I leave for Nashville tomorrow, for Vanderbilt's second visit weekend. Unlike the Emory thing last weekend, this one is for all the accepted students. So it won't be as intimate, with everybody in the program basically feeling like they've gotten to know everybody else. Hopefully, it will still be fun. And if I enjoy myself, and like the school, then I'm going to Vanderbilt. Full stop.

I've given this a lot more thought than I've written about here or even talked about with anybody other than like, my parents and my sister. For one thing, I would feel like a huge tool talking to people about such a "hard" decision, when a lot of people would give their right arm and sweat mayonnaise to be in my situation. Secondly, despite the kindness and best efforts of others, I just feel like not a lot of people really understand what has to go into a decision like this. Maybe, once I've actually made a 'for sure' decision, I'll talk about it a bit. But for now, I pack.

LSU is in the Final Four. Can't say I called that one. Well, I did in my "wishful thinking" bracket, but that one doesn't really count. I watched most of the game, but the final Emory Revisited activity, an "elegant dinner party" (their words), was also this evening. I only had time to see that there would be an overtime before I absolutely had to abandon the TV for the pre-dinner mingling. Boo. I was worried that my not watching would jinx them, but apparently it made them do better. Yes, I do sincerely believe that games are influenced by whether or not I'm watching.

The dinner party was held in the hotel ballroom. The food was ridiculously good. Amazing. While I appreciate any free food, it is a universally accepted fact that my heart can be won instantly by feeding me fish. There was salmon tonight, plus a lot of other good stuff. For dessert, there were cream puffs. I was a very happy camper.

I went to a club with some people from the Revisited program, as one last thing, but it was only a wee bit of fun. I don't like being surrounded by lots and lots of people.

I'm too sleepy to keep typing.

I am sure this will come as a shock to most of you, as it did to me. But apparently, intern year (the first year after graduating med school) is nothing like "Grey's Anatomy." First of all, nobody uses the elevator that much, even when going up several stories. The one time we did use the elevator, there were no emotional breakdowns or dramatic confrontations. None of the residents brought their babies to work, so there were few possibilities for wacky hijinks. And just going by the deference I saw being given to attendings, I feel like the Chief wouldn't take very much attitude from residents.

Of course, I was in Medicine, not Surgery, so who knows?

We got to rank three specialties that we were interested in for today's preceptorships. My #1 was endocrinology, for no other reason than I've found the endocrine system fascinating every time I've had to study it: Science Bowl (shut up), AP Bio, Quiz Bowl, the MCAT, Human Phys. And also, my mom had that pituitary tumor seven years ago, so I've a reason to be somewhat interested in the field. Anyway, I got placed with an intern who introduced herself as "Brie, like the cheese, not the Housewife." I knew then that we would get along splendidly. And we did!

We saw several transplant patients who were on steroid treatments to counteract rejection, and had developed diabetes because of the steroids. There were a couple of pituitary tumors and thyroidectomies, both pre- and post-op. I got to write an order, signing my name to it and everything. It was just for a routine TSH level, and Dr. Brie co-signed on it, and I guess it's not a huge deal, but it was basically the best thing ever. Because I'm a dork. A medical dork.

Okay, I'll admit. My email to Dr. Brown about my conflict with Friday's test was kinda late. It could have been earlier, or better yet, wouldn't have even been needed, if a certain prof were a little less of a slacker and had prepared the exam earlier. There is no need to send me a pissy email about the fact that I have an "interview" at Emory and still have to miss class. The fact that it's at Emory doesn't mean I can magically still appear in class. Well, at least not if something is scheduled for class time. But do you know how much I don't want to deal with Dr. Brown's pissiness? I get back from my preceptorship at 1:30. When I get back from the hospital, I'm going to go to White Hall 101 and take the stupid exam. I might take off the white coat I'm going to get, I might not. I might look at the study guide, I might not. But I am in too good a mental place right now to try and placate a professor's bruised ego. So I'll just diffuse the situation before it even starts.

