Monday, September 3, 2012

4th Year


How am I already FOUR MONTHS into 4th year? There are:

71 days until national boards. 202 days until Austin. 247 days until I am responsible for knowing everything about veterinary medicine.

When you're a kid, the notion of becoming a doctor, or lawyer, or veterinarian is just a dream. It's not tangible. Even in undergrad, when I decided I wanted to become a veterinarian, it wasn't really a goal. It was still a dream. I had no idea why, when the veterinarians I worked for at Emancipet found out I was going to vet school, they essentially consoled instead of congratulated me. I was upset - they should have been telling me how awesome I was! But all of the undergraduate education in the world couldn't have prepared me enough for the battle I was about to begin. I saw vet school as nearing the end of my education, but really it was just the beginning. For the past 3 years, I have repeatedly tested my limits - of patience, sleep deprivation, caffeine intake, emotional stability, study willpower, and playing well with others. It was a game I learned to play over the course of 3 years, and then last May the game changed.

My days of snoozing in class are over

I thought 4th year would be more enjoyable, since I go crazy when I have to sit in one place for too long studying (sleeping?). 4th year has been as I expected for the most part, but there have been a few rotations that took the best of me. There was one week where I cried every single morning. I did not think I would make it through that rotation. But here I am - and somehow I still managed to learn a lot. There have been some amazing rotations as well. The clinicians, residents and interns manage to impress me on a daily basis. The combination of intelligence, compassion and motivation is a rare thing to find in one person, and there are so many of them here. One day my classmates and I will have the opportunity to be those people. It starts in less than a year.

Unfortunately, all this brain exercise leaves little time for physical exercise. My training hours show it:
Still sexy and I know it

It's really hard to not set racing goals right now. I need to study for boards, and my rotation rounds... but I also need to maintain a level of sanity. Balance is always the hardest thing - especially for a competitive person. I have to keep telling myself it's ok to be slow.

I have managed to sneak in one little cycling event since 4th year started. Issue 42 and I were really getting into the olympic track cycling events, so we decided to go to a collegiate track race in Louisiana (hosted by LSU Cycling) just for funsies.

Austin wins best male women's coordinator.

Despite all of the spring-road-season-burnout-and-4th-year-induced-adipose-tissue, I managed to not get last in all of the events (just most of them). I even got 3rd in the Miss-N-Out! (my favorite track event). Awesome as we are, the women outnumbered the men in this track omnium.

I also just cannot keep myself away from the SCCCC Track Championships next weekend in Houston. :)

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