Topher is another medical student blogger that i have come to really enjoy over the years. he is infamous for his USMLE Step 1 study guide and is a bit of a Cinderella story because he (worked his butt off and) managed to transfer from a lowly Caribbean medical school back to the USA in his third year.
he hasn’t written anything in awhile. which, for a prolific blogger that loves to write, sorta seems like it should be a big deal. i guess a lot more happens in 3rd year than most of us expect.
Before, my shtick was looking around and sort of cataloging all the interesting things that were happening around me. Not a lot of introspection going on. Nothing to write about inside the barrel that is my hospital. Or there is, but that’s not the story.
The story is the fermenting. My classmates and I are taking on new flavors and textures. A few might be prematurely alcoholic. Others have lost their sweetness. Most rougher for the wear and rarely anyone smoother.
And it is incredible.
I put up a hell of a fight. A nine month spectacle of twisting, thrashing and spitting. On March 5th, 2008, I broke. Emotionally. Mentally. Broke. It was awful. I haven’t written about it because I’m unsure on these new, wobbly legs.
But for the first time I know what language is supposed to do. I know how people reward their physicians. I understand patience. I have experienced the risks and rewards of vulnerability. What is and is not important has been impossibly rearranged in my head. When I look at the decisions I am making now, I don’t recognize them as coming from my past. All of it seems to come from very different stuff.
But then you never could have told me, after I rolled one around in my mouth, that grapes could give way to wine.
~ from Topher‘s “Grapes and Wine”
Stopped to get a iced coffee drink this morning and outside was a guy with a stack of books and on the top was a USMLE study guide and I thought of you. Guess he is attending UCI on the other side of town.
Glad you had a perfect night off ; ) : ) Everyone needs those sometimes….we all love our breaks from the books!!