To the left is Dr. Costanzo, an actual faculty member of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (the school I have chosen to attend), standing over all of the course material for the first two years of medical school. There are no fancy bindings or covers in that stack, just raw information in the form of course syllabi. I wonder if she is standing on a stool....

Needless to say, the challenge ahead is significant. I know 99% of the time that I am ready for this task, but one percent of the time I have my doubts. How will my brain cope with the floodgate of information about to be released? What if I don't retain any of that information once I've studied it?

Mostly though, I am just trying to enjoy my time before school starts in August. This week I saw my friend's band play, went to the strawberry festival, hiked to the beautiful Ramona Falls, and today made waffles with fresh cream and strawberries, strawberry jam and strawberry shortcake for my dad. Happy father's day dads out there!

With a little over a month left until medical school begins, I thought it appropriate to begin a new blog. Rather than continue any previous, personal blogs, I wanted to start fresh as I feel momentous changes are coming my way. Hence the title, synaptic reorganization. Not only a phenomenon I have recently studied in the laboratory, but I also anticipate some serious neuronal changes as I am forced to digest an absurd amount of information over the next four years.

I hope you will follow along with me on this journey, but be forewarned. I am not squeamish and am fond of the grotesque and absurd. If I see something disgusting or strange, I will probably not hesitate to write about it.