Rising Up

The title of this post is inspired by Yves Larock: "My dream is to fly, Over the Rainbow, So High..." -what a fab song, and he doesn't say much more than that (he does say, "Rise Up" though, surprisingly). Also, I am loving my new Dell XPS M1530.

Ah, indeed. I have survived Week 1. I have made some 'core friends' and hope to continue doing so -it's too soon to be hitting the 'meeting new people' plateau. I have adjusted somewhat to the idea of many hours of class in a day, and the idea of 19 Lectures in one week. Also public transportation is really not that bad -I'm getting used to waking up at 6:15 a.m. everyday, and I thank the powers that be for having class start an hour later tomorrow morning -an extra precious hour of sleep (well, actually, I'm using it right now, let's be serious -I'd be in bed already if it weren't for the late start!). What am I learning? Biochemistry, Nutrition (fascinating!), Embryology -essentially, reductionist science combined with clinical correlates for the study of "Molecules, Cells and Tissues".

I promised a "character" story for this post: well, firstly, I have identified "that kid" in our class -I've been trying to feel sorry for her rather than get annoyed by her. Today was a scorcher in Montreal though, as one of my friends so aptly put it, "It's Sweat-ember weather" -30 Celsius (that's about 90 F, folks) -and our afternoon class was in Strathcona, which has no AC or significantly openable windows, so we were more or less lulled to semi-consciousness during lectures -the annoyance with "that kid" was thus mitigated.

The weather on the long weekend however, was perfect. Dad and I went hiking up Mont Tremblant -it's been years since we'd done that, and it was wonderful. Fresh air, quality exercise, such satisfaction when you reach the top (much better than if you just took the gondola up, and incidentally, we caught a free ride back down). I had some delicious la tire in the Tremblant village (a ski-resort village, not a rural thing), which is boiled maple syrup poured onto a patch of snowy-ice, which you then roll onto a popsicle stick. We had some St. Hubert chicken and chicken wings for dinner -so hearty and yummy. And the best part (well, false, the parts I already mentioned were the best parts): I didn't open a single textbook or med school notes binder the whole day (and night)! The best holiday, really.

Anyway, I should get to bed now, it's getting late. Tomorrow should be a fun day though -Physicianship and bioethics stuff -"break day" as some like to call it. Hey, there are only so many molecular pathways and enzyme mechanisms one can enjoy looking at in any given day (this is not true of sperm, oocyte and embryo diagrams, which I have been finding very interesting, despite seeming-redundancy and increasing complexity). Keep cool and don't stress, friends.