In other news. I am having lots of fun, and eating lots of free food, all as a part of Emory Revisited! The other prospective students are really nice, the current med students are really nice, and everybody's very understanding of the situation. Our stressful part is over, and now we're all trying to get as much information as possible before making this very big, very important decision. A very very big huge, gigantic decision. We are all very appreciative of the fact that we have a choice in the first place, but still. Ginormous freaking decison.

I will not be staying with my student host, since they assigned me a host who lives in Alpharetta. I don't do Alpharetta. We have a breakfast at Dooley's at 7:45. That's a lot easier to do when waking up at Clairmont, vs. waking up in Alphafreakingretta. Besides, I firmly believe that if we humans were meant to venture outside the perimeter, we wouldn't have evolved into perimeter-building creatures in the first place. I'll stay inside, thanks.

Okay, I have an early wakeup tomorrow, so I am going to go to bed!

Last night, while I was sleeping, I came to the realization that my thesis is in very bad shape. I was pretty discouraged when I woke up. I knew that it was past time for me to start finding ways to describe and tie together all of my data. I'm still at the data-collecting stage, so that's kinda sucky. I moped around for a bit, mad at myself for slacking off all this time. But then I realized, just because the stuff I have isn't sufficient for the original focus of my thesis, it could be good for something else. So I buckled down and worked really hard all day, running some simulations and analyzing the results I do have. I'm going to say something that would probably make my sophomore-year self die of shock: Mathcad made my day worthwhile. I was making best-fit curves like a mofo.


My mood was also boosted when I checked my mail today. In it, I found an envelope from Vanderbilt's student health services. It was basically a bunch of health forms that I have to fill out and send back, immunization records and the like. What brought a smile to my face was the fact that the accompanying letter started out, "Dear Vanderbilt medical student,". Not "Dear student who's way behind on her thesis," not "Dear slacker who is doing work that should have been done months ago." They aren't concerned about that stuff. To them, I'm just one of their incoming medical students, so maybe I should be a little less hard on myself about this thesis, hmmm?

I was feeling pretty sick this afternoon, and nothing I tried was making me feel better. Until I found some Olympic curling on TV. Knocked me right out, and I slept off the sickness. I also missed the first part of trivia, and when I did show up, I was kinda off my game. It didn't help that the announcer guy screwed us over a little bit. See, you've got one song to turn in your answer to each question. Sometimes, if you pay attention, the song the announcer plays gives you a hint to the current question. For example, once the announcer played "Rapture" after a question, and the answer turned out to be Blondie. Well, tonight the guy asked a Sex question, and then played "Turning Japanese." Of course we put masturbation. The guy later claimed that he didn't know the song is generally accepted to be about masturbation. I call bullshit, because anyone who doesn't know that doesn't deserve to have a job in the trivia industry.

Moving on to the next rant...I wish people would stop asking me what kind of doctor I'm studying to be. Because first of all? I'm not in medical school yet. So I'm not studying to be ANY kind of doctor. I'm still working on getting that BS in chemistry. Secondly, I grow weary of explaining the whole clinical rotations thing. So, I've decided to just respond with Reproductive Endocrinology. Hopefully that'll just get the smile-and-nod response, rather than the "OMG WHY DON'T YOU KNOW YET SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW BY NOW???" I know people just ask because they care, but it still bugs a bit.

Hahaha, I just checked my email, and Emory Med School has actually seen fit to extend me an invitation to interview. A week from Friday- Hello, short notice. AND they spelled my name wrong in the email! It literally says "TO: LaKedra" and then continues, "Dear Lekedra,..." AND I'm almost positive I'd be interviewing for the waiting list at this point. But you know what? I'm going to interview anyway, for no other reason than it's across the street. Literally across the street.

