For the next month of my life, I am expected to spend 12+ hours a day simply learning. When I say learning, I really mean shoving all of the "ology" (physiology, histology, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, anatomy and clinical diagnosis) into my brain until it starts coming out my nose, and then find a way to stuff even more in there. Most of the time I think that I am totally blessed to have the luxury of spending my day with information, grappling with the complexities of the human body. I'm being trusted to learn so that (hopefully) one day I can take up the art of practicing medicine and give back to my community.
However, sometimes sitting in a study room, surrounded by books, drowning in information, getting scores of 50% or so on practice test after practice test (which I am told is normal-ish for this stage of studying) is enough to make me go crazy! During these moments daydreaming about the future keeps me motivated. My current daydreams seem to revolve around what I could do if I take a year off and where I may decide to take my future career. Topping the list:
Year off: AMSA health justice fellowship, Doris Duke clinical research fellowship, and the CDC applied epidemiology research fellowship...
Post MD/MPH degree: US public health service corps, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service, getting a MPP...
At the end of the day, no matter how productive I was or how brain dead I am, I get to come home to my wonderful cat Lulav (can I sound any more like a lesbian?!) who simply wants me to feed and play with him. Really though, taking care of something besides myself puts a long day of studying perfectly into perspective.
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