Dream Come True
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Medical School- Month 1
We survived the first month of medical school. I say "we" because we have both learned very quickly that to get through medical school it is a team effort! Cole works very hard and studies a lot, and so I am so happy and willing to help in any way possible! I wake up and make him breakfast every morning (I don't wake up early as he does though! He studies in the morning before 8 am class as well). I take care of all the grocery shopping, laundry, meal planning, meal making, house cleaning, house organizing, house projects, bill paying, etc, although he is so good and helps with things like dishes and meals when he can! But I don't want him to right now since I know he has so much on his plate. That saying "drinking from a fire hydrant" is becoming a reality for us and I just can't believe the volume of material medical students are required to know...and I mean come on it's not like medical school is a short time either! So much time and so much to know! I feel like he already knows SOOO much and it's only been a month! I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday and she was asking if Kirksville and medical school were everything that I thought it would be. That was a hard, but fair question because I didn't know truly what to expect although we had heard so much from so many people we kind of had a plethora of ideas of what it would be like. So I said yes! We knew it would be hard and it is, and we knew there would be great people and support here and there are! Except great would probably be an understatement! There are some really awesome people here! My sister-in-law rachel was so right when she said the friends you meet in medical school will become like your family! it's only been a month and I can already see that manifesting! Rachel has great advice, and totally knows because she has been through a similar experience with Ryan in Buffalo for Dental School.
Part of month 1 being over means FIRST TEST DONE! check! yay! So happy to get that under our belt! I think I was more nervous than Cole- no probably not....I sure prayed alot that week....although I pray a lot for him everyday!:) ATSU has changed their schedule alot people have said. Like last year they were on a quarter system, and the year before that it was something else, and now this year they are trying something new. They are doing semesters now. And by having a block test everything month that means they compile all their classes into one big bloc test. So for his first test there were 84 questions, 4 subjects including Anatomy, Histology, Biochemistry, and embryology, and a time limit of 1 hour and 52 minutes. YIKES! It's like a little MCAT! You think oh only 84 questions, but they take questions from every lecture from every subject...talk about having to know everything...LITERALLY! You could just keep studying and studying and studying! Cole would stay up late studying and then wake up early to study. And of course the tests on on Monday mornings...eeew! Who decided that one...! So Cole has decided that he would not study on Sundays and so he studied allll day friday and saturday, and I mean all day. I had to tell him to come eat his food multiple times before he would come. And to have to Cole to come eat was a new experience for me. He usually can always eat and is so ready to eat when it's meal time! So Sunday rolls around and we see all of our neighbors walking to campus to study and we are thinking oh my goodness they are going to study alllll day today! That is so not fair ( in a way). But we had a wonderful spiritual Sunday and made a wonderful dinner and then Cole went to bed at 8pm that night....waking up early monday morning at 3 am to study. Wow, I can't believe he did that, I was so proud of him. Some of the second years that are LDS and don't study on Sunday told Cole that they did that and it had turned out really well for them. We have made some great second year friends as well as other upper years that have really helped give Cole some great advice, tips and encouragement. They can't study for him but they can definitley try and tell him how it really is and works for them. We are learning there is a lot of trial and error in medical school with studying and things, although that seems ironic to me because there really isn't alot of room for error, or trial but they have to learn whats best for them somehow!! Although everyone is so different in their studying, and how they study and the way they go about it. But nonetheless, Cole passed his first medical school exam and did well! I was sooo proud of him!!! Good job sweetie! And thank you to all our family and friends that included him in your prayers!!!:)
To continue about studying....Cole wishes sometimes the professors could just tell them how to study and what was the most effective and efficient way to study. I remember coming home from the gym one night with Cole and he said,"why aren't there more hours in a day?" and then he said but I know Heavenly Father is perfect, so therefore the days he created are perfect. My heart just melted because I knew he was trying to understand and juggle in his mind,"okay now how am I suppose to get all of this done in one day?" One of the very first nights we were laying down to go to sleep and Cole said, "I don't know if I can do this." of course I paused and took a deep breath and said..."do what?" But Im pretty sure I knew what he was talking about. How is this possible he said? This is my life for 2 years- study study study! And it's ironic because my second Sunday in relief society I was asked to teach the lesson ( I had never taught relief society) and the lesson was "With God all Things are Possible" from the lesson manual Lorenzo Snow. And so Cole and i just talked about anything is possible if we put the Lord first and work hard, work together, do your best, and do your best to keep a balanced life. If we are obedient to His commandments and show Heavenly Father that we love Him everyday and that we love one another He will bless us and take care of us. I said we knew it would be hard, and not easy but it's what you and we ( me as support) really want to do and we are going to do it with the Lord's help! ...and of course the help from all the awesome support here. We talked about how there are going to be harder times than others and we are just going to have to plug through them.
