Thankful

Hi my friends!

I'm halfway done my Pediatrics rotation and am currently in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) part of my rotation. The attendings I've been working with are so incredibly knowledgable and patient with me while I try to learn about Neonates.

I started noticing myself playing the dreadful "what if" game again with myself. I started comparing my journey and experience with others - and I thought to myself "Okay, if I'm doing this I'm sure others are as well" so here I am writing a blog post about it!

FIRST OF ALL, if you are reading this and you are in the medical field I wanted to say congratulations to you for choosing this path. From my very limited experience it is very rewarding but also extremely challenging. And no matter what part of your journey you are on I applaud you.

Now for some feelings I have directly towards my peers in MS3 - I know we spend all day with one another in the same hospital but in different rotations. I can almost guarantee we've all had the thought "I wish my rotation schedule was more like ____" or "I wish I had _______ attending".

I'd be lying if I said those thoughts never crossed my mind, they have, and I'll be the first to admit it.

BUT

After several different discussions I've had in the hospital with patients, nurses, residents, attendings and other students I've started to realize how thankful and lucky I am to even be on this journey. Not everyone is lucky enough to go to undergrad, get accepted to MERP, get accepted to medical school, go to medical school on a foreign island, (this felt weird to type) be fortunate enough to even write step one, rotate in a hospital, match into a program and eventually become an attending.

Some people may dream of it but are unable to attain it for whatever reason. Coming to the realization that I am lucky to be able to wake up early in the morning to go to the hospital to learn and then come home tired but still push through and study for upcoming exams has really helped my fatigued brain.

Suddenly when I've started just being thankful for being in medicine the comparisons I'd been making previously stopped - and I just wanted to experience the rotation in whatever order it had been given to me.

ANYWAYS, I need to stop procrastinating and start going through UWorld again.

- Jen

M2 here we go!

Hello my friends!

I am writing this post from an amazing villa in St. Maarten - on my first day where I can actually take a breath and relax (minus my 3:30 am wake up for my 8 am flight). I'm here with my mom and my good friend Jackie. It's been a long four months not seeing my mom so there were some tears when I saw her. She also surprised me with birthday cards from friends and family back home so that had sleep deprived me back into a sobbing mess.

I wrote my final on Tuesday and that was probably one of the hardest tests I've written on the island so far. Within one week we had our fourth mini, a practical exam and our final. That week was honestly the hardest I've worked in my student career thus far. I knew going into this semester that physiology was not my strongest subject and I needed to work a little harder to get the material... and even harder once the semester was coming to an end because I could feel myself getting burnt out. That week leading up to the final were some of the longest, most frustrating days I've experienced as a student.

While I'm going through this I would check my Timehop app (it's my morning routine) and I realized I began MERP a year ago. Reflecting back on how stressed I was I realized how far I've come both academically and mentally over the past year.

Two days later...

Alright I've been slacking on this post but I WILL FINISH IT NOW

Our MPeL and MPS was released today so I can officially announce that I am a M2 student!!!

*cue the largest sigh of relief*

Starting September I will be a 3X student and I will be the Prime Minister of the Canadian Club on campus - I'm doing a little happy dance right now.

As I mentioned earlier I've pushed myself harder than I've ever pushed myself in my life. And it's been paying off - I tell myself every evening "want it more than you're scared of it". Some days are rough, and it's so incredibly difficult to motivate myself - but I look around and I am inspired by every single one of my friends. They all work so hard and will always put a smile on my face.

See you all on the flip side starting 3X!

Jen

Finding Dory in Dominica

Hello friends!

Just writing to you after my first weekend off since coming to the island! We just finished our Neurology block - we had our practical exam on Wednesday and our Mini on Friday. I think I can speak for my whole class in saying that we've been waiting for this weekend since first semester. Even though we had no classes this week it was a tough week. I find neuro very interesting but there was so much information to try and cram into our heads. After this semester I'm 100% certain we deserved this weekend off (even though it went by in the blink of an eye).

Second semester has been tough I'm not going to lie. I'm not very strong in Physiology and this is a very Physiology dense semester. I've been working my butt of to try and grasp this information as much as I possibly can (along with trying to figure out how to get more hours in my day - if anyone has an answer please let me know).

This weekend was so relaxing - but we also had a lot of fun! On Friday night we went to a Paediatrics Student Auction where my friends and I were auctioned off for 2400 EC - approximately 860 USD. We were so excited that we were able to raise that much money for a child on the island to have a heart surgery.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon Snorkelling in Cabrits National Park. It was a nice boat ride - three hours and two different reefs. The water was so blue, clear and stunning - one thing that I love so much about the island. I'd never been snorkelling before so I was so excited to finally go and cross that off my bucket list.