Danielle and I just came up with a number of amusing scenarios for my Emory interview day. Like walking in with my backpack and saying "I've got class in White Hall at 2, will this be over by then?" Easily amused, we are.

Human Physiology: Mon-Wed-Fri, 9:35-10:25

Dr. Starnes seems really nice, but not the stupid kind of nice that doesn't get anything done. I think she's going to teach us a lot and still be cool. The class itself seems to be made up of mostly sophomores and juniors who are obsessed with the MCAT. Seriously, that's like all I heard in the before-class chatter. Poor kids. Was that really me just a year ago, all worried about taking the MCAT? It feels like I've lived a lifetime since then.

Starnes let us out pretty early, so I got a nice long break before my next class.

Intro to Global Health: Mon-Wed-Fri, 2:00-2:50

This is the first semester the class has been offered. They're planning to make a Global Health minor, but for now they're just testing things out. Basically the prof has only the vaguest ideas about how he's going to teach the class. I don't really care. Quote of the day: "Some of you might find this class a little simplistic. But if you're a second semester senior and don't mind coasting..." Whoo!

And that's it. Tomorrow I have a history class, that I might be dropping. We'll see.

I have an interview at Harvard on Valentine's day. Maybe I'll fall in love with the school, har har har. Anyway, I'm kinda sick of the whole interview process, but it's Harvard Med. I don't like it when people are overly impressed by names, but it's Harvard Med. I have to at least go see what it's like.

I have class tomorrow. My feelings on this: Whaaaaa??!! I have never felt less anticipation about starting a brand new semester. I think I'm going to drop the history class I signed up for, and just have two classes and the thesis. Spend a lot of time in the lab, and in the chem library. Oh man, it's not going to be fun. It's going to suck. People say you get Honors just for finishing, but that's going to be a problem. Is it bad that I don't think about the stuff at all, except during the moments I'm actually forced to work on it or talk about it?

APhiO is going to be a pain, but a good pain. I hope.

I've officially withdrawn my applications to LSU Shreveport, Ohio State, Baylor, Georgetown, and GWU. That is painful to do. Even with acceptances, even though going through interviews is a pain, I get this oppressive feeling. I am basically closing doors that I will not be able to open again. It's like turning down invitations to go out to various places, because you've already made plans with someone else. But there's a risk that the person will cancel on you. Now make that situation like, a thousand times more important in the scheme of life. With each withdrawal, I get an overwhelming urge to make some phone calls. "Hey, Vandy, hey UNC. It's LaKedra. We're still on for this fall, right? Okay, yeah, just checking. Thanks bye!"

This is only my sixth entry all year, which is ridiculous. I'll do better once I have school stuff to talk about, honest!

So, I need to make the confirm interview/withdraw decision for Ohio State, Shreveport, Georgetown, GWU, and Baylor. Ohio State would be a good excuse to go up and spend a weekend with the goddaughter. I also heard through the pre-med grapevine that you get a messenger bag type thing if you interview there, which sounds like a nice freebie. I guess I'll make those decisions once I get home.

I caught the end of "Noel" on Bravo today- tuned in just as Yo Yo Ma was playing. I should have changed the channel, because I knew I would not be able to hold it together- that episode makes me weepy under normal circumstances. But I couldn't stop watching. And sure enough, all it took was "This guy's walking..." and I was open-mouthed sobbing into my stat mech notes. I totally blame stress and hormones, y'all. I'm not a weird freak or anything. Honest. Stress and hormones.

Speaking of stat mech, that programming project? I have something to turn in. And that is my criteria for success. And I've gone over all my notes and all of the homework. Don't really get all of it, but that's okay. I am going to memorize some equations and look over everything one more time and LORD, I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL I AM DONE.

