MD Class of 2012 Blog


Sunday, August 30, 2009

From One Routine to Another

This summer was exactly what I needed. For a lot of my classmates, summer consisted of staying in Providence and doing research, or travelling abroad as part of their scholarly concentration, or some activity related to medicine. Instead of focusing on medicine all summer, I decided to ride my bicycle home (from Providence, RI to my home town of Los Gatos, CA). I needed something for myself. Something I would cherish forever. Something to break the monotony of continuously studying or working since before high school (summers included). This being the infamous “last summer” (third year starts in May), I figured it was ok to be selfish. It ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve made so far.

In high school and college, I had come across Joseph Campbell’s writings on the importance of a young man’s rite of passage a few times. One of my favorite movies, Motorcycle Diaries, depicts Che Guevara riding his motorcycle from Argentina up to Venezuela during medical school. Combining Joseph Campbell’s ideas of a young man’s rite of passage, my past traveling experiences in Latin America and my adventurer spirit, hitch-hiking through Central or South America seemed perfect. Convincing my folks to let me do it, or recruiting friends to come with me was difficult (to say the least). Instead, I opted to explore my own country in a unique way while challenging myself physically (versus mentally, which is what I had been doing all year).

First year med school trained me to follow routines. Wake up, breakfast, school, eat, school, exercise, eat, study, sleep… rinse and repeat. Everyone has his/her own routine until the week before an exam when everything goes out the door and nothing else matters but cramming as much information into your head as possible.

This summer, I still had a routine, which was comforting, but it was completely different than what I experienced throughout the year. Wake up, break down camp, pack my bags, get on my bike and ride, eat lunch, get on my bike and ride, eat dinner, get on my bike and ride, set up camp, go to sleep… rinse and repeat. It was the comfort of routine without the stress of medical school. It was perfect.

Now that I’m back in Providence, my medical school routine has started again, but it seems different for some reason. After seeing so much this summer and meeting so many people from all different backgrounds with different life stories, I find myself appreciating medical school more. Yes, it’s still tough. Yes, there were 15 lectures (some great, and some not so much) in the first week. Yes, somehow I already seem to be behind. Yes, the boards are always looming in the back of everyone’s minds, but the task just doesn’t seem as daunting as it did last year.

Coming back refreshed, with biking as a new hobby (I think I’m addicted to endorphins and adrenaline) with a new adventure under my belt and new experiences to build upon, I feel ready to take on this upcoming year.

It’ll be interesting to see how things actually work out.

Till next time.

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