Today I had a nice sleep in and a brunch at my favourite breakfast place called Aunty Graces. A group of us then went to a lazy river past the airport and just enjoyed nature - admiring our Jurassic Park Island.

I still sit here in total awe of where I am studying medicine. Not only am I living out my dream of becoming a doctor but I also get to do it on a stunning island. As I've mentioned before it can be frustrating because it's not like home and we don't have the same things readily available but the island itself is so beautiful. It's very easy to get caught up in the little bubble surrounding campus and you don't even realize it but it wears you out. It's always go-go-go around here and you don't ever get much time to just relax and not do anything.

I know I surely needed this weekend to pull everything back together and regain some mental sanity. These next four weeks are going to be long and difficult but I need to keep pushing through. I always tell you guys I keep it totally honest here and I'm going to keep it that way. I'm mentally exhausted and I'm nervous for the next two blocks we have, Endocrine and Reproductive Systems. I haven't had too much exposure to either so it's going to be a larger learning curve for me. All we can really do is keep moving forward and stay positive.

Jen

Snorkelling

The Upper Deck

Food my parents sent

Sunsets

Study Day

Snorkelling

Snorkelling

Snorkelling

Snorkelling

Tubing

3/4 Of The Way Through First Year

Hello my friends and family!!

We just had our second mini of second semester yesterday and thankfully had a BEAUTIFUL day to relax on the beach afterwards and enjoy a well deserved dinner and night off. Our second mini was all about the GI and Renal systems - it was a tough one and it really took a lot out of me. The blocks were short but very dense and full of a lot of information and material. Now we are on to our Neuro and Psychiatric block which I am very excited about.

I've received a decent amount of questions about how you tough out medical school and being so far away from home so I'm going to share my knowledge on my blog.

In all honesty it's hard. As I said before the last two blocks took a lot out of me, I was constantly tired, frustrated, and home sick. It's hard to keep on pushing through material when you aren't as interested in it or it's just not sticking. I'm still figuring out how to master that skill and am growing from my mistakes daily. One of the big things I learned, (and I know this may sound silly) is to actually pretend you're interested in whatever you may be learning. You don't want to know the amount of times I was studying and I had to pep talk myself and say "OK JEN, you love intestinal motility and secretions - keep on reading".

I've also come to realize if you're in a bad mood and are not willing to learn you will not learn or retain the information. I really grasped this concept after these past two blocks. So how do you get yourself into a positive mindset to learn? I love motivational videos, beach walks, calling home and meditation have done miracles for me.

Medical school is tough, and I know people say that time and time again. Until you've been here and gone through it you won't understand what I actually mean. Not only do you need to learn a lot of information you need to mentally keep yourself in check. This game is just as much physical as it is mental. I've dealt with some mental blocks myself and I have to continuously remind myself to not bring myself down or beat myself up over minor things.

The past is the past - learn from it and keep on keeping on. You're not going to be amazing at every single block and that's just a fact. You're meant to be here and use whatever drove you to be a doctor in the first place to keep that flame burning!

Jen

We kinda love snapchat

My walk to school

Kitty cuddles

Suture lab

After mini 2

Sunset last night

It's Time For The Fun To Begin

Hello Friends!

Just finished my first full week on the island and I have been having a blast. There have obviously been some ups and downs with getting accustomed to the island but so far everyone I've met has been very kind, helpful and excited to start medical school.

We've done one full week of orientation and were fed a lot of information about first semester, finishing medical school, all of our tests, about campus, about the island... you name it - we covered it this week. We also dealt with the more formal aspects of the school including checking in, getting our white coats, finding our lockers, anatomy lab orientation and being put into our lab dissection groups.

After being fed all of this information and seeing all of the different things we need to do it is very easy to get overwhelmed. But I've been told time and time again just take it one day at a time and don't let yourself fall behind.

After all of these intense orientation sessions we had some excursion activities. I saw the Indian River where the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, Trafalgar Falls, the Botanical Gardens and Scotts Head (the Southern most point of the island where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea) it was absolutely stunning but not without excitement.

After our long, sweaty hike my friends and I were on the beach area figuring out if we wanted to go into the water to cool down when we quickly realized there was a distressed swimmer in the ocean. Being a lifeguard I knew I had to go try to help this swimmer, I quickly took my shirt, shoes and shorts off (luckily I was wearing my swimsuit underneath). I went down the VERY ROCKY beach and finally made it into the water to help the swimmer in need. Unfortunately when I placed my foot down in the shallow water I landed directly on a sea urchin. As I said that day, I'd rather a sea urchin in my foot than anything else.

