Guilty Holiday

Fall Break is here. Someone said we're one of the few pharmacy schools that have Fall Break for their students - which is a really nice thing to have considering the heavy workload we get to "enjoy" right away from the beginning of the semester.

However much I look forward to the much needed break, I feel like I don't deserve the break at all since I did not do well for 3 out of the 4 exams earlier this week. I just couldn't manage all that studying in such a short amount of time. I know, I could have started the studying earlier, but the assignments and projects were just unbelievably time-consuming last week! Especially with my video project group, we decided to shoot our video and edit them just the week before this.

So then, I finished my Biochemistry exam this morning, terribly, since I only managed to study up to half of the material tested. Then, I had to rush to my first ever health fair, which is almost half an hour away. Arrived all frazzled and not knowing what to do since it's my first ever participation in one. Been on duty from 1:00 - 6:00, doing patient registration and bone density screening for the women (which was really fun, for me at least!). I was still bad at talking to the public though. The health fair today was targeting the homeless population in the area, most of whom also do not have health insurance. Thus, providing the free health screenings for bone density (which can cost up to $500 if done at a doctor's office, so I've heard from one woman today), blood pressure, blood glucose level, and the a1c level is really beneficial for the particular population, as well as for our professional experience in the field. 

What I think I'll be doing for this coming 4 days of break is - 

1) shadowing my pharmacist mentor

2) study the biochem materials that i did not manage to study for the exam

3) read the required book for Pharmaceutical Care Skills - Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which is a really, really interesting read (a novel, not a textbook!)

4) interview a patient for Pharm Care Practice Assignment 3 and finish my report for that.

5) take a one-day trip down to Minneapolis (about 3 hrs bus ride one way) - just to get out of Duluth for a breather. I want to visit John Piper's church on Sunday!! Probably gonna go alone, since most people have gone home for the break.

6) bake something, most probably banana related again cos my roommate has so many "browned" bananas.

7) resume video editing for the video project.

8) catch up with sleep? (but looking at this to-do list, probably not gonna accomplish much with this one).

9) Oh right, there's also the Medication Take Back event on Friday that I will be volunteering for. More elaboration on that after the event. Super excited about it!

Looks like my break is more like a period for me to catch up on "lost" time than a true break. Oh well, it's not like I expected it pharmacy school to be a breeze, but I truly just realized that I do not respond well under pressure. Not at all. The revelation came right after this grueling start of the week with 4 exams. The good news is, now, I only have to come up with a stress management plan to make sure I can survive this kind of environment for the rest of the coming 3.5 years :)