Happy October!

Some people like the pumpkin and fall colors, but October is an exciting time because it means there are only 2.5 months left of this semester. It feels like it's just started though, which I suppose is good for my morale.

Here are some photos from my trip to my Iowa family home. It was a lovely time, and I brought along two girlfriends who were really excited to see the farm. Of course, my Iowa fam was extraordinarily gracious and hospitable and the sweetest people in the world.

Birthday cupcakes!

The moisture levels in the corn have to be
juuuust right.

HELLO!

Dent corn. Some of this goes to ethanol,
some of it goes to the Quaker Oats factory

Who wouldn't be calmer here?

Recent news:

• I joined a women's Bible study at church. The other girls in my group are either my fellow medical student girlfriends, or audiology grad students, or speech language pathology grad students. There's also a nurse and a biochemistry grad student. Neat! I am really, really, really selfish with my time and had to really muster up the resolve to join a small group.
• I haven't been baking a lot because I've been extremely disciplined with work (for those who follow my google calendar, I actually added two for school, and neither of them are visible to friends. I've been told I stress people out with all of my color blocks), but hopefully that will change soon because I want to bake my lab members a box full of goodies.
• Life has been stable and emotionally so as well. This semester just feels better than the last, and the one before that.
• I've been doing really well in school. But then I realize, our class average is the highest it's been, hovering around 88% on most exams...so I'm mostly average. But I'm used to it.
• There have been many old friends that I've been meaning to keep up with, and I think of them often, but the sheer volume of work (and again, my selfishness) makes it so difficult. Because I took the farm trip (a full 27 hours without studying--eek!) I didn't sleep Sunday night or yesterday night. 
• We're transitioning into real-patient interactions on the hospital floor, which is great! I think being in the wards better utilizes my other gifts (because things like biochemistry and pathophysiology really aren't strengths of mine) and I'll be much happier in third year.