Shout out to all of my friends who helped me and have been checking up on me after the incident.

Medical School has to start off with a bang and I can't wait to see what other adventures it may throw my way!

- Jen

On our canoe in the Indian River

The Indian River

Trafalgar Falls

The tip of Rosseau with some friends

The beautiful Scotts Head

Top 5 Vacation Spots

With the Canadian long weekend being this weekend I thought I'd be festive and make a post of my top 5 vacation spots!

1. St. Barths

• It's a cute little island just off of St. Maarten and you can get there by ferry or by a tiny, little plane. All of their beaches are public so there are no limitations on any beach you can go to. All of the locals are very friendly and none of them will bother you to buy anything off of them. The island is definitely a place to go if you want to sit back and relax. Since it's so small there is not a huge night life or clubbing scene. BUT it is the safest island in the Caribbean.

2. Barcelona, Spain

• I don't even know where to begin with Barcelona. The culture, the beaches, the city, the people... all of it is just so beautiful. You will never run out of things to do in Barcelona - during the day or at night. Plus the food is out of this world. If you're looking for a place to keep you busy all day and all night Barcelona is the place to be. Even travelling around to different cities is easy with the transit system in Spain.

3. New York, New York

• There is something so very special about New York and I don't know how to place a finger on it. It's so busy and so chaotic, but it can also be so beautiful and serene. Another amazing place where you will never run out of things to do. Between shows, museums, food, historical land marks and shopping you will never stop going. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life - and gotten so many blisters - but I didn't even mind because New York was something you just have to experience.

4. Las Vegas, Nevada

• Where I went for my 21st birthday. The city that never sleeps, sin city, whatever you want to call it... I'm in love with it. I strongly believe that if I were to be any city in the world I would be Vegas. What a fun, energetic, HOT, crazy place to be. You do things in Vegas you would never be able to do anywhere else. Everything is so extravagant and beautiful. All of the hotels, the strip, the shopping... everywhere you look is stunning.

5. Costa Rica

• Words can't describe the greenery in Costa Rica until you've been there. Everything is so beautiful and fresh - and delicious. The people are so friendly and the weather is hot, hot, hot. I went during the rainy season so trust me when I say it's called rainy season for a reason. It will rain every day. And there is no use bringing stuff to do your hair because it will just automatically go frizzy. This place is definitely more of an "au natural" kinda place. But I wouldn't change it for the world. The water is so warm and so blue - and the wildlife is so vast. It's beautiful and you can't appreciate it until you've seen it yourself.

There you have it! My top 5 vacation spots! 

Where are your favourite places to vacation?

- Jen

A Lesson in Humility

Hey!

After about a month on the job, AND ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT, I've found one reoccurring theme in my daily activities.

As many of you know I have my BSc in Kinesiology, so I came into this job thinking it would be relatively easy. Boy was I mistaken.

*My med school interview*

"Jennifer, what do you think the most important quality of a doctor is?"

"Humility. As a doctor I believe you will never be the best at anything. Sure you may have mastered your way of a treatment but there is always going to be someone out there who has a different way of approaching the situation - and their way could work better"

*End Scene*

Now, you may be wondering why I've decided to relive that nerve wracking moment in my life. I believe humility is not only the best quality you could have as a doctor but as a person as well.

I've done it, you've done it, we've all done it. You look at a job and you think to yourself, "That job looks so easy. I'd be able to do X, Y & Z". After doing this job I have decided to never do that again.

I always thought being a receptionist wasn't going to be too difficult of a job, take peoples payments, book them appointments... ect. After working for a month and getting to points where I was about to cry behind the front desk I've realized it's one hell of a difficult job.

As a receptionist you are the front line of the clinic. If people come in angry they take it out on you, if they call angry it's on you, if scheduling doesn't work out it's on you... basically if anything doesn't work out the way they want it to it's automatically your fault.

With saying that, I have met some very pleasant and amazing people at the clinic so obviously anywhere you go you're going to meet those bad apples. I'm just vocalizing the fact that I didn't realize and appreciate how much receptionists do and what they deal with.

All the best,

Jen

End of Summer

Hello!

