February was a weird month. Everyone always like to complain about [or celebrate?] February being OMG SO SHORT, which I've never really understood and which isn't really the issue at play here, but looking back on the past however many days it all seems so uneventful. Like yes, I went to school. I had a few days off. I took exams. There's nothing remarkable or exciting that stands out - I've been a bit dormant on the volunteering front so far this semester, I ended up skipping the one skills lab I signed up for just due to sheer business, and I've spent most of my time hunkered down either reviewing neuroanatomy or watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix while knitting. I don't know; life is feeling strange and busy and exhausting at the moment, and it's taking a lot of effort to get me to confront the overwhelm instead of just sleeping my day away.
A few things of note, I guess:
- We finished up MSK and took our miniboard the very first week of February, so most of the month was devoted to neuro. Woo. We started off with neuroanatomy and blood supply and stroke lesions, so most of my current neuro knowledge is relegated to "this swirly part of the brain does this vague thing and gets fed by a branch of this blood vessel" - super useful stuff, obviously. We did spend a few afternoons back in the gross lab to study structures on both half and whole brains, as well as different slices and sections, which was really cool in a lot of ways. The brains my table were given felt so much like modeling clay! They're not in great shape thanks to all the use and re-use at the hands of students, but a surprising amount of the vasculature was still intact and really coordinated well with all the pictures we had seen. And now we're officially 100% done with all things anatomy lab, which is simultaneously great and bittersweet.
- After MSK wrapped up, we had a few days off for "Mardi Gras break" [because I refuse to actually label it spring break. Putting spring break at the very beginning of February - when we've only been back in class for a month - makes absolutely zero sense]. Plenty of Mardi Gras balls and parades and beads to go around.
- Attended a few interest group meetings, ate a lot of free lunches. Oh, the perks of being a student....
- Boyfriend found out that he officially passed Step 2 CS! And submitted his rank list! And did all the other fourth year things that make my poor little M2 self super jealous! But seriously - second year is THE WORST. I just want to nap for the next four months and wake up after I take Step 1.
- I'm lucky enough to be one of the co-presidents of our AMWA [American Medical Women's Association] chapter this year, and for us February was a time for a lot of planning. We're trying to resurrect our organization after it went largely dormant for a few years, so there's a lot of work to be done. I spent a good chunk of time emailing physicians about speaking opportunities and scheduling meetings and working out logistics - plenty of exciting things still to come! I'm feeling pretty pumped about all of it.