Refreshed and Motivated!

All I have to say after my first semester is: “wow”

The first semester of optometry school was probably one of the toughest semesters I’ve had in my entire life! After that first wave of exams, we cooled down for a couple weeks, before continuing through the rest of the semester with at least one exam every week – all the way until finals. Following every exam, the professors provided ample time to stop by during office hours and go over questions that we missed. This is something not to be taken for granted, as it helped me strengthen my knowledge on my weaker topics. Our professors made sure to stress that the most critical thing is that we learn the content, not just for grades, but to better ourselves as doctors and help our future patients’ lives. Keeping this in the back of my mind is exactly what kept me motivated to finish the semester strong before a much needed winter break! If I am being honest, I never thought I would be able to learn this much information at once (my brain is practically swelling due to hypertrophy). But I think we all deserve to pat ourselves on the back once in a while, so I will take the opportunity to do that for myself and my fellow classmates! *cue: applause*

When I say that winter break was much needed, I think I am understating it quite a bit. If I am Jack Dawson from The