Emm One Done.

I apologize for falling off the face of the blogosphere for the last 6 weeks like a Columbus-detractor, circa 1492, who'd gotten to an edge of a flat world. But now I'm back, and I hope that my posts will be more regular now that I don't have to worry about exams.

The last time I wrote, I was concerned about H1N1 influenza, whose outbreak happened to coincide with the virus module in my microbiology course. Since then, H1N1 has has been declared a pandemic, but I've been preoccupied with learning bacterial identification via culture methods and the "hallmarks" of cancer--the latter of which almost sounds like neoplasia has its own line of greeting cards. Two classes and an integration week later, I am officially done with M1, or my first year of medical school.

Now, it's time for my last summer break (*dramatic pause*). Medical school blatantly disregards human concepts of time and seasons. First, as "days" on each planet of the solar system last for differing numbers of Earth-days, the first "year" of classes at HMS actually lasts 10 months. Subtraction implies that I have about 2 months of a full year left, and that's basically how much time I have before classes begin in mid-August. Also, medical school, in all of its professional glory, attempts to capitulate "normal adult life," in which summers cease to exist. After M1, there are no more summer vacations. (I have a potential 4-week vacation next year if I somehow manage to study for USMLE1 during the school year and take the test almost immediately after classes end. Fat chance.) Thus, I'd better make this 8 weeks or so count since it's going to be my last prolonged (>1-3 weeks) time away from school/work for a while.

For now, I need to focus on getting myself home to Georgia!