Island Med Student

When I walked out of the room into the hallway and announced that I was finished, the lady looked at me like I was crazy. She was responsible for administering the exams. “I thought you were taking the USLME Step 1,” she said. “I was,” I replied. Apparently, she’d never seen anyone finish the 8-hour exam in less than 4 hours. And I’m sure she didn’t suspect that the girl with pink hair would be the one to set the new speed record.

That’s right, today I took the first test in the series of U.S. medical licensing exams, the so-called Step 1. I only have two more Steps to go, and I’ll be eligible for licensure in the States.

Today was an interesting day. I woke up early this morning, drank my coffee and forced myself to eat some breakfast. At around 8:00 a.m. my partner dropped me off at the testing center to take the exam. When I walked into the testing area, the lady informed me that I had to remove my headscarf, per policy. I reluctantly removed the scarf, revealing a pile of pink, greasy, hadn’t-been-washed-in-days-because-of-my-study-marathon, matted hair. Luckily, that turned out to be the worst part of the exam.

Less than four hours later, I strolled out of the testing area, took the elevator to the ground floor, and waltzed outside to breathe in the warm, city air. Ahhh, I do love the smell of freedom in the morning, it smells like victory.

I’ve been studying for this exam for over a month. My entire life had been reduced to memorizing a monumental pile of seemingly random facts. I had been living, eating, and breathing this exam for so long. And now it’s finally over!
It definitely wasn’t the easiest exam I’ve ever taken, but I don’t think it was unbearably difficult. Some of the questions I knew right away, and others I had to take a wild guess on. However, I don’t want to comment on how I think I did because I don’t have any wood to knock on nearby, and I’d rather not jinx myself.

The good news is that I have the next two weeks off, and then I start my first clinical rotation. I plan on enjoying every minute of the next two weeks. I don’t plan on reading a single medical textbook, and I’m certainly not going to be memorizing pharmacokinetic equations.

Instead, I’m going to enjoy the sweet smell of freedom, and savor every last drop of it, since I know it won’t last forever.

Click Here To View the Original Post on Medscape

I’M DONE!!! Yes folks, I finished taking the exam. I wrote an entry for the Differential, which will give more of the details, but the point is that I have officially taken the USLME Step 1. In fact, I finished the exam in less than 4 hours, including 3 breaks. You are allotted 8 hours to take the exam. I can’t help it. Ask anyone, I take exams at the speed of light. I don’t know if it’s because I read so quickly, or think so quickly, or maybe I just don’t pay enough attention, but the point is that I am a fast exam taker.

It’s finally over. OVER!

And now I will turn my attention to sleeping, relaxing, and enjoying some frosty beverages. I have a two week vacation until my first rotation begins. I will enjoy this time immensely.

But first, I have to do something about my poor, neglected, unwashed hair (see more details in the Differential entry). It’s time to have some fun.

Thank you to everyone who sent me an email or left me a comment. I truly appreciate all the votes of confidence. And now that I have free time, I also promise to reply to the monstrous pile of emails in my inbox.

Cheers!

I take my Step 1 exam in 20 hours. I’m seriously starting to freak out. I’ve taken some of the NBME practice exams, and I’m scoring in the average range. I know that I will pass this exam. I know that if I had studied more, I could do better though. So many people get to this part and reschedule their exam for a later date. I don’t want to do that. I just want to get this stupid exam over with. I was supposed to be relaxing right now, but I just can’t. I’m so tempted to keep cramming. That’s totally out of character for me. I’m usually not a crammer. I’m sorry if I owe you an email. I wish I could post some cool stuff right now. But I’m just focusing on not losing it. I sooo can’t wait for this all to be over.

My exam will be over at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. See you all on the flipside.

Even though I probably shouldn’t have, I took a break from studying on Sunday to hang out with my friends for a bit on the Memorial Day weekend. I decided to wear my awesome Mondrian dress, inspired by the Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. Micah and I took quite a few “we’re superstars” photos, so I thought I’d post them. Anyway, only 2 more days until my exam…

Click Here to View the Pics

After talking about my mud wrestling experience where I lost my shoe, I went through my computer and found this old file. I’m a huge fan of wrestling, and especially mud wrestling. This event was unplanned. Hence, the loss of my shoe. Enjoy my pain.

I took today’s pic while driving by in my Del Sol, so I didn’t catch the whole thing, but you get the gist. It’s a pretty church somewhere on Greenmount Avenue. There are so many fabulous churches here in Baltimore, I can’t wait to get some more photos. Sorry I don’t know any of the details of the church. Anyhoo, enjoy!

“Baltimore – The Greatest City in America” photo series

• Juvenile center home to despair — – baltimoresun.com
  (tags: interesting)
• Should We Legalize the Market for Human Organs? : NPR
  (tags: news)

Today’s pic was inspired by a reader of my blog, John. He mentioned wanting to put together a collection of photos of the lone shoes you always see scattered about in places. I took this photo of a lonely shoe on the sidewalk right outside my building. I really like his idea, and I’m especially interested in the stories behind these lonely shoes. How were they lost? Where is the owner? I’ve lost many things while galavanting around, and I’ve even lost a shoe once. It’s actually is a great story. I was involved in a spontaneous mud wrestling contest in the middle-of-nowhere-West-Virginia and I was wearing flip flops. By the end of the fight, I realized that I had lost one of my shoes. We looked for that flip flop for hours, while listening to Black Eyed Peas, dancing, eating hummus, melting chocolate bars, doing the robot, making video recordings, and drinking cheap beer.

Maybe someone finally found that lonely flip flop years later. I wonder what kind of story they made up for it.

“Baltimore – The Greatest City in America” photo series

• Drugs, prostitution threaten wildlife refuges – CNN.com
  (tags: interesting)

I am a lover and connoisseur of found art. I have a lot more to say on that topic, but I’ll leave it at that for now. One of the cool things about living in this building with vagabonds and artists is that there is always tons of free stuff. Some call it trash, I call it found art. Anyway, the fun part of my day is when I go down to the area next to the dumpster. If people have stuff that they don’t want anymore, they leave it next to the dumpster for others to take. The pile of stuff literally changes by the minute. I will try and capture lots of pics of the stuff, but here are two to get your tastebuds excited. Today, I picked out a nice item from the pile. It’s a virgin mary statue with shells and christmas lights around it. Fabulous!

My virgin mary!