As of Tuesday, we're officially third years here at Mizzou. Last block and the block before it (basically from January 3rd to now) were really rough. We lost some more people (now down to 104 from 117), and we may lose even more from this last block. I think they learned from some big mistakes made with our class, so next year will be better for the class of 2014... I hope. I would be more excited about being a third year if we hadn't already been in classes for it before and throughout finals, as well as finishing up the last block of second year. We had an hour long break from our last final to the first class of the day, and I have never looked so forward to a weekend in my life LOL.
We've been getting a lot more hands on and we start surgery lab this block, which is scary and exciting and sobering, all at once. We do terminal surgeries here, so all of us are mentally preparing for our first one, which takes place in about two weeks.
After this last 8 week block that ends on June 29th, we'll have our last summer break... in theory. Many of us are already starting externships when we get out, and most will last throughout the summer. To all of you who have breaks earlier than us, I'm jealous! The burn out here is incredibly high, too. Clinics begin in October, and I'm hoping that will re-light some of our fires. It's been a long year. We already have our core clinic schedules, so most of us spend entire days dreaming about that. Once we get our electives schedule, I'm sure this will only increase LOL.
Overall, I did like second year more than first year because it's full of medical application, forming your own lists of diagnoses from case examples, going through treatment plans, and feeling more like a doctor and less like a student. I feel much more prepared for clinics now than I did as a first year, and I'm really just ready to be out of the classrooms. For all of you who have three straight years of lecture, you have my sympathy, but at least you get longer vacations than we do LOL. I'm pretty sure the bags under my eyes will never go away, I've never loved a bed so much in my life, and I'm looking forward to what the future brings.
