that we won't be able to have the same classmate dynamic is a bit heartbreaking. It was so cool to meet my first set of future doctor friends and I can't wait to make more during my M1 year, but Emily and Derek will always have a special place in my heart.

My SPP fam<3

Delicious fruit tart courtesy of Emily and Megan's picture worthy pie

One of my favorite views with two of my favorite people

     The following week, SPP concluded and the T.A.s threw us a party on our last day to celebrate! I didn't happen to snap any pics, but I did take a picture with my friend, Dante, so I'll include that below. Otherwise, the rest of the week I spent catching up on all the sleep that I had lost in the previous six weeks. We did happen to make a trip up to Michigan for a beach day, and that is where I snapped the lovely pic for one of my previous posts.

My favorite M2!

Look familiar?

     The following Saturday was incredibly busy for me. I met up with Meg and Chandler for 9 A.M. brunch, then I went over to Elida's house so we could go to the beach for her friend's birthday, and then I finished my night by meeting my family to celebrate my cousin Rob's birthday. I left my house at 7:45 A.M. that morning and I didn't return until 2:00 A.M. the next morning. It was well worth it, though. I was so glad that I got a chance to meet up with Meg and Chan since the three of us hadn't gotten together in quite some time. We ventured out to Logan Square to have brunch at this place that I've been dying to try, and let me tell you, it was probably one of the best brunches that I've ever had. Meg and I split a plate of chicken and waffles and a plate of biscuits and gravy. Both were amazing. I had never had chicken and waffles before, and I was very happy with what I tried. We will definitely be going back there! Afterward, we had a little photoshoot courtesy of my "blog husband", Megan, who always makes sure to help me do things for the blog. We obviously dragged Chandler into it, because what photoshoot would be complete without bestie pics?

Our Delicious Brunch at Longman & Eagle

Me getting my sass on

Super lucky to call them my best friends<3

I was super happy she let me have my good side:)

Later that night with the fam

     The Tuesday after, Elida and I took a little road trip to Indiana Dunes State Park. I had been to the park before, but it had been quite a while since I had last been and I don't think I had ever fully hiked the dunes. The scenery was pretty, but the hot, humid weather that we'd been having in the midwest made the hike slightly less enjoyable. Nonetheless, we completed our almost 6-mile hike. The last portion of the hike was along the lakeshore and although it was beautiful, it was super hot. Sadly, we didn't bring anything to swim in, so we couldn't take a dip. We did get our feet wet, so that helped us a little bit, but also provided for a sandy ride back home. As always, I love exploring places with Elida, so it was a great trip.

One of my favorite pics

The beautiful lakeshore

The dunes...glad we didn't pick that trail

Nothing but miles of empty beach

I would've given anything to dive in

Glad we were getting away from the bugs...but were apparently about to risk sunburn

Misnomer. Paradise wouldn't have any bugs :p

This part made me feel like I was in Jurassic Park

Navigating through the forest

     Last weekend, I just spent time at home. I did drive up to visit G for a beach day, but I didn't happen to take any pics. We went to the beach for a while and then went back to her place and ordered some yummy Chinese food. It had been a while since we had a chance for some one-on-one time, so that was really nice. 

     The remainder of July I will be spending getting myself ready for my move to the city. I have a couple of DIY projects and packing that I have to do but otherwise, I'll just be spending time with my family. I want to get as much time with them now that I am at home as I will miss them a lot when I'm in the city.

Looking forward

     Next month holds so many life changes for me and I can't wait to begin this new chapter in my life! I'm sure you guys are tired of reading it, but it is so incredible that everything that I have worked for is right around the corner. This is everything that I've been dreaming of and it has finally been made a reality, so you can imagine my enthusiasm is through the roof. By this time next month, I will have had my first couple weeks as an M1, and that is absolutely crazy! I can't wait to tell you all about it:)

     Thank you for taking the time to take a little glimpse into my life. I hope you guys had an incredible month and I will be talking to you soon!

~Genesis<3

   

Apartment Planning

     

     As of Sunday, I have two weeks left before moving into my new apartment! So, you can imagine that I've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about how I'd like to decorate my new space. The only issue is that I don't quite remember how big my space will exactly be. When we went in for a tour, we saw quite a few places and the apartment that we chose was furnished when we toured it, so it makes it a tad difficult to visualize the space. Regardless, I love interior design, so I've been throwing around some ideas of what I'd like to do.