So Matt R., the illustrious 3-time president of APhiO, has completely ripped apart some ligaments in his foot. See, there was a minivan, full of children holding puppies, going down the highway. The driver lost consciousness, endangering the lives of everyone in the minivan. Matt saw this from the passenger seat of another car, and in a moment of pure selflessness, leapt from the car he was in, into the minivan. He saved the driver and the children and the puppies, but really messed up his foot. He didn't even notice until much later, though, because he was going on pure adrenaline.

Or, maybe some of us made that whole thing up, and he just had a misstep on a staircase. You never know. Anyway, why am I telling you this? Because in a funny coincidence, his apartment just happens to be right above my apartment. And his bedroom happens to be directly above mine. So as I type this, I can hear him crutching around and hopping over things and sitting down the only way he can, which is by dropping his crutches and falling. Before I knew he was hurt, you can only imagine what I thought was going on up there. I thought maybe he had started a Fight Club. That probably would be more fun. Poor Matt.

I didn't study as much as I intended to this evening, but the acceptance from Chapel Hill has given me just the amount of confidence (cockiness?) I need not to care. I went to a "study break" over at the SAAC, intending to stay one hour. I ended up staying three, and just got back from taking Jenn L. back to her room. It was really fun, a nice way to unwind and completely forget about stress, and there was lots of chocolate. It was also possibly the last time I'll ever see Kim H., since she's going abroad next semester. It's weird, I can't quite wrap my mind around the concept of never seeing people again. So I'm kinda sad, but I'm not crying. Yet. I'll have to get used to the feeling next semester, and I suspect I'll spend a lot of time crying then.


Quote of the night: "You're going to be a high-maintenance pregnant lady one day!!"

As soon as I woke up today, I had to finish an art history paper, and write a response for today's French reading. I finished both of them, yay! French class was long, but the discussion was good. And it should help with the paper I have to write sometime between now and Monday. Crikey. Art history was just turning in the paper. I used the extra time to eat a decent lunch, and work on my word count.

Then I had to load the last of the food drive donations into my car- several boxes of food from Trimble/Means. And then I drove it over to Families First, waaaay over in Midtown, with all the one-way streets named Peachtree. They were super-happy to get the carload of food. That particular agency serves about 120,000 people in the metro Atlanta area. That's a huge need to be met, so every bit helps. If I'm SVP next semester (nominations and elections are happening without me), I'm definitely going to try and organize another drive. It was a pain in the behumpas while it was going on, but today it was all worth it. I was on cloud nine all the way back here.

Then I got back, saw all my stuff, and realized that I'm going home tomorrow. I've pretty much spent the whole semester experiencing these intense bursts of missing Baton Rouge. But now that I'll be there soon, it's like...oh dear. Normally Thanksgiving would mean lots of family time, but there would also be alone time. This time isn't normal of course. There are four extra people at my house, alone time will be very hard to get. I'm worried for my sanity, and I'm worried for my word count.

Then on Sunday I fly from home to JFK, catch a bus from JFK to New Haven, and interview at Yale the next day. I decided that it was time to act like I'm taking the trip, so I got a hotel and a reservation on a bus to JFK for my return flight. The bus from the airport, they said I wouldn't need a reservation for. Of course, they also said that the Courtyard by Marriott was within walking distance of the med school campus. I google mapped it (to quote YY, I google map like it's my job), and there's no way I'm walking that distance in interview clothes. I'll get a cab. It doesn't matter. I'm sparing no expenses, because this will probably be my last interview. So much for creating a huge tshirt collection.

I know, I know, wah wah, my uncertainty about my future has been drastically reduced, it's so unfair, wah wah! I certainly don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me. It's just that I prepped myself for this long process, and now it doesn't look like it'll be that long. It's like right after the MCAT, when I didn't know what to do with myself because my whole focus had been preparing for that. This feeling will pass and I'll get something else to panic about! Honors thesis, maybe?

