reflecting on the year, and looking ahead (or, a post filled with cliches)

12/31/2015. It's New Years Eve, and in less than an hour, I'll have to say goodbye to 2015 and begin a whole new year. I think New Years Eve is my favorite day of the year, because it's the perfect time to think back and reflect on the events of the past twelve months, and think about how many things you've experienced and how much you've changed as a person in that time. Of course, being the sentimental sort, I guess it's no surprise that I love this day. It's quite honestly bittersweet, because even though it's exciting to have a new beginning and think about all the amazing things that are yet to come, it's also kind of sad to think back on all the great memories from the past year and realize that once the clock turns midnight, you'll have to say goodbye to them forever.

This past year was a rollercoaster - there's honestly no better way for me to describe it. Academically, socially, and personally, it was a year of growth. I went through so many things - some good, some bad - but overall, no matter how good or bad they were, the important thing is, I came out of them stronger and learned some lessons that I probably wouldn't have learned otherwise. What's that saying, about experience being the best teacher? That is so very true.

I've never much believed in the whole New Years resolutions business, but a few weeks ago, when we were all sitting around and talking, one of my friends asked me what my resolution was for 2016. I stopped for a minute, because I had never really given it much thought, but I soon came up with one. We went around the circle, and each person said their resolution. And when it was my turn, I looked up, smiled, and said, "My resolution is to live each day to the fullest." That might be cliche, but that is honestly my goal - to cherish all the little moments that make the year memorable, because those are what make life worth living.

the end of the semester

Finals week is finally over, and with that marks the end of my third semester at UT Dallas. It's crazy to think how time flies - it honestly doesn't feel like I've been in school for four and a half months, and that half my sophomore year is already over. I remember being really excited about this year - I expected that this year as a whole was going to be challenging, yet rewarding, and this semester in particular, I was the slightest bit nervous about how well I was going to do, with all the stuff that was going to be on my plate - not just classes, but extracurricular commitments as well. This semester, I took 19 hours (4 of those hours were research), and on top of that, I had an on-campus job, was in the PLTL mentor program, was involved in two research programs (one in a lab on campus, and one at Parkland), was secretary of PCFA (Pro-Choice Feminist Alliance), and was a part of several other organizations. I remember thinking back in August, "How am I going to balance all of this stuff?" But now that the semester is over, looking back, I think I did pretty well. I made good grades in all of my classes (even organic chemistry, the class that threatened to kill me this semester), and I was able to devote time to all of those other commitments as well. I love my job, and I'm definitely continuing that next semester, as well as continuing in research. Next semester will be equally as tough, if not more - I have 21 hours on my schedule, and in addition, I'll be a PLTL leader for general chemistry II and moving up to vice-president of PCFA. Things are ramping up, but I know I'll be able to handle it.

This semester was probably one of my favorite semesters at UTD so far - last year, I enjoyed my fall semester, but since I only took 16 hours, it was kind of a light semester for me and I wished I had done more at the end of it. Spring semester last year wasn't as great, but it taught me some really valuable and necessary lessons about time management and making sure that I wasn't ruining my own health and well-being in the process. This semester, I felt ready to take on the challenges that my schedule presented, and overall, I think I handled it pretty well. Not just that, but the classes I took this semester were some of the best and most enjoyable classes I've taken here so far - literature of science fiction, patient narratives, socio-behavioral sciences for medicine, and bio I were my personal favorites. I'm going to miss these classes and the professors who taught them immensely, but I felt that they were definitely rewarding experiences that I'm thankful to have. I can only hope that next semester proves to be a similar story - the classes I'm particularly looking forward to are biochemistry and health economics (although the latter doesn't sound immediately interesting to most people, I know it's going to be a heavily writing and discussion-based class, and that's the kind of stuff I enjoy, so I hope it does go well).

it's been a good week

It's been one of those weeks where the universe makes you aware of how lucky you are to have the things you have. It's when the universe decides to shower you with compliments and remind you about all your positive qualities and the things you're talented at and make you feel better about yourself so that when you feel like beating yourself up or dying under the crushing weight of finals, you can think back to all the lovely things that have happened to you and smile and be grateful for who you are and the life you have.

MCAT musings

A few weeks ago, I began thinking ahead for next year - specifically, I began thinking about the MCAT and how I'm going to prepare for it. In light of the recent changes being made to the MCAT requirements for our program, I've been trying to plan ahead and do my best to begin preparing early so that I can ensure that I do well on this exam, especially since now it means more than it did before.

I have decided to dedicate this summer to MCAT prep, and because of that, I will not be going to India or anywhere else for vacation. I registered with Princeton Review's MCAT summer prep course, which begins a week or two after finals end in the spring semester and ends the final week of July. This also means that I have to stay on campus for the summer, so I renewed my apartment lease this week when the housing application renewal period opened. The MCAT class is from 7-10 pm on weekdays (except Friday), so even though my Clinical Medicine II course is this summer as well, that will typically end around 3-5 pm, which gives me enough time to drive back to UTD from UTSW and make it to my MCAT class.

I had the option of registering for an MCAT course next semester, but I didn't do that for two reasons - one, I'm taking biochemistry next semester, which I need to know for the MCAT, so it wouldn't make sense for me to review material that I haven't even learned yet; and two, I wanted to be able to devote all my time to MCAT, which I can only do over the summer. Reviewing for the MCAT at the same time as taking classes and doing research and all the other commitments that I have would not have been a wise decision. I would much rather have nothing else going on, so that I can just sit down and focus on preparing for the exam. As of now, I expect to take the real thing in September, so I will have a total of 3.5 months to study. I hope that that's enough time.

I've already decided to start preparing  for the MCAT as early as possible, so I plan to try and find some CARS passages to practice so that I can brush up on my critical reading skills and anything else that I haven't done in a while that may be a bit rusty. 

working shifts in the Parkland ED

This semester, I started working as a research associate in Parkland's Emergency Department. This past summer, during our Clinical Medicine I course, representatives from a program called the "Emergency Medicine Research Associate's Program" (or EMRAP) at Parkland came to speak with is about this new opportunity. As research associates, we work weekly four-hour shifts in the ED, shadowing the residents and evaluating patients for their eligibility to join the current clinical studies being done at the hospital. The two studies we evaluate patients for look specifically at closed head injury and congestive heart failure.

So far, it's been my third week at Parkland. They had trouble starting off the program this semester, with getting all our paperwork in, giving us badge access, and getting us access to EPIC, the electronic medical record system that they use here at Parkland and UTSW as a whole, so that's why it's only been my third shift here so far. However, even though I've only spent a total of twelve hours in the ED, I've seen a variety of interesting cases and been able to learn some things about medicine that I probably wouldn't have learned until medical school. Shadowing is such a great experience in my opinion and I feel really fortunate to have been given this opportunity. I'm definitely continuing this program next semester, and possibly next year as well, and I hope to be able to learn even more as time goes on.