This is more or less my life right now, aside from the boiling of flesh, dogs, and silly hats. 6 of my classmates and I make up table 19 and every day we cut a little deeper into our dear friend, Earl Bernard Stratford III*, or Bernie as we call him.

Anatomy is a much anticipated course in medical school and I am happy to be participating, but it is also the hardest thing we have encountered thus far. I have seen a lot of stress and tears from my classmates (I am certainly not exempt from the stress) due to the speed and volume of information we are responsible for. So if you don't hear from me for a while, worry not! You will most likely find me on the 10th floor, wrist deep in a cadaver. The joys of medical school!

*Bernie's name is completely made up, for the record. I am in no way violating his or his family's right to confidentiality.

Free weekend! Those two words have been said many times in anticipation over the past few weeks. We haven't had one since our first exam back in August! And now that it's here, everyone scrambled off to visit family or travel or whitewater raft in frigid West Virginian waters. I intended to go on an all day hike today but it was hampered by bad weather. Not that I am opposed to hiking in bad weather, I mean, I'm from the Northwest...we hike in rain and snow alike. However, when one is deprived of weekends (and the relaxation they usually bring) one tends to want to curl into a ball and do nothing. Because one can.

I certainly haven't done -nothing- but it's nice to do everything with less urgency and less--oh, i can't, i should be studying right now--thoughts. Friday was a pretty wild post-exam celebration for both M1s and M2s. Saturday a group of us M1s headed out to the Healing Eagle Clinic on the Mattaponi Indian Reservation to volunteer at their monthly clinic. Although clinically, I don't think I learned a lot yesterday, it was a good experience meeting the patients and other volunteer healthcare workers, all wonderful people (warm fuzzies!).

Today I intend to spend most of the day in the kitchen cooking up pots and pots of warm fall goodness and cleaning up around the house (a chore that sadly gets neglected in the daily hustle).

Hope everyone is doing well!

A great weekend of diversion was had! An Oregonian meet-up of sorts took place in Washington D.C. this weekend, as we convened at a craft fair in Adams Morgan called Crafty Bastards. We all had fun and I enjoyed spending quality time with some familiar faces.

view of the Washington Monument from the fair

I am also thrilled that fall is near. The air is getting cooler and I am starting to cook more hearty, fall dishes. My favorites! It's still nowhere near the likes of fall on the west coast. It's still hot in the afternoon, and I hear this kind of behavior can last all the way into November. I wonder if I'll even need to wear my new winter coat before Thanksgiving...

Things are starting to wind down in terms of biochemistry and genetics. Only 2 weeks to go until completion! Then we launch into our next block: anatomy!