Saturday . June 29 . 2002 . 5:05pm |
time So yesterday, I took the Boards. My parents kept asking me, "Did you do well on it? Did you think it was easy?" (typical Asian parent questioning), but honestly, for a nine-hour, 400-question multiple choice test, all you can really say afterwards is that you're glad that it's over. I actually finished the test with more than two hours to spare, but that's because I did so many practice questions in the week leading up to the test that I developed some idiot savant-like gift at speed- reading and answer-picking. Of course, this being an idiot savant-like skill, there's no assurances that the answers that I picked were the correct ones, but we can worry about all that in six weeks, when I get my scores in the mail. So this weeked, I'm at my parent's house. Joe is visiting his sister in Baltimore. I was originally supposed to go to Baltimore with him, and see my parents later this weeked, but when I realized that I actually had to go into the hospital on Sunday and that the weekend just wasn't long enough to split up, I decided to stay in New York. My family just got back from their whirlwind East Asian tour earlier this week, and since I hadn't seen them at all since Surgery started, and probably won't get to see much of them during my Sub-I next month, I really felt that I should drop in. But part of me wishes that I had gone to Baltimore. I wish that both of us had more time. It's a funny thing, the mating of two medical students. On one hand, it's the really obvious, natural option for both--who can understand what you're going through day-to-day more than another medical student, right? Who can argue with call schedules, long nights studying, obligations to patients, assignments for preceptors, and hours and hours spent away from your loved one when they themselves have to suffer through the same thing? "That's why it's so important to be married to someone in the medical field," my Surgery preceptor told us both just this last week. "No one else could understand or put up with it otherwise." But also, what uncommon pressures medical student pairs have to endure. Sure, you could argue that it's no different from any other busy job, but when it comes down to it, it really isn't. It's not a job, it's your life. And the ability to separate home and work life isn't always that simple. Especially when there's hardly a moment in the day to just sit and breathe and think your own thoughts and appreciate the good things. I wish we had more time. I wish we had two weeks off, or even just one. Hell, a long weekend would be nice. I wish we had that time off now, when we need it, not months away, in the Winter or Spring, after applications are in and all that's left to do is to sit and wait to collect our diplomas. We need a vacation. We need a break. xo Michelle |