Bed Area

How dreamy is this bedroom?!?

     I've been a pretty big fan of the white bedroom trend and that's what has been on my mind for my new space. I love the simplicity of a white room. White tends to make a space feel so bright and open, but I also love that it serves as the perfect backdrop to add in other elements. I just bought this really pretty white comforter, so that'll be perfect for the look I am going for and will work really well with the coral sheets that I already have. I plan to keep the bed overall white but bring in coral and turquoise elements. 

Desk

     I LOVE desks. I know it probably has to do with my love of stationery, but this is where I've been planning/daydreaming a lot. 

I love this desk space! I also thought it was cool how the gallery wall had my initials:)

     

     I know I want to go with a simple, white desk but I want to dress up the area above it with a gallery wall of sorts. I've been wanting to make a gallery wall for a while and I've seen hundreds of ideas on Pinterest, but I'm still trying to think of what elements I'd like to incorporate. I have a little canvas that I painted one of my favorite quotes on, and I'd love to include that among white frames.

This has been the main inspiration for what I'd like to do.

     Another must have for me is a comfy chair. Sitting for hours at a desk really takes a toll on your bottom if you don't have something comfortable to sit in. My mom has a chair almost identical to the one pictured above in our spare room, so I'm hoping it works well with the desk that I have picked out. It would be perfect to just sit back and study in, that and it just makes the room look a little bit more elegant than a regular desk chair would. 

Other Spaces

     I am sharing the rest of my apartment with my roommate, so I really haven't put a lot of thought into our communal spaces. We'll both be bringing stuff, so I'm sure it won't exactly all match, but it's a grad school apartment, so that's assumed. The bulk of my kitchenware is turquoise and some of the furniture I am bringing is gray, but I don't know what else my roomie will be bringing.

     I do get my own bathroom, but I don't exactly remember what color scheme they had in there. I'm honestly just waiting to move in, so I can plan out how I'm going to decorate everything else, and also to see what else I need for storage. I do have a closet in my room, but I know I have tons of clothes, so I have to find a way to make that all work for me.

Inspiration

    My main sources of inspiration come from Pinterest (as you've noticed from my screenshots), but another place that I like to check out is YouTube. You can find a ton of room/apartment tours, but I recently came upon a channel called Mr.Kate where an interior designer shows how she decorates different spaces and I've been pretty obsessed with her videos. To be honest, her style can at times be too eclectic for my taste, as I tend to like more of a classic look, but she incorporates a ton of DIYs into her designs, so it's really cool to watch the things she creates. 

     For now, that's as much as I have planned out. Once I move in, I'm sure my creative juices will be in full force, so I'll share what I come up with. I can't wait to check out my new canvas. 

I hope you guys had a fabulous weekend and I will talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

Life After SPP

     Hello! So, as you can probably imagine, the last couple days I've been busy trying to adjust to being a normal person. I didn't plan out this week's blog posts as well as I could have, so here we are... But, there were definitely a couple things going through my mind, and I figured I could write about that for today's post. 

     First thing, adjusting from a schedule where studying is all I would do to not having a plan at all was quite weird for the first couple days. I didn't really know what to do with myself. It's like going from 100 to 0 real quick (high-five if you got where I was going with that;)), and that can be rather confusing. I've mostly been getting myself a bit more organized, spending quality time with family, and of course thinking about what I would like to do with this blog...that latter portion leads us to the next section.

     Second, Medical school is a month away! I can't even begin to tell you how surreal it feels to know that I am exceptionally close to initiating the genesis of my career. I've honestly worked my butt off to get exactly where I am right now, and although I'm very hard on myself most times, I've been rather proud of this moment. Most importantly, I am excited to share it with you guys! I don't know who follows me (Other than my best friends Megan and G. Hey dolls!), but I want you guys to see what this journey is like, as much as I can. I've been thinking about how much I'd like to share, as you can understand that this is very personal for me, and how much it's safe to share. I know other med bloggers that have posted where they go to school, but I don't personally know how that has impacted them. I can tell you that I attend one of two medical schools located in the Illinois Medical District of Chicago, but I think we shall stop there (if you've been reading my other posts, you'll be able to figure it out).  What my hopes for the future of the blog (the medical portions at least) are to share how my experience is going, what I've been learning, and how I cope with it all. I doubt it will be a glamorous experience, but that's medicine for you.