Oh..oh..oh! For dinner I went to this place called The Cafe at East Andrews, or something like that. With Alex and Chrissy. I'm of the opinion that any establishment that calls itself "The Thing at Place," instead of just "Place Thing," is trying a little too hard. (The Mall at Cortana, anyone?) But the place won me over, when we were presented with our appetizer: crab cakes. Two cylindrical crab cakes, arranged at right angles to each other. I LOVE places that present the food all fancy-like. I hardly ever go to those places, but I love them all the same. And so The Cafe at East Andrews won my heart. (My salmon was presented awesomely too.)

Now I'm going to go make myself write about a thousand more words.

Today was one of those glorious days in which I got to be a hermit. I barely left my room, let alone the apartment. It was wonderful. I spent some time studying biochem, and I've covered two of the four chapters of material. Of course, the hardest stuff is in the latter two chapters. This exam is not going to be pretty.

Now let's talk about UNC. I arrived at RDU on Thursday afternoon, and was picked up by Teresa, who awesomely served as my transport from Raleigh to Chapel Hill. I hung out at her apartment while she had lab. I noticed that in the kitchen, there were three bottles, lined up next to three potted plants. Bottle 1 had some blue water in it and a label reading "Adequate New Testament". Bottle 2 had yellow water and was labelled "Some Scripture." The last bottle had green water and its label said "Adequate Bible." I was confused when I saw this setup, needless to say. So when Teresa got back, I asked her about it. It turns out, her roommate's the child of missionaries and the water in the bottles represent the percentage of people in the world who have those amounts of the Bible in their language. My only response to that was "...I thought they were for watering the plants."

I had devised this whole experiment in my mind. Each of the plants was given water from a bottle, and then read to from the Bible, whatever amount "Adequate New Testament" and the like were. I had noted that the "Some Scripture" plant was kicking the other two plants' ass. I also noted that they were three different kinds of plant, which didn't seem like good experimental design at all. I definitely have more of a scientific mind than a missionary mind. Three bottles in a row, three plants in a row, on the same windowsill...made sense to me!

Once we'd recovered from the laughing at my crazy experiment idea, we went to Chapel Hill. On the way, we passed this city called Cary that is apparently really anal about appearances. They don't have a Waffle House, because it couldn't meet their zoning laws. But you know what they do have? They've got a giant telephone tower disguised as a tree, y'all. To make it look better. Never mind that it towers over all the other trees, and that its "branches" look as fake and scary as hell. Gooo Cary, NC!

Now, on to the people I stayed with in Chapel Hill. I was with two student hosts, Jen and Hadley, who were both in their M1 year. They were really nice. And it was nice to at least get a glimpse at what first year med students live like. It was more normal than I expected. They had pets: two dogs (who weren't there) and a bird. They played IM inner tube water polo. Hadley apparently does ironman-length triathlons. There was a lot of studying, of course, but it wasn't the only thing they did.

Friday was interview day. Hadley and Jen had lecture starting at 8, so I just rode the bus over to the campus with them. That made me way early for my interviews, but that was easier than having to find the way myself. And I had the cookie tray all to myself for a while! I'd been told about the wonderous admissions office cookies, and they did indeed live up to the hype. Now that I think about it...any positive thing I have to say about UNC was probably the result of those cookies. And here it is:

I loved UNC. I love the idea of their block curriculum for first years, though it seems they're still working out some kinks with that. I love love LOVE the importance they seem to place on community service, with SHAC, the longest-running student-run free clinic in the country, and the five "community weeks" over the first two years. I loved the attitude of "there's plenty of opportunities to do research, but we're not going to make you because we're here to turn out clinicians." I'd so go there...and yes, I realize that the whole point of these days is to make you want to go there. I'm just saying it worked. Damn this money issue.

I got a phone call today. From the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Offering me a spot in the class of 2010. So I'm definitely going to med school next year!!! Woo!

Now I know I kept saying that as soon as I got an acceptance, that was going to be it for my productivity. But I feel like I've actually stepped it up a little. That may just be because it was going to be a busy week regardless, I dunno.

