So what have I been up to all September? Trying to finish up my research project, study for Step 2, and get all my peds residency application stuff together. Exciting. It's the longest "break" I've had since before third year started, but really it hasn't been vacation at all...I've been working pretty much all day every day...just not in the hospital. Still there's been more time for reflection, more time to watch my cats fight with each other and talk to Monkey, and more time to sit on my new balcony and drink tea. I've never been a coffee person (even with my time in Costa Rica), the caffeine and all the sugar I put in to make it palatable just make me to jittery, but I love all the wonderful possibilities of tea.
Earlier this week I started off my day with Twinings new Chai Spiced Apple. Some might say it's trying to hard, but it's perfect for a brisk autumn morning (when did summer end? seriously). Now that I've completed that wonderful hurdle known as the Step 2CS test in all its standardized patient glory (though I did have a fabulous trip to Chicago so it wasn't all bad), I'm in full on Step 2 CK study mode. Which means many many hours doing QBank questions. With less than 2 weeks to go I should probably be more nervous, but I actually like studying sometimes and wish I had done more of it over the past year.
Later that day I met up with Dr. S at Starbucks to talk about my pediatric thrombosis study which is still making me tear my hair out but is also finally coming together. I actually had a Pumpkin Spice Latte instead of tea (also recommend the carmel apple cider). For the life of me I've never been able to study in coffee shops. I agree with this guy that they are a place where ideas go to have sex, but they are not a place for silent studying. They are, however, a wonderful place to meet up and compare demographics on DVT patients and controls. With any luck our data analysis will actually yield something interesting.
That evening I was thrilled to hear Greg Mortenson give a talk while sipping a lovely cup of organic rose tea. You really don't get much more inspiring than that. The underlying idea is so simple, educated girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan, build communities, stop this ridiculous cycle of violence. Of course, as demonstrated in his books implementing that idea is anything but simple. And sadly, it's still something only a man could do. There is no way in hell those cultures would be receptive to a woman going in there and attempting to do what he's done, but at least maybe what he's doing could change all that. I would love to integrate better education into any future global health pursuits of mine (and here's another TED talk about one way it could be done). Shouldn't education and health be human rights? Maybe not at a survival level, but the world is sure as hell not going to become a better place without them. And Greg was so open and kind and funny. He really comes across as this normal guy who saw an opportunity where he could be of use and ran with it to the ends of the world. Just what I needed to remind me of what I really care about and keep me motivated when I'm stuck inside studying all day.
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