Island Med Student

Seen in an alley nearby my apartment. This is how I feel right now. I wonder what the story is behind this stroller…

“Baltimore - The Greatest City in America” photo series

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I’m not particularly happy right now. I just found out for sure that I’m moving to Brooklyn, and starting a surgery rotation on August 18th. It looks like there’s an incredibly good chance that I’ll be doing all of my core rotations (one year’s worth) in NYC, and hopefully Brooklyn. I’m peeved right now at the Ross clinical department. They were incredibly less than helpful in answering my questions and helping me out. I really wish they would have told me a long time ago that I would have to move to NYC. It would have completely changed my plans. Now I have to leave my just-moved-in apartment in Baltimore and find something in Brooklyn. There’s a part of me that’s excited about moving to another city, but most of me wants to stay right here. I can’t believe how quickly this is all happening…

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Check out my post on Medscape about my current geographical pickle.

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That’s right, I’m finally on my summer vacation! Today I took the final exam for my psych rotation. The good news is that I’m now ready to begin my next rotation. The bad news is that I’m having problems with the Ross clinical department. They scheduled me for the next 9 months in NYC. I wrote a Differential blog, which outlines the issues, but the gist is that I’m excited and upset right now. I don’t know what my future holds.

Either way, though, I have at least a week with no rotations, so I’m enjoying my time off. My current aspirations include going out and eating tons of Baltimore crabs, going to the beach, traveling to Luray to visit the fam, and visiting Six Flags to ride as many roller coasters as possible. If I can just find a swimming pool and some candy apples, my summer will be complete!

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Believe. Yet another slogan that is pasted all over the city of Baltimore. You can see it on trash cans, park benches, bus stops, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. I’ve even seen bumper stickers that say “Blieve, Hon” playing on the infamous Baltimorean accent and regional affectionate slang.

I think the word, “Believe,” has now actually taken on more than what it originally meant, but here is an explanation that I found in the New York Times:

Believe. One word, printed in black and white, as if things were that clear. It began as a high-concept public relations campaign, begun by the mayor, Martin O’Malley, to tackle Baltimore’s most infamous problem, drug crime. For years, the city had been at or near the top of the list of per-capita misery statistics: most murders, most addicts, most high school dropouts, most cases of H.I.V. and syphilis.

Believe was a way to address those ills, not through programs, but through commercials, banners and bumper stickers. Few cities had ever tried anything so abstract.

This photo isn’t the best one, but I never seem to have my camera on me when I see a good example. I promise to find some better ones in the future!

“Baltimore - The Greatest City in America” photo series

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Last Saturday, I attended the Baltimore Artscape festival. What is Artscape? Here’s a description from their website:

The largest free public arts festival in the country, Artscape features 150+ artists, fashion designers and craftspeople; visual art exhibits on and off site, including exhibitions, outdoor sculpture, art cars, photography and the Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize; incredible live concerts on four outdoor stages; a full schedule of performing arts including dance, opera, theater, fashion, film, experimental music and performances by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; family events such as hands-on projects, demonstrations, competitions, children’s entertainers and multiple street theater locations; and a delicious, international menu of food and beverages that is available throughout the festival site.

This being entirely up my alley, I had to attend and I ended up having an absolute blast. Of course, I had to take the opportunity to design a fun outfit, so I fashioned a new version of my “hands-bra,” some huge sunglasses, my butterfly wings, and a variety of other fun fashion accessories.

My outfit turned out to be way more of a success than I had imagined. Literally over a hundred people requested to have my photo taken with them (including police officers and Mormons!). In fact, it became so over the top that Micah ended up making his own collection of photos of people taking my photos! You can view them on his Flickr here.

Since he was so busy taking photos of people taking photos of me, I don’t have as many pics of me and my friends, but he did manage to get a few fun shots.

I can’t wait for next year’s Artscape!

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Check out my post on Medscape about the lack of diversity in medicine.

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Today’s Baltimore pic is a sign hanging on the jail on Eager Street, just a few blocks from our apartment. Apparently, someone was shot in the head in a liquor store just a few blocks away from us last night. Unfortunately, I guess the sign wasn’t effective in that case.

Anyway, I promise to start posting more frequently as soon as my Internet works properly!

“Baltimore - The Greatest City in America” photo series

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If you know me, you’re probably familiar with my obsession with all things pink, big, and having to do with eye protection. Today I made a purchase that fulfills all of my obsessional criteria. Expect many pictures of my new favorite sunglasses to follow! Today’s pic was taken at a Panera Bread.

Oh. My. God. Becky.

Look at her sunglasses!

They’re just so….BIG!!

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It’s official, I passed the USMLE Step 1 exam, the first of three medical licensing exams to become a physician in the US. I’ll write more about it later, but for now, I’m incredibly happy.

How’d I do? Well, I’m not going to give out my score to the world, but let’s just say this: I didn’t completely spank the exam, but I got a fairly competitive score. I shouldn’t have any problems getting a residency with my score, especially with my GPA and other CV items.

What what I have done differently? I probably would have taken another week or two to study. I also would have completed all of the NBME practice exams, which I had planned on doing, but ran out of time for. Other than that, I don’t think I would have changed much.

Anyway, I’m happy as can be right now. I just got home from the hospital and I’m going for a run down to the harbor. Afterwards, I’m treating myself to dinner for a celebration!

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