I need....

...a hotel in Chapel Hill
...a bus from Raleigh-Durham to Chapel Hill
...to wear comfy shoes when I go to Chapel Hill, because the chances are the hotel and bus route I find won't be near each other at all.
...to come to terms with the fact that I was dumb enough to apply to a state school in a random-ass state. North Carolina? The hell?
...to study super-hard in Chapel Hill because I also need...
...to do MUCH better on my next biochem test
...to avoid distractions like Coldplay concerts and trivia.
...to simply not think about my stat mech test.

So I kept forgetting to tell you all the story about the time I was riding a shuttle when the driver stopped suddenly and this kid who was standing up totally ate it. Ass in the air, feet over head, practically rolled into the drivers lap, ATE IT. The shuttle was full (duh), and nobody laughed. But it was obvious that everybody wanted to. I sometimes have trouble controlling myself at times like that, but I did well..until I saw the shaking shoulders of the girl sitting in front of me. Then I lost it. But I felt bad.

I only remembered to tell you that today because I was on the shuttle after biochem, when the driver stopped suddenly. It was a violent stop, if a stop can be violent. We were maybe three inches from hitting the shuttle in front of us (which was being driven by the new guy, Benjamin, the one who brakes randomly. If you ride Clairmont shuttles regularly you know who I'm talking about). I was SITTING, in one of the side-facing seats, and I totally ate it. The driver cursed, I looked up in horror to see that we were REALLY close to the other shuttle, and the next thing I knew, I was in some random girl's lap, and then all up on that random console next to the driver's seat. For a few moments, I was flying. Oh man, I wish I could have SEEN it. I'm sure it was even more hilarious than that other kid.

This is how big a dork I am. I was watching the Gorillaz video for "Dare." A large part of it is Noodle dancing around in front of the 'camera'. My first thought? "She's only ten!!!" I was scandalized. So, first, I know biographical details of a cartoon band. Although I didn't know that they age, so I was thinking of her age back when 'Clint Eastwood' came out. But still she's only like 14, which brings me to my second point. I'm worrying about the innocence of a cartoon band's pre-teen member. I need a hobby, or something. Other than writing a novel and running a service program.

Stat mech exam is going to kick my ass, once again. It's a pity...I had such high hopes for this one. I'm shooting for a 65. Yaaay, 65!

I started my day by calling the admissions offices of Yale and UNC, to schedule my interviews. UNC is in two weeks, on a Friday. Yale is the Monday after Thanksgiving. I didn't even pretend to care about classes or assignments I'd be missing. I've come too far for that.

Then I met with Dr. Kindt and we talked about Honors, and all these poster presentations and talks he wants me to give. Went straight from there to stat mech, where I realized that the exam is going to kick my ass. So that was kinda depressing. And worse, we got out of stat mech ten minutes late. Silly graduate students, don't you know that other people have lives, and OTHER things they need to do?

As usual, between stat mech and biochem, I checked my mail in all its forms, and bought food. The Thanksgiving food drive is on. I wonder how many hours worth of service will be put into it.

Biochem was sooo fun! Yay for mechanisms and stuff like that. There's this one chick in the class, who always asks the most ridiculous questions. I've talked about such people before..the ones who ask completely irrelevant questions in an effort to..get on the prof's good side? Make themselves look smart? Annoy me? Well, she succeeded at one of those. At one point, she asked a question that was ridiculously constructed and used the phrase 'using techniques previously mentioned'. At that point, my brain was so full of sarcastic comments that it was just overloaded. I was going to try to whisper one of those comments to LB, but then Heather, the girl next to her, repeated the "Using techniques previously mentioned" in the most hilarious voice. And I completely lost my shit. I was weeping. It took me a few minutes to compose myself. It was great.

