Five Favorites: Post-Exam-Elation!

last lecture of the semester!

It over! Today is the last day of this semester and my last exam is behind me.  Without diminishing or disrespecting the civil rights movement in any way, I would like to sing out: free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I'm free at last! Thanks for bearing with me during my moments of frustration and complaining. Those last few weeks felt like a sprint at the end of a marathon, but all went well and now....

Well. Now....what? The end of the semester always feels a little anticlimactic. Yes, we go out to celebrate but sometimes crossing the finish line still feels like deflating a balloon. So in an effort to really savor the moment, here are five totally trivial things I will especially enjoy doing again now that these exams are over.

1. Doing Laundry. ie, wearing clothes that are truly clean and not some acceptable approximation of the concept.  I have to say, Karl has been a hero on the home front,  keeping the fridge full, the dishes washed, and the laundry basket below overflowing level while I've been buried behind textbooks. Still, the prospect of extending my wardrobe beyond those last-choice-everything-else-is-dirty options will be a joy.

2. Get moving. While I generally try to squeeze a healthy amount of exercise into an average week, I have to admit it's the first thing that goes when I get busy. I insist on walking/biking to school or the library so that I'm active and out in the fresh air at least twice a day, but I'm excited to really get my sweat on and see how my badly-neglected body does after these weeks at a desk (often slumped over. Sorry,  lower back!)

3. Binge watch shows. Don't even tell me what Olivia Pope is up to right now. Seriously. No spoilers.

4. Cooking and eating something that takes more than 10 minutes to make.  Unlike the early years of medical school, I still eat pretty healthy during exam time, but usually it's something veggy and bulgar/quinoa-y that can be thrown together super quickly. I made the mistake of bringing these delicious cookies with me to the library a few weeks ago and Sophie and I cajoled the guys into baking these amazing brownies for us -- on two different occasions. But other than that, I've been good about eating right lately, despite exam stress. I'm so happy with myself about this -- mens sana in corpore sano, and I feel much better during those marathon study sessions when my body is fueled by real food and not bloated from a salt-and-vinegar-chips binge.

5. Catch up on news. I didn't even know there was a solar eclipse today until it was too late -- that's how out of the loop I am. I can't wait to sit down with my laptop and find out what has been going on in the world since I went into library hibernation. Israeli elections? Some kind of magical, color-changing dress? I am waaaay behind right now!

Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Five Favorite ways to welcome spring, things about my birthday, and romantic movies!

Monday Memories: Picnic in California

Family picnic at the beach (those not pictured are off treasure hunting for sea glass and shells!)

Today I had two exams back to back and they are going to keep on coming. One last two-week sprint, and the semester is behind me! 

All this studying and stressing and stupid, stupid procrastination is taking it's toll, and what I need now is a little sunshine. One of those special memories you can keep tucked away, only to be unfolded every now and then, when you really need it.  Just pressing away the well-worn creases and drawing strength from the remembrance of happy times. 

Part of my family lives in California and whenever we are visiting we always make time for a visit to my favorite beach in the world for a bagel picnic by the sea. I love those long, lazy afternoons, all of us hanging out together, eating on a blanket spread on the sand and then dispersing for naps, walks, and beach-treasure-hunting.

I just booked flights for a visit to the Bay Area this spring and I can't wait to head to the ocean and feel the sand squidge between my toes and that salty spray on my face. Here's to getting through the next couple weeks!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Memories of a ski trip with Karl, playing "Who am I?", having some summer fun at the lake, a romantic weekend in Lausanne, and last year skiing with friends!

Five Favorites: Procrastination

birthday flowers, brightening up my room!

Well, it's exam time again here at our friendly neighborhood medical school, and as always, I am finding time to do everything besides study. That's because I am one of the world's best procrastinators. I eventually sit down and get to it, obviously, because long hours in the library with a textbook are the only path through medical school. But before I pull myself together, I'm fabulous at doing just about anything else.  

Here are some of my favorite ways to push off studying.  I highly recommend them for anyone looking to create an inefficient and frustrating exam-prep experience!

1. Clean room, organize shelves, rearrange desk ect. This is particularity great if you want the feeling of being productive while actually avoiding the task at hand.

2. Spend time researching some rare pediatric mutation in glorious detail instead of focusing on the relevant material. If it's a topic I find interesting, an hour flies by. If it's boring, I look up after an eternity and twelve minutes have passed.

3. Do laundry.  Fold each piece in lovingly instead of just shoving them in the closet like I usually do.  Pinking off lint is also time consuming.

4. Discuss the pros and cons of health care reform in excruciating detail. Always great if you have med school friends who are attempting to avoid studying with as much dedication as you are.

5. Bake cookies! I tried these ones, recommended by Naomi from Love Taza. We brought a bunch to the library with us and an empty tupperware back. Way too delicious!
 

chocolate chip cookies: keeping blood sugar and spirits up since 1938!

Other common pastimes for when I should really be studying include writing thank you notes for birthday gifts, bickering unnecessarily with Karl, spending a lot of time deciding what to make for dinner, leafing through recipe books, wondering why the fridge is empty, and using exam stress as an excuse not to go grocery shopping. I'm a procrastination champ!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Five Favorite Birthday Things, Ways to Save, Romantic Movies, Parlour Games, and Vacation Destinations! 

PPS. Last semester's exam week here!

Exam Stress

Oh me oh my. Yesterday I had two exams, today I had two exams, tomorrow I have three exams and after that...sono libera!  That's the only thought going through my head during all this cramming: soon it'll all be over and I'll be home with my family with no scoliosis or kidney stones in sight! Also my roommate Sophie made me waffles this morning before my exams, to fuel me up and brighten my day. It was so sweet of her and they were delicious!

I've been at this whole university-end-of-semester thing for a while, but still the final sprint before the end, the frantic cramming and all-out exhaustion gets to me every time. I just finished the written portions for surgery, urology, orthopedics and anesthesiology. Tomorrow I have the oral tests. I hate oral exams with a vengeance, because despite being relatively well-spoken under normal circumstances I always start stuttering and blubbering when asked to answer the most elementary questions under pressure. And I have to say, while several of the subjects we're studying this semester really interest me, I absolutely hate ortho. All those bones and tendons everywhere, all with their own specific name and random classification to memorize. Ugh. I love the other three though, so I'm going to try and focus on that. 

This is shot of one of our classes last week. The anesthesiology department has a great skills lab set up like an operating theater and a very friendly plastic patient with all kinds of capabilities. He talks to you, tells you where it hurts, blinks, vomits, urinates, cries tears and sweats sweat, he has a heartbeat and breath sounds, pupils that dilate and probably many other functions I have yet to discover. We use him to run drills and learn about different medical emergencies without harming real people during our learning curve. It's actually really fun! 

So here's to learning, which I like, and being tested, which I don't. Three more tests, two sides of the med school coin and one more day until winter break!


Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna