Medical Salad and Mexican Sun

Salad Day

Today was my first day of medical school. Well, sort of. Technically, it was just the first day of registration/orientation. Three words: Exhilarating, Exhausting and Shock.

It was wonderful to meet so many new people, from different cultural and educational backgrounds; amazing to see ghosts from the past (high school and CEGEP ghosts) who are simultaneously changed and the same; lovely hearing the history of medicine at mcgill and in montreal talk in the PM; fabulous loading up on freebies dime-by-the-doz; and yes, nice to see a few cuties in the mix (if we're being completely honest here). But man, I am dead tired from running around campus on our "Amazing Race" to the "Temple of Frosh", up and down Montreal's notorious hilly streets which infest McGill's otherwise gorgeous campus; energetically spent from being socially "on" for 7 hours straight, including dealing with the odd poor (and usually obnoxious) reaction to the H-bomb (alas, it is no myth my friends, even when you do your darndest to conceal or play it down, ultimately they will know, and try to punish you for their own insecurities -not everyone though of course, not even most people, but definitely a countable few); and thoroughly fatigued from lugging around aforementioned freebies all day long on my right shoulder.

So what's the Shock? Oh My Dear God, I am in Medical School and There is Going to be a Shitload of Work I Really Hope I'm Ready and Can Handle It and I Am Not Familiar With Much -Not This Campus, Not These People, Not Even The Curriculum Structure, Not a Touchstone or Security Blanket of Good Old Familiar Comfort. Maybe it's just premature panic. And then REASON kicks in: You've done this before and you'll do it again, and you'll love it. And. Pish-posh about familiarity! Give it a couple of days, and anyway, YOU will always be YOU and THAT can always be counted upon. But surely once I'm "settled" all will again be well with the world.

Mexican Heat

Imagine this, on my flight back to Montreal from Cancun airport:

We're flying high up, gliding over a bed of frothy clouds, American fields, waters and urban sprawl down below. I'm so excited to be on my way back home, Mexico far behind. The resort in Tulum was actually okay, but the season was too hot and humid and the place was infested with mosquitoes. We did have the cliche white, sandy beaches, expanse of turquoise and azul ocean, straw parasols, vacations lazies, bright blue four-foot deep swimming pools, never-ending cocktails (mostly Virgin obvi), salty fish and nachos. Almost bliss.

Mostly Virgin cocktails quickly became only sprite and water when my stomach decided to go thin and fragile the day after the wedding. It wasn't the food or drink, pretty sure it was the heat of which my body had had enough. The wedding at dusk on the beach was lovely, as was reading chick-lit and real lit on the beach, and sipping my Shirley Temples with lime. Loved dancing the night away (swing-style) with the groom's seven year-old cousin. The buffet was surprisingly good at the resort -my favourite was the caramelized waffle cup filled with whipped cream and slices of fresh mango, cactus fruit and strawberry -yum! There were a ton of Iggies and Lizzies (the reptiles, not the adorable puppet from the hit '90s kid TV show, "Under the Umbrella Tree"), but luckily, none in our room!

We also went on a great breezy boat tour, stopping at the Mayan ruins of Tulum and its sparkling-perfect beach (too hot to visit Chichen-Itza unfort.), as well as spent a few hours at Playa del Carmen, where we "shopped" (mine consisted of 3 postcards and a key chain).

In Summary...

All in all, a nice getaway, but I was so ready to come home, hug my family a ton, get back in the driver's seat of our old Honda Civic and eat home-cooked meals. I also missed Turkey a lot when I was in Mexico which is strange, but then, I'm always missing Turkey.

After today, I came home and thought, aw shucks, I miss Harvard. Not because it was "Harvard", but because it was the first home I had to make for myself, after only knowing the one I had been born into -I missed my old life, my friends, my profs, K-house, "shopping period" (goodness, what a luxury that was!) and last, but certainly not least, Boston Tea Stop. That's it. The big solution. I gotta get me some boba / bubble tea around here.

P.S. would you believe it, but today I met the male version of my name -"Niall" pronounced "nile" -who even knew it could be. We are now BFF. JK, JK, but seriously, that's just crazy.