I have been long gone, which I have no one else to blame but myself, and medical school.
This semester was intense. Obviously the coursework was difficult, but it was more of the scheduling that intensified it the most. We had early morning labs, and 1 - 5pm lectures, and somehow, we were expected to study for hours on end til 2am, and repeat the next day.
There were a few of us who left, and there will be a few of us who don't return next semester, which I am slightly envious of.
Soldiers who return from the war say the cliche phrase, "You don't know what it's like until you've been through it," and to some degree, I couldn't agree more.
People often talk about "all nighters"...partying, watching tv, or even writing a paper. I'm no stranger to the idea of an all nighter, but I have never performed so many all nighters in such a short span of time in my entire life. When I did have some time to sleep (i.e. - skipping a class or a lab), due to my sleep cycle being so corrupt, I wasn't able to fall asleep. I often wondered what was more torturous: staying up all night studying, or laying in bed for 3 hours hoping to fall asleep.
We have had many sleepless nights, many nights where we often aimlessly wandered around the library for no apparent reason other than the sleepless zombie state. We have had many nights of contemplating what it is that makes us continue on, and if there were a loophole in which we can utilize to escape from this madness. We've had our momentous joy of receiving that good grade and we've had our tragic moments of receiving a poor grade and possibly realizing that our dreams of being doctors would be shattered.
Finals are coming up in approximately one week. Good luck to everyone.