Then right after biochem, I came to get my car, to pick up 4 other people for Sheltering Arms. That was fun, but tiring. I was with the one year olds. They don't sit still, ever. So that was a lot of running around. As soon as I got back here, I crashed and slept for two hours. Then I ate, started to look at flights, and tried to up the ol' NaNoWriMo word count a bit.

In an effort to pad my story with more words, I came up with this band that has accordions + drums + guitars + washboards...a blend of zydeco and hardcore punk. I christened this new genre 'zydecore'. Turns out I wasn't the only person crazy enough to think it up, but I think all the google results I found were also in jest. Somebody should actually start a real zydecore band. I'd buy tickets to that concert, oh yeah.

Back to writing for a few more minutes, then I've got to study.

First of all, I'd like the world to know that I just ate a foot-long meatball sub all by myself. I really meant to save half, but when I picked it up to put it away, it all went into my face. That's what happens when I forget to feed myself for like, a day.

Anyway. My real interview was at 10 yesterday morning. It went pretty well, considering the annoyance factor from just before. I didn't feel like I covered myself in glory, but it was okay. Apparently, my personal statement blew the guy away. He said, "Your personal statement just blew me away." So either it was good, or he thinks I'm full of hot air (ba-dum-CHHHHH). We talked about hurricane stuff (every time I said I was from Baton Rouge, I got the knit brows, the head tilt, and the "Ohhhhhh."). Family stuff, school stuff, my activities...nothing like "If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead.." Thank GOODNESS. Though I should probably come up with some answers for that. We talked about my research, and his clinical research. We talked about the Hungarian language. Then we talked about Vandy's curriculum for the rest of our time. It was a good time. I felt awkward during most of it, but really, there are few times in my life when I don't feel awkward. Throw in having to sell myself to someone I don't know, and it's Awkward City, population me.

After the interview, there was an info session (about a dozen intervieweees) about financial aid that basically amounted to "This school is expensive. Good luck with the loans!" Then a fourth year came to talk to us about the clinical years. Then a faculty member came and went over the curriculum year-by-year. Then some first and second years came to take us on a tour. I recognized one of them instantly not only as having gone to Emory, but from my physics class. So that was pretty cool. It was good to see a familiar face.

After the tour, and a free(!!) meal in the hospital cafeteria, I went back to my hotel room and crashed. Having to meet and deal with so many new people was just exhausting. I didn't prepare myself well enough for that aspect. It's a good thing I didn't have to immediately rush to the airport. I would have been a mess! I'll prepare better for that next time.

I woke up feeling rather refreshed, and decided to go back to the campus and walk around for a while. I went by the football stadium, all "Check me out, I'm just a normal student, at a normal school that has a football team." That was fun.

I then went back to my room and studied stat mech while watching Game 1 of the AL Championship series. I'm such a party animal.

I have to talk with the assistant Dean of the Office of Diversity on Tuesday, right before my interview. It just hit me that during these things, people might want to talk about my being an African-American female who wants to enter the medical profession. What do I think about the obstacles facing underrepresented minorities in the field? Did I apply to historically Black medical schools? Why not? I should just say that the amount of time I spend thinking about my under-representedness is practically nonexistent. It just never crosses my mind. I have absolutely nothing to say on the matter. Vandy's alliance with (historically-black) Meharry Medical College did not play even the most minuscule factor in my decision-making process. Their Division I sports did. I'm going to suck at this diversity-talking. Oh man.

I know, for a fact, that I could spend every waking moment of my life doing something "productive": med school apps, problem sets, reading, writing assignments, planning service projects, and so on. Yet I am still spending a lot of time goofing off! I watched the season premiere of The OC last night. I liked it, but something felt kind of off. Maybe because for once, "the gang" acted like the stupid high school kids they're supposed to be. Sailing away? Honestly. Or maybe because a lot of the drama I thought they'd stretch into most of the season, ended up resolved. Catastrophe is much more fun than resolution.

I am officially scheduled for my first med school interview, at Vanderbilt on October 11th. Scary.