I am glad we will have a few months to get settled and use to medical school before baby boy comes, although we are sooo excited for him to join our family! I feel like we have been in Kirksville for a lot longer than we really have. So much has happened! I feel like the days go by fast here in Medical School! wow! In summation, we are working together!!! The first month flew by with lots of studying and learning how to do things, work the ipad, how to study, etc. But our ward is fantastic, the people are wonderful, the weather has been awesome, our apartment is lovely and across the street from school...such a blessing! And the SAA has been awesome, but I will talk more about the student advocate association later...in which I am a member!:) They keep me busy with exercise group, cooking club and project nights etc! Well I think that about sums it up for the first month here in Kirksville Missouri. Awesome, hard, rewarding, and definitley a learning experience!
Part of month 1 being over means FIRST TEST DONE! check! yay! So happy to get that under our belt! I think I was more nervous than Cole- no probably not....I sure prayed alot that week....although I pray a lot for him everyday!:) ATSU has changed their schedule alot people have said. Like last year they were on a quarter system, and the year before that it was something else, and now this year they are trying something new. They are doing semesters now. And by having a block test everything month that means they compile all their classes into one big bloc test. So for his first test there were 84 questions, 4 subjects including Anatomy, Histology, Biochemistry, and embryology, and a time limit of 1 hour and 52 minutes. YIKES! It's like a little MCAT! You think oh only 84 questions, but they take questions from every lecture from every subject...talk about having to know everything...LITERALLY! You could just keep studying and studying and studying! Cole would stay up late studying and then wake up early to study. And of course the tests on on Monday mornings...eeew! Who decided that one...! So Cole has decided that he would not study on Sundays and so he studied allll day friday and saturday, and I mean all day. I had to tell him to come eat his food multiple times before he would come. And to have to Cole to come eat was a new experience for me. He usually can always eat and is so ready to eat when it's meal time! So Sunday rolls around and we see all of our neighbors walking to campus to study and we are thinking oh my goodness they are going to study alllll day today! That is so not fair ( in a way). But we had a wonderful spiritual Sunday and made a wonderful dinner and then Cole went to bed at 8pm that night....waking up early monday morning at 3 am to study. Wow, I can't believe he did that, I was so proud of him. Some of the second years that are LDS and don't study on Sunday told Cole that they did that and it had turned out really well for them. We have made some great second year friends as well as other upper years that have really helped give Cole some great advice, tips and encouragement. They can't study for him but they can definitley try and tell him how it really is and works for them. We are learning there is a lot of trial and error in medical school with studying and things, although that seems ironic to me because there really isn't alot of room for error, or trial but they have to learn whats best for them somehow!! Although everyone is so different in their studying, and how they study and the way they go about it. But nonetheless, Cole passed his first medical school exam and did well! I was sooo proud of him!!! Good job sweetie! And thank you to all our family and friends that included him in your prayers!!!:)
To continue about studying....Cole wishes sometimes the professors could just tell them how to study and what was the most effective and efficient way to study. I remember coming home from the gym one night with Cole and he said,"why aren't there more hours in a day?" and then he said but I know Heavenly Father is perfect, so therefore the days he created are perfect. My heart just melted because I knew he was trying to understand and juggle in his mind,"okay now how am I suppose to get all of this done in one day?" One of the very first nights we were laying down to go to sleep and Cole said, "I don't know if I can do this." of course I paused and took a deep breath and said..."do what?" But Im pretty sure I knew what he was talking about. How is this possible he said? This is my life for 2 years- study study study! And it's ironic because my second Sunday in relief society I was asked to teach the lesson ( I had never taught relief society) and the lesson was "With God all Things are Possible" from the lesson manual Lorenzo Snow. And so Cole and i just talked about anything is possible if we put the Lord first and work hard, work together, do your best, and do your best to keep a balanced life. If we are obedient to His commandments and show Heavenly Father that we love Him everyday and that we love one another He will bless us and take care of us. I said we knew it would be hard, and not easy but it's what you and we ( me as support) really want to do and we are going to do it with the Lord's help! ...and of course the help from all the awesome support here. We talked about how there are going to be harder times than others and we are just going to have to plug through them.
I am glad we will have a few months to get settled and use to medical school before baby boy comes, although we are sooo excited for him to join our family! I feel like we have been in Kirksville for a lot longer than we really have. So much has happened! I feel like the days go by fast here in Medical School! wow! In summation, we are working together!!! The first month flew by with lots of studying and learning how to do things, work the ipad, how to study, etc. But our ward is fantastic, the people are wonderful, the weather has been awesome, our apartment is lovely and across the street from school...such a blessing! And the SAA has been awesome, but I will talk more about the student advocate association later...in which I am a member!:) They keep me busy with exercise group, cooking club and project nights etc! Well I think that about sums it up for the first month here in Kirksville Missouri. Awesome, hard, rewarding, and definitley a learning experience!
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