Let me get you up to speed.
I passed my German medical board exams! The rest of the course started becoming really tedious and I was glad when it was over. The three day written exam was a roller coaster of emotions. I don't get afraid before exams, I usually stroll quite casually into a written exam. My mentality, "Either I know it or I don't." Its not like the paper can bite me and I've put in the work studying. (I do get more nervous before oral exams. Its more anticipation than fear though.)
The first day went really well and I thought that if it continued like that (which I knew it wouldn't), my dream score would totally be achievable!
The second day was a big slap in the face! They picked the most exotic cases! I don't think we've ever discussed parotid gland cancer and I get asked 15 questions about it! Or sure, go ahead and take the most absurd and not common heart malformation a newborn can have and ask me 15 questions about that. Thanks IMPP, thanks. (IMPP is the institution that creates the exams)
The third day was better than the second but not as good as the first by far. There was a site online where after each day we could enter our results (we were allowed to take the question pamphlets with us) and by the end of the day, a panel of professors had answered the questions with a near percent percentage of being correct. After Day 1 and Day 2, I was directly on the boarder between the score I thought was likely and my dream score. This put me in the position of having to get into the range of my dream score on Day 3 for it all to work out.
I missed my dream score by 5 out of 320 points.....this isn't the official score and some questions still might be removed but I doubt enough to get me in that dream score category. In the end, I can live with the score I got and no one will ever really be interested in that score anyways considering my plans to go to America.
A few days after that exam, I flew to the States for my 3 week vacation. It was fantastic. I had so much fun and met so many wonderful people! I'm still trying to recover from my high of happiness and relaxedness (by recover I mean being content with how my life is again now).
I have mixed feelings about the time coming up. Deep down I know this is exactly what I want to do and I will enjoy the ride. On the other hand, all my friends that have kept me company in G-Town have either moved away or are in the process of finding a job elsewhere (for that person in particular I hope she finds a really awesome job that she loves, but I don't want her leaving me either). I have to return to a scheduled life. This of course is all a matter of getting used to again and within 2 weeks or so it'll be completely normal. I'm taking the American board exam in December, a few days before Christmas. Studying for that will occupy my nights after work and my weekends up until then. There is some real heavy pressure on me for this one. I just want to do so incredibly well but its sometimes hard to find the energy after having gone through all the stress with the German one. But I am determined and will make it happen. This week I am in the lab working on research for my doctor thesis. In a few weeks I will probably post about how much I love being an intern and these feelings right now will be irrelevant.
I plan on keeping up on this blog on a weekly basis. Most likely, I will try to write a post every Saturday. It'll recap my week at work, what I've learned, how things went but also include some life style things (what interns wear, neat gadgets for interns, what music keeps me going, new recipes and such, whatever is happening at the time I guess.)
I hope you guys enjoy, look out for updates and go ahead and send me any questions or comments you may have. I'd love to have you all join me on this trip through my internship year!
Internship year starts November 17th! One week until I get to play doctor!
Big hug! Stay healthy!
V
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