Looking the part

So, when we did orientation in the fall, everyone said that after anatomy is over you begin to truly feel like a med student. Their logic: during anatomy you have no time to feel like anything, it's just go go go..... You're lucky to feel like you're still breathing, which you actually don't feel like doing while you're in the lab.. And to some extent they were right. I do, now, feel like a med student. I'm learning things that I am truly afraid to not know. I feel like I have the capability to actually answer some questions about health to family and friends without looking it up on Wiki like everyone else does. The one thing I didn't realize until this morning though, is that I'm starting to look like a med student.

This is not a good thing. Med students look glazed over like a month old Krispy Creme. Once a week they dress up to go to their preceptors (gotta look "professional" - you can dress up a mummy all you want but at the end of the day they're still death warmed over) and the rest of the week they are lucky to grab some clean clothes rather than what's left on the floor from yesterday. They rarely wear make-up, and even more rarely do anything to their hair. And I'm starting to look just like them. I remember the first tour I took at my undergrad, which was an engineering school. My tour guide looked at me and said, don't worry, we're "roll out of bed girls here." My parents never let that one go. I was not a roll out of bed girl at that time. Now, however, the joke is on me. I roll off the side of my bed in the morning when J asks if I'm planning to sleep in, stumble to the bathroom and jump in the shower. At least I still have that going for me. After that, I grab whatever pants I think are the cleanest (but more likely the most comfortable) grab a t-shirt and sweatshirt (my med school uniform) and grab some food. I don't remember the last time I did anything other than scrape a brush through my hair and toss it in a pony tail. Carefully avoiding mirrors for the rest of the day helps, but not much.

I think it's going to be my new goal to break out of this ridiculous pattern. I'm on my way, I've actually started forcing myself to go to the gym after class. This is a huge step up from the 4 months at the beginning of the year that were workout free. All work and no working out makes l.g. a frumpy character.

Tonight I pick up the would-be med student at the airport. I suppose it would be a step in the right direction to shower after the gym. For now though, another group activity. Let the blog-fodder begin.