     Lastly, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who happens to take the time to check out my blog. I know at this point it's my fledgling brainchild, but the excitement I feel when I see my view count increase keeps me going. If there's anything that people would love to hear from me, I say either leave me a comment here or do so on Instagram. This will always be one of my creative outlets, but I also want it to be helpful. So, suggest away! 

     I hope everyone has been having a great start to their week! I apologize that this post is brief, but I will talk to you guys soon!

~Genesis<3

Medical School Haul

     With the beginning of my Pre-Mat Program coming up, I've been picking up some things to take to school with me. I filmed a video showing a couple of the school things I will be bringing along. The video will be linked below, but I also wanted to list/link the items mentioned for you (or if I can't find them, I will link something similar:)).

Items Mentioned

 Macbook Pro 13'' 

   

 Insten Sky Blue Rubberized Hard Case for Macbook Pro 13"

Kate Spade New York Renny Drive 13'' Laptop Sleeve

 (The one I have seems to be unavailable online, but I shall link another one! It has super cute seahorses!)

Kate Spade Seahorses Laptop Sleeve

Vera Bradley Travel Mug in Nomadic Floral

Kate Spade Renny Drive Phone Case

This one I can't find online either, but I found this one that matches the seahorse laptop sleeve!

Recollections Personal Size Planner in Gold Stripe

I believe they only sell these in store, but the Heidi Swapp one is available online and looks pretty similar to the one that I purchased.

Expo Dry Erase 2-in-1 Markers

Sharpie Accent Pocket Style Highlighters

Ombre Spiral Notebook

I couldn't find anything similar, but Poppin has some really cute, simple ones.

Vera Bradley Click Pens in Nomadic Floral

Tommy Hilfiger Canvas Striped Tote

I couldn't find anything like what I had, but this one might work if you just want a lightweight canvas tote. It doesn't have a zipper section, though. Proceed with caution!

I hope you guys enjoy the video. Have a great weekend and I will talk to you soon!

~Genesis<3

April Recap 2016

         April was such a fun month and I think that it was pretty balanced in the different areas of my life. We also had some really great weather, so I tried to spend as much time outside as possible. It was quite comical because we had snow one week and then 80-degree weather the next, and I think that was a perfect representation of Chicago's iconic mercurial weather. Regardless, it has been wonderful and semi-packed with great things. So, let's see what I've been up to!

Week One

     The first major event of the month was meeting the Chicago Squad up at my Alma Mater for a girl's morning. My best friend Gianna still attends there (She's graduating this upcoming month! Woo hoo!), so I met up with her and Meg for brunch and nails.  I didn't get to see much of G last month, so it felt really nice to just catch up with her and just have some time with the girls. I had gone dancing with some of the girls from work the night before, so I was a bit sleepy. But, nothing can keep me away from a good brunch and time with my girls.

It's not a StripesandStethoscope monthly recap without brunch. Right?

G and me! I brought out my stripes;)

My girls:) I'm sure the smiles say it all.

Week Two

     The highlight of week two was that I got to do something that I had been wanting to do for a while. One of the best parts of living in Chicago is that we have so many great museums. One of my favorites has to be the Art Institute. Back in February, they announced that they were going to have a special Van Gogh exhibit. I love Van Gogh ( I actually have framed prints of Sunflowers and The Starry Night hanging in my bedroom), so I had been super excited to go check it out. Elida and I had been trying to coordinate our days off in order to make a trip to the art institute, but It hadn't panned out until finally the stars aligned and we both had the day off. We spent the majority of the day roaming through the Art Institute and then followed up with a trip to Giordano's (One of the best places for deep dish. A must if you are in Chicago) for a late lunch/early dinner. It's safe to say I was stuffed with happiness and deep dish that day (haha). Otherwise, the weekend was rather tame. 

Us pretending that the weather wasn't terrible outside (lol)

A picture from the museum's miniatures room.  Also, me pretending I was in Paris. A girl can dream, right?

Advertisement for the exhibit. I'm pretty sure they thought I was creeping on them. Sorry peeps, you're not that special (lol)

A photo of the "Ancient Bae's". In all seriousness, I do love me some Greco-Roman Art.

A lovely painting by Georgia O'Keeffe. We share a birthday, so she's naturally one of  my faves.

Monet is another must-have. His work is so gorgeous. The Art Institute has a whole room of his work, and we spent quite a bit of time admiring it.

This was one of our attempts at getting a glamour shot on the museum's beautiful staircase. I caught her off guard.

