No more lecture...EVER!

OK, so I will likely be sitting through various lectures throughout my clinical years and residency, but I am officially completely done with formal classes forever!! I have made it to a place that I have always thought was a lifetime away. When I started college, I couldn't imagine making it through 4 years to get my bachelors, and then another 2 years of intense class to make it through basic sciences. But, I eventually finished college (although admittedly taking more time that I would have liked) and made it to med school.

I vividly remember arriving in St. Maarten to begin med school, and walking into my first day of class. I remember looking at the 5th semester students who were on their way out, and thinking that the day I'd be there was so far away. Once I was almost there, I started counting down the days until classes were over (about 1/2 way through the 5th semester), but it still seemed like the day would never come. Today, that day has finally arrived. I still have a ton of work to do, with block exams Friday, a comp Thursday, and shelf exams the next two weeks, but man is it nice not to have to sit through another lecture tomorrow! It actually just occurred to me that today's class was not only the last of basic sciences, but the last ever!

I remember walking into Shock Trauma at the University of MD hospital a few years ago on the ambulance and seeing a med student there. I was still in college and had not even applied to med school yet. He was just finishing up preparing for his step I exam. I told him that I couldn't wait to get exactly where he was...about to start clinical years, with the worst part of med school (the classroom years) behind me. Well, aside from a few exams that I'm not particularly worried about passing, I'm at that point. I still need to study to make sure I remember everything I've learned, but I've already been taught everything that AUC's basic sciences faculty is going to teach me. It's good to be here.