Lottery

3rd year is right around the corner! Pretty soon, we will be done with our pre-clinical curriculum, go off to study for and take Step 1 of our boards, and then we will officially be in the clinical half of the med school years. Third year is reserved for the core clinical rotations. Since everyone can't obviously be on the same rotation at the same time, schools have various ways of scheduling students. Some schools simply hand students schedules. Other schools have a few set schedules they have students rank and then assign accordingly. Our school is a little different. ;)

We have a Lottery system of choosing your clerkship schedule. Everyone gets to pick a number out of a hat and then based on your number, you choose one rotation at a time. The starting point changes with each round, of course. Anyway, you don't have to go in any particular order (e.g. you can schedule your third rotation before your first) and are free to choose any order you like, so long as there is an open spot. Now, see where it gets stressful? What if what you want isn't open, you ask? Well, you can't take it and have to figure something else out!

Over winter break, I came up with like 17 permutations for schedules I would be okay with. Which was a complete waste of time, haha. You really end up making decisions on the fly, because your strategy needs to change based on how other people are choosing their rotations. If it looks like one of the rotations is filling up, you choose it that particular round to avoid losing it. Regardless, about 1/4 of the class will end up getting locked out of their last rotation pick just because the spaces have filled up. There might be spaces open for other rotations, but they are not the one you need.

Of course, I figured with my luck, I was bound to get locked out. And I did! Good thing I'm consistent. I had picked every rotation except Pediatrics for my second rotation. What happens when you get locked out is, each person has to go through their schedule and adjust accordingly to fill in whatever is open. This might mean that you have to tear apart your entire schedule. Luckily, the person before me dropped Pediatrics as her second rotation when she was adjusting her schedule, and I swooped right in. Didn't need to adjust my schedule after all!

Behold, my 3rd year schedule (8 weeks each):

Surgery
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Medicine
Ob/Gyn
Family

It isn't what I originally wanted, but it's close enough. I'm excited and terrified.

Prepping the night before.

The school decorated our room as Super Heroes! 

My lottery number.

Won a Starbucks gift card as well! 

Post-lottery celebrations.

Silent Auction and Wine Tasting Benefit

Every year, the second-year medical students help put together a Wine Auction in order to raise money for our student-run clinics. Co-directors from the various clinics come together to co-chair the various committees. Last year, I volunteered with the Decorations committee and so this year became one of the Co-chairs for Decorations! Our theme was Casino Royale, and we came up with a bunch of ideas to turn our building into the swankiest casino ever. This year we had the misfortune of not being able to borrow items from the main campus, so we literally had to assemble decorations ourselves, come up with creative ways to save money, and purchase whatever else we could not find. And it turned out great! The place really looked amazing and we got so many compliments. Hopefully, we were able to raise a lot of money for the clinics.

And although it was a lot of fun, I am so glad the event is over. Most of my commitments are wrapping up, since it's getting close to crunch-time for boards studying. In fact, I had my last clinic shift in December. It's so odd to have my weekends off (for now), and though I am thankful for the extra time, I also miss going there.

Spray-painted some wine bottles with my awesome co-chair.

Took me 8 hours to cut all those dots, no big.

Amazing. 

So cool!

Our catering department was able to put together this platter as well, ha!

My last day as a Co-Director. Sad :(

The home life

There's nothing like going home for the holidays.

Made sure to stop by my alma mater!

First time making sweet potato pie!

Cousin's wedding. What's that fluorescent stuff? ;)

Pretty chocolates.

J's birthday party venue.

Annual Christmas cookie party with high school friends.

Banana pudding!

Fall in Sacramento

Yes, I know it's January and technically winter. But I've unfortunately been neglecting this blog, which I am sad about. Hopefully, I can pick up some writing this year, even though 2015 is going to be a huge change, what with board exams and starting rotations. Since I have a lot of pictures from the last few months, I figured I might as well share and pretend like I have been updating everything on a timely basis.

I've never gone apple picking before. I didn't even know it was a thing, until I saw some East Coast friends post some pictures a few years ago. Since then, I've resolved to do it, if anything to see what it's like. Unfortunately, we completely missed the season (PSA: go in August or September!) so there were no apples to actually pick! However, we still enjoyed our time and got to experience the beauty of Apple Hill. I will be on weekend-free rotation from late August to October this year, so hopefully I can get a chance to go during the season and pick some of them apples!

Beautiful Apple Hill

On our walk through.

Sundaes with apple pie filling and homemade caramel sauce!

Back in early November, I also attended my very first, bonafide, grown-up medical conference! It was a smaller, cozy Psychiatry conference in San Francisco, so it was easy to make a day trip out of it. I'm really glad I attended. I sat in on some excellent presentations and workshops, enjoyed the day with some classmates and friends, and felt like a professional (sort of!). Psychiatry is still one of the top fields I'm considering pursuing, so it was a wonderful opportunity. And free for med students, booyah!

Drive in the really early AM to get there on time.

Mid-conference lunch break.

Hanging out with one our attendings at the rooftop lounge! Oh snap!

Fall time in Sac can get a little chilly, but it sure is pretty.

Leaves just begging to get crunched.

The colors!

It's hot cocoa ;)