Fall is strange in the south

It has been a bit cold this week...you know 78 degrees! I think it feels cold because the air conditioning at the school is set to about 65 degrees and it has been raining. The rain feels warm and it isn't too bad (there is a lot of rain when it comes down), but when you go into the air conditioning wet, it makes you feel EXTRA cold. I actually made chicken noodle soup and lasagna in the last week because I feel cold enough to EAT hot food. I'm going to freeze when I go home!

Well, I've narrowed down the fields I don't want to go into: cardiology, nephrology and pulmonary are OUT! Maybe I shouldn't rule out pulmonary because I've always thought that cystic fibrosis is VERY interesting; however, I don't like calculating the pressures and the bronchial equilibrium points, and etc. I do LOVE infectious disease and obviously cancer. I guess love isn't the correct word ... I find them extremely interesting. Speaking of interesting, I have to review more kidneys and histology before I get to go to bed! I have a great story to tell so I'll write again in the next day or two.

Kidney's and a cold

Last weekend was lots of fun after our exam; however, now i am dying of the common cold. It isn't any better to have a cold down here in this warm weather because you feel like you have hot and cold flashes everytime you walk outside!! I can't tell if I have a fever (which I don't think I do) or if I have air conditioning fever!!

We are starting the kidney's in physiology this week. My advice to you: don't mess up your kidneys! They are complicated and they are very important. Don' t do anything that may hurt your kidneys.

We are only a month away from the final and I started reviewing on Monday. I'm tired and looking forward to having this first semester behind me.

We had our second BIG exam on Thursday. I am SO tired! The physiology section of the exam was extremely difficult, but I felt great about the microbiology/immunology, histology, anatomy and biochemistry. In fact, I think I love microbiology/immunology more every day!!! We went to the beach after the exam and it was wonderful as usual! I don't think I've ever been a beach person, but if your in Miami you must go to the beach. I'm excited for this weekend as a group of us are going out to dinner and to a great wine bar.

Holy Smokes: Mass was CRAZY!

I went to mass with a few friends today. It is a cute little church with a huge grade school. They seem pretty laid back, especially for Catholics. Since we have a big exam on Thursday, we decided to go to the earlier service. BIG MISTAKE!! It was the special kindergartener’s mass: they did a special progression and sang songs. The music was changed for the younger audience (and by young I mean the kindergartener’s all had younger siblings). I felt like it was a PBS special: “Barney does Mass.” The Father presiding over the mass even got up and danced with the kids while they sang---I mean he and his cane danced! This church generally finished mass in 45 minutes or less (and the extra special mass today only took an hour), but what amazes me about it is the music. I think that it must be the Hispanic influence. They are practically dancing in the aisles and they do some special clapping (they also have coordinated movements to go with the songs while they dance). Let’s just say it was an experience today. I have never heard so many crying children—I couldn’t take it and I want to be a pediatrician! I think that attending mass today confirmed that I couldn’t be a grade school teacher: I’d poke my eyes out with a spoon!

Our big exam is on Thursday. I am feeling okay about it, but I’ve decided I as wrong about pulmonary. I don’t like pulmonary as much as I did at the beginning of the unit. I think I’m going to learn to love high altitude this afternoon! I’ll write more after the exam, when I get a little bit of my life back!

Consumerism in Florida: It's different than at home.

Well it’s been a busy week and my internet has been erratic so I haven’t been able to write! We have another big exam on Thursday the 13th so I’m taking this long weekend to review and prepare. It isn’t as much fun as it sounds!! We are working on viruses in microbiology, which are actually interesting. I don’t partially enjoy the memorization of them; however, I think it is fun to play detective and try to figure out what a patient in a review question has. I’ve been surprised how intuitive the microbiology and immunology has been for me; don’t get me wrong, I still have to study but it makes sense to me.

Some things are very different in Florida, for example Costco has a liquor store. I realize that liquor is not regulated at the federal level; however, it is the weirdest thing to me to walk into the Costco Liquor Store. It is outside the main store, like the tire shop is at the Spokane stores. They also must tax less for their liquor because it is dirt cheap. I really don’t need any liquor sitting around the house, but I considered buying some for a moment because it was so doggone cheap! There is a Nordstrom just one metro stop away from my apartment. It is also strange because they have different stock. I guess it is to be expected that the stock is different than in the Seattle and Spokane stores, but I don’t think it is a step up. Much of the inventory doesn’t look as classy as I expect Nordstrom to be; however, I wouldn’t describe Florida as classy—I’d describe it as flashy!

I think I’ve figured out the real secrete to the South Beach Diet. Honestly, it has NOTHING to do with the actual diet: it is the heat! Since moving here, I don’t want to eat because it is so hot. I usually love to cook, but here I don’t want to cook because I don’t want to heat up the house. Some of my friends have been resorting to eating lots of fast food; but for the most part, nutritionally it is terrible and I think that it tastes horrible. I’ve been losing weight probably because I end up snacking throughout the day and eating one meal because food just doesn’t sound good. Maybe if I wasn’t allergic to seafood, I’d have a different opinion of Miami. I’ve been surprised that the fruit here is so expensive, especially the oranges. Eating fresh fruit is one thing that I’m willing to pay a bit more for.

Anyway, I think it is time to hit the books again! I have a few muscles to memorize for anatomy class!