Yesterday, I fell off my bike

Yep. Fell. Off my bike and onto my face. At a red light in the middle of traffic.

Embarrassing? A little.
Painful? A bit.

I actually was attached to my bike (blame the clipless pedals) so I ended up landing on my bike and my chin hit something and split wide open. Good thing my dear gypsy girl was with me to help me pick myself up, clean my wound and get back on my bike.

Yep, I got back on and rode some more. Gauged in chin and all. I'm hoping the butterfly closures work, as I really don't want stitches.  But now my face looks a bit interesting, almost if I got beat up, or well fell on my face (oh yeah, I did that!) Dr. Boyfriend is calling it my face tattoo. But I'm fine. And I'll ride on.

You may be wondering why I am riding a bike "clipped-in" and that is a good question. I have decided to ride the MS 150 in a month. My good friend was nice enough to loan me his super fancy road bike. But it has clipless pedals, so I got myself some biking cleats and I will learn. Yesterday was ride #1 and from what I've read and been told there is a learning curve. I will fall. It was going to happen and it did. And I'll fall again. But I will master this and ride on Sept 9th. 

And I'm asking for your support. This cause is extremely important to me. If you've read much of this blog at all you know that I go to Teen Adventure Camp every summer and I use to work at the National Pediatric MS Center. And well, I heart those teens with MS.  I'm riding for them. So please, donate what you can. $3, $5, $15, $50. Its a great cause, you'll make me super happy and it is tax deductible too.

Click here to donate or find out more about the ride.

I've long kept this blog semi-anonymous since the start but feel this cause is worth disclosure. So please support me if you can. And if you want to join my team, volunteer at the ride or otherwise get involved, that is awesome too. Me and my face tattoo thank you!

A Mocha kind of day...

So with only 11 days left on the island I am feeling a bit nostalgic. I spent the majority of my day studying at Mocha Jumby. It was my primary place of study 1st term and while I've been spending much less time here this term it still holds a special place in my heart. They seem to remodel every term but the coffee and food has been consistent and while I have to admit I'm looking forward to Starbucks and discovering new coffee houses for Step 1 studying I will miss this place too.

So to Mocha Jumby and the girls I met here first term I raise my coffee cup!

And some pics of Mocha today, because this is my pictorial countdown after all.

the days dwindle: reflecting on friends far (day 40) and near (day 39)...

Un-inspired is hopefully over.

T-40: More good mail, this time in the form of a lovely pink box with yummy fall treats (think snickerdoodle cookies and home-made maple pecan granola.) Thank you dear K! The PERFECT thing to open after a week of difficult exams.

T-39: Happy feet, because your feet are happy if you are! 

And my feet are very happy here because I have such an amazing friend...

A little help from my friends

This post is dedicated to some of my friends and favorite people: FU, the Gypsy, Miss P, and Classic Rock  (you know who you are!)

So, I made it. Term 1 is officially over and we are 2nd termers!  Only 1.5 years of basic sciences left. And then 2 years of clinicals and then 3-5 years of residency, and then an optional fellowship. But who's counting? Term 1 is history and that is all that matters at the moment.

Friday was a blur. We took anatomy, reminisced over beers and then went to Club Bananas for dancing and really good fries (thanks Classic Rock.) Yesterday was low key, packing, putting things in storage, dinner at the local Prickly Bay Waterside. I'm here for another week and plan to enjoy the island but my favorite people are soon leaving me day by day to go home. However we did have one final hurrah. And as we sat around last night I had to think back to orientation. I love my class, I love my friends and term 1 wouldn't have been as fun or as palatable without them. Bring on term 2! (After a nice summer at home that is.)

Was term 1 difficult? Yes, because it was hard to know how to study. And it was hard to study all the time. It was terrifying and boring and interesting and exciting, depending on the subject and professor and a million other factors that changes by the moment. But thanks to my favorite people and our many study dates and non-study dates (thanks FU) and DES and BRS and lots and lots of studying I think I might sort of have the hang of this med school business after all. But not without a little help from my friends.