This was pre-deep dish food coma. It was worth every cheesy, delicious bite.

Week Three

     The two major highlights of week three were going blonde and going back to my future medical school for second look day. I know I've talked about my hair before on this blog, so you know that up until last October, I had never dyed my hair. In October, I had my sister do a bit of highlighty balayage and I really liked that. Over the following months, it grew out a bit. We re-toned it, but I was feeling like I was ready for something new. I had seen some really beautiful pictures on Instagram of balayage, and for some reason, blonde was calling my name. For weeks, I was enamoured with the idea but scared that I would hate it. Until one day, I decided that I wanted to go for it. I must've sent Em a thousand different pictures because I had many different styles that I really liked. In the end, I told her to just do whatever. She knows me very well, so I trusted that I would love it no matter what. Well, I surely wasn't wrong. She went with a more ombre, rooted blonde, and I absolutely love it! The first few days, I was in utter shock. I had never changed my hair so drastically, and it felt so different. As the days went by, I fell more in love with it, and I have gotten soo many compliments. The whole concept went with my idea of being daring and going for things, so I am very happy that I went through with it.  Afterwards, we went out for dinner. We checked out this cute little sushi place in Wicker Park, and I have to say it was awesome.

Right after getting it done. The lighting made it look a little darker.

About a week and a half after. You can see it's much lighter than the picture above.

We were super stuffed after this. So worth it, though!

     A couple days later was second look day. My medical school invited back the admitted students, so the could get another look at the campus and they could also hear about all the great things the program has to offer before making final decisions. I brought my parents along because I wanted them to see where I would be attending and see what I am excited about. I am so glad that I did because they really liked the school. If it is even possible, I fell even more in love with the school. After walking around and hearing what will be coming, I cannot wait to be there and to finally say that I am a medical student. I feel like I'll fit in with the atmosphere of the school and my makes me really happy that I'll be attending there. Following the second look day program, the current MS1s hosted a mixer at a local bar for the potential MS1s to meet. It was a great opportunity to ask the current students questions as well as meet some of my future classmates. I connected with a couple girls that were super nice, and we added each other on Facebook. Overall, it was a really great day. Unfortunately, I didn't really get a chance to take pics as the day was super busy and I didn't want to be that girl.

Our breakfast spot! This place has always been a fave. We used to come here when I was little and we would visit my Dad at work.

The folders they handed out. I made a joke about this being a sign that I was meant to be the future Meredith Grey lol

     Sunday, we had really great weather, so my sister and I decided to go out for a hike. I absolutely love being outdoors, so it felt super relaxing to get outside. We hiked about 4.0 miles and then decided we were getting hungry and needed coffee. Which meant we followed up with a Starbucks trip. Em is usually pretty busy, so it was great to get to spend some time with her.

Em makes hiking look glamourous

The trail

Week Four

     This past week, not a lot was going on. I was rather content with that as the past couple weeks had been rather busy. I did meet my work friends for a hike both Saturday and Sunday morning. Both days we met up at 8 A.M. It was a bit of a struggle, but getting up early really helps me feel productive, and getting in my workout at the start of the day is always great. Besides that, I spent a lot of time at home and with my family. I've been trying to spend time with them as I know that I'll soon be in the city, and it'll be much easier to see my friends, but will take a little more effort to see my parents. Em works downtown, so I can easily catch up with her for lunch or dinner, so I'm not too worried there.

The hiking trail starts with some super steep stairs. Trust me, they'll prove whether you are in shape or not.

Looking Forward

     For me, it's crazy to think that as the weeks go by, I am getting closer to medical school. As I am typing this, I have about three weeks before my pre-mat program begins. Last week, I had to do some online training for working with formaldehyde, and I think that it's a sign that we will be doing some cadaver lab in our six-week program. Ah! For the next coming weeks, I am trying to get myself together to begin this next portion of my life but also, trying to enjoy all the free time that I have left. I am incredibly excited and slightly nervous about what is about to come, but I know that it'll be incredible. If anything, I am feeling a bit anxious to just get started and as the weeks go by, that feeling is building. I also can't wait to share the whole journey with you guys! I really want to get started, so that I have more to share with you guys, rather than being limited to the "thought" pieces that I've been doing lately. Alas, all of that will happen soon enough:)

I hope you guys had an incredible month. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed getting a peek into what I've been up to as I really love writing it. I'll talk to you guys soon!

~Genesis<3