I just got back from a PHENOMENAL trip to Las Vegas. I figured it would be a great way to end a long summer of studying and to celebrate finally turning 21. The weather was amazing, the food was great and the shopping was out of this world! It was basically my heaven on earth. I really like booking a trip or a weekend getaway at the end of a semester so I have something to look forward to. It keeps me sane during those busy semesters.

I realized while I was in Vegas that it was the first time I've ever been on the west coast! I've travelled all around Europe but I've never travelled west. So this was a big deal for me. I have always imagined what the west coast would be like but it exceeded my expectations and I am determined to go back and hopefully once I'm in med school try to get some residencies out there!

We did a lot of walking and shopping and went to a few shows. Our only issue was our flight home. We were delayed 8 hours so I didn't end up getting home until 4 am, when we were supposed to be back around 7 pm. But other than that this was the perfect ending to a rough summer.

Hopefully everyone has been doing well and are resting up before the semester starts or not getting too stressed by the beginning of the semester.

- Jen

School Recovery

Hey Guys!

I'm finally done my MCAT and online course finals. It sure has been one hell of a summer. I feel like I've been consistently busy and unable to sit down and breathe. Now that I'm able to it feels surreal. I've pretty much moved into my couch with my laptop, snacks, tea and coffee! Sounds like heaven to me.

I find that after I've been busy for such a long period of time I always like to be alone to bring myself back down from wherever I am. I like leaving my cell phone in my room, staying off of social media and enjoy sitting in peace and quiet with a good book or a new TV series I'm watching (Chicago Fire and Chicago PD). By the way, I am looking for more shows so if you have any suggestions let me know!

In my own personal experience it's very difficult to balance the scale of social life and school/medical school applications. Some people understand the hard work and the amount of hours you need to put into just getting ready to apply while others don't. I don't know if the rest of you have dealt with the same problems but your friends will come around to understand.

Especially now, in my case, where we're all going into fourth year and everyone needs to figure out what they're doing with our lives. Do you go for your Masters or another Undergrad, do you pick a type of post grad school or apply to a college to specialize? It's a lot to bear on your shoulders at only 21 years old. Then once you decide what you want to do you need to find schools that offer it and that you would like to go to.

I remember thinking how stressful it was applying to university, thinking it was the end of the world. Now that I'm applying to Medical School I realize how silly it was to stress about that.

Hindsight is 20/20 friends. Just enjoy the ride,

Jen

MCAT is done!

Hey all!

I just wrote my MCAT yesterday and it was unlike any other test I've written! Still in recovery mode aka sitting on my couch watching TV shows.

If anyone has any idea for upcoming posts please feel free to send me a message and I will be happy to try and accommodate you ideas!

- Jen

New MCAT for 2015

Just putting this link up here for anyone wondering about what changes are happening on the 2015 MCAT.

MCAT 2015

In summary, nothing is being taken away topics are just being added. Which is why the new test time has increased from 5 hours to over 6 hours. Since more is being added there will be less of an emphasis on organic chemistry and physics and more on analysis and critical thinking (like verbal reasoning) and biochemistry.

I took the following picture off of www.prep101.com just to show the difference between the two tests.

Hope this solves any confusion,

Jen

Not Wanting to Study

MCAT Prep is coming to an end with my last day of classes tomorrow! I'm also finishing up with my major assignments for my online courses. It's kinda scary how quickly this summer has gone by. I feel like I've been studying the whole time!

Oh wait I have. I've got just over two weeks until the dreaded day of my MCAT and then a week later I have three online course exams... Call me crazy I know I am. So I'm not too sure how much I'll be posting in that time since my life will probably be even less exciting than it is now. So if I go AWOL you will know why.

I don't know about anywhere else in the world but it has been very rainy and cloudy at home which is not the best pick me up when you're trying to pump yourself up to study and not fall asleep on your books. So I'm working on being as positive as possible during this stressful time.

On a more exciting note, I got my courses all selected for the fall so I've already gone into prep mode for scheduling the semester in all three of my calendars (I know I'm a little OCD about this stuff). Figuring out voluneering, books, holidays... the whole nine yards. I like to start the semester running! Now that I've finished all those general science courses I needed for medical school I'm able to take Kinesiology courses that actually interest me. I'm taking anatomy of the central nervous system, injuries of work and sport, nutrition, biomechanical modeling of human movement and the psychology of sport. Sounds like it will be an interesting semester, hopefully not too heavy so I can spend some time on my medical school applications. If anyone wants to share what courses they're taking feel free to comment!

I've also been spending my time looking at different medical schools around the world and I wanted to see if anyone has any insight on places they're looking at, or study at because I am open to traveling before residency and settling down.

- Jen