ahhhhhhhhhhh............

Sleep such a wonderful thing. I know I'll have to go without it for much of the next four (eight? ten?) years, but for now I can enjoy sleeping in both days of this weekend. I hadn't had a full night's sleep since orientation, and I was getting pretty sick. After two nights of 10-12 hours' sleep, I feel much better.

Today we have the annual Case Fall Picnic, where each of the med school "societies" compete for some sort of prize. (The societies are arbitrary groups that students are assigned to during their first year for advising purposes.) It sounds like it's going to be a pretty good time. In the afternoon, I'll probably leave the picnic a little early to go to the Cleveland-area Stanford Send-Off Party...it's an event for the students who are preparing to begin their freshman year at Stanford, and local alumni are encouraged to attend to talk with the students, give advice, and generally get them excited to begin school.

As far as med school is concerned, I'm pondering whether to do the joint degree program in bioethics. I'm a huge fan of joint degree programs (an additional degree for no additional cost?), but I'm really not sure which one I like most. My friend David is doing the MD/MBA program, but he started taking classes last summer and I would probably have to dedicate this upcoming summer to MBA classes if I wanted to complete both degrees in four years.

I was also interested in the master's degree in applied anatomy, especially the fact that students in the program score a full standard deviation above the Case average (which is already reasonably high). But I don't want to be a surgeon (the group that is usually most dedicated to anatomy) and my impression is that the program is pretty intense.

There's also the joint degree program in bioethics, which originally was not of much interest to me. After our bioethics lectures during the first two weeks, though, I had a lot to think about. The program isn't supposed to be that hard, and it would give me a lot more training to face some of the difficult decisions I'll have to make as a doctor. The program is supposed to be fairly easy, at least when compared to the other two programs. I don't really want to be an ethicist exactly, but I think I would like to know more about the topic. Fortunately, I have some time to make the decision about the program...

Off to the picnic!

Mood: Relaxed
Song: Jason Mraz, "The Remedy" (acoustic) / BT, "Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved)"