Island Med Student

I’m sitting at my desk typing on my laptop in my new apartment in Baltimore, Maryland. I now have a place to live, water, electricity and even an Internet connection. Most of my boxes have been unpacked, and I even have food in the fridge. I have about one month with no classes, and all I really have to do is study for the USMLE Step 1. Today is the beginning of my marathon studying routine.

Okay Kendra, you can study now. But I don’t want to study! Actually, I’ve been so swamped lately with moving, packing and unpacking, and running all the errands involved with moving to another country that I haven’t studied in over a month. I don’t even feel like a student anymore. I feel like a professional mover. Over the past month, I kept telling myself that when I finally get everything unpacked, I will buckle down and start studying. But now that that time has finally arrived, I don’t even know where to begin.

I’ve made excuses like, “I can’t study until I have electricity,” or “I can’t study until I have unpacked all of my books,” or “I can’t study until my dogs get all of their vaccinations.” These seemed like reasonable excuses at the time, but when I stop and think about it, I realize that I’ve studied under worse conditions in the past.

In Dominica, I’ve studied without electricity or water. I’ve studied in the middle of a hurricane. I’ve studied right after having surgery. I’ve studied when I could barely keep my eyes open because I was sick and fatigued to the point of wanting to give up. But now I’m saying that I can’t study until my dogs get vaccinated? What on earth is wrong with me?!

I’ve written before about having a study block, but this time it seems a little different. Having a deadline that’s so far away means that I have to put the pressure on myself. I’m also in another country, and it’s been so long since I’ve studied that I wonder if I’ve forgotten how.

I’m wondering how many of you out there have been through a similar experience. Do you have any tips on how to get back into studying after taking so long of a break? I guess I should stop writing about not being able to study and just do it! If only it were that easy.

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