I'm alive! Kinda...

So I'm officially in Houston! It's been absolutely insane so far trying to get everything together. I couch surfed for about 4 days last week during orientation before I could actually move into my place, but as soon as I moved in, we went on med school retreat, then class started, so things are still EVERYWHERE!!!

I don't really know where to start...orientation I guess. It was pretty typical, except for the med school part. I failed computer orientation because my laptop hadn't come in yet, but it's here now, and I LOVE IT! It's the HP Elitebook tablet pc, so it has a touch screen and I can upload anythin into One Note and color/draw all over it! It's like Med School Kindergarten! We also had a White Coat Ceremony which was really awesome, but weird at the same time - we took the ethical pledge for the school and the hippocratic oath. I'm definitely not sure if I'm old enough for this!

My totally awesome parents also were nice enough to drive my stuff over on Wednesday so they could come to my ceremony (along with my grandpa that lives in Houston). I think they were more excited about it then I was! I'm still having mixed feelings about this whole thing, but it's going to work out somehow. Yeah there's a huge hole in my life, but it'll get filled and in the meantime I get to work on my MD and be a super-awesome doctor someday. As nice as it would be to drop out and pretend I have better things to do with my life, I don't think it would make me happy either.

Friday and Saturday were med school retreat - they basically took 230 aspiring doctors to the middle of nowhere east Texas and let us run wild and free with unlimited alcohol. Not really, but that's actually not too far off the mark. We had get togethers and "chats" about what to expect/how to study/yada yada yada, but there was a huuuuuge party Friday night that everyone had to wear a costume for and there definitely was unlimited alcohol. I don't think I've ever seen professors play beer pong with students before! :P So I went as Jessica Rabbit and my roommate, Sandra went as a girl from Glee (pardon me for forgetting the character's name...I'm so bad.) But at least I have pics for you! I have to admit...I was in the dress and heels for like 5 minutes before I realized they had a mechanical bull and promptly changed into my boots and jeans to show up the boys!! ;) Who says a cowgirl can't be a doctor??

So today was the first day of class, and I must say, I was bored out of my mind! Granted, I have a degree in biology, and I've taken a TON of courses that have been leading up to this point (including a graduate level biochem course, histology, cell biology, and anatomy...which are all on the menu this semester), but I think they were going easy on us today. I also couldn't log into any of my accounts with the school because of some registrar problem, so I got off easy on the following along part which was most of class today. I'm sure it's gonna kick up and make what I did in undergrad look like playtime though. People keep commenting on how it's so overwhelming, but I disagree - to be overwhelmed, you at least have to have an idea or grasp on what's going on around you to be able to not process it. We're like deer in the headlights with no freaking clue about anything yet! It'll get better.

I was also really lucky to get a very nice tank group to do gross anatomy with. I was really nervous that I'd be stuck with the egotists or other conflicting personalities, but everyone seems chill and eager to learn. We just did observation today and we actually tag team the dissection, so I don't get to do any of that until Friday. I need to mentally prepare myself anyway lol.

I did get my bathroom put together tonight...this is progress. Especially considering I spent most of the day after class trying to convince the medical school that I did actually exist and should be in their system. It was marginally successful. I still have to conquer financial aid tomorrow. But I am impressed with the amount of errands I got done! Yay productivity! I think I'm gonna end up bein too darn busy to have the energy to think about quittin!

Oh, and a special thank you to anyone who's sent little notes of encouragement or love - I really can't say how much it means to me. This is a very frightening / somewhat exciting time of life and I definitely cannot do it alone! Please keep me in your prayers and drop me a line when you remember :)