So, medical school has begun, and it's not too bad. I'm actually starting to enjoy myself. There were a few moments here and there over the last few days where I thought to myself, "What the heck am I doing? I have nothing to look forward to over the next two years except studying. And lots of it." The few times I have felt like this have been immediately after finishing up looking at a book for a few hours. But then I get outside, or go for a run, or do pretty much anything except study, and my perspective returns and all is right in the world again.

It's just been a small adjustment getting back to studying after a year off. Today was great. There was a lecture on biochemisty where a ton of material was covered quickly, and I left feeling slightly confused. However, as soon as I looked at the slides myself, things began to click (maybe it was because I started remembering this stuff that I learned years ago), and I began to have fun. We still have a good bit of material to learn that will be included on our test next Wednesday, but I'm feeling much better about it.

On another note, I'm going to go to the Jackson Free Clinic again this Saturday. I'm looking forward to that. I've decided that I'm going to try and go as much as I can. I'd love it if I could make it over there almost every week (excluding the weekends prior to gross anatomy tests).

So that's how med school has been going thus far. I've been sleeping 8 hours a night and running and working out every day as well. Things are good. Praise God!

I love it how my dad always lets me know when it's time for me to update. It just requires a bit too much effort for me to do this on a regular basis, and there is always something more interesting to do.

It's been a fun week. I worked out a whole lot, which included a few miles of swimming, around 40 miles of biking, 65 miles of running, and three or four hours of weights. That may seem a bit much, and I'll be the first one to admit that, but I justify it by saying that once school starts I won't have the luxury of doing anything near that. I want to keep running, of course, and going to the gym, but it'll probably be more like 3 or 4 miles here, 6 miles there, etc. Just working around classes and studying. I'll still be doing marathons, so I can't slack off completely. This week I'll have a lot of free time, so I want to try and run 80 miles with no biking or swimming. That'll be an all-time high for me.

I capped off my summer lab rotations with a bang. Three out of five of the days I had to stay until 8 PM observing pig surgeries, which were interesting to say the least. I was the lab of a cool, young, Argentinian researcher, and I had a great time hanging out with him and his co-workers. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to teach, even if he was a bit intense during the surgeries. I guess that comes with the territory. One second everything is honky-dory, and the next second things are going wrong and everybody is stressed and freaking out. Oh, the life of a surgeon. It does give you a bit of an adrenaline rush, though, and I like that.

So, my last week of freedom before I hit the grind. I'm looking forward to orientation. I fully expect the sessions to be soporific, but it'll be a nice time to get to know my classmates. And there will be free food, which is always good. I've ordered all the books I think I need, and most of them should be coming in tomorrow or the next day. I hope I'll actually use most of them so I don't feel like I've wasted a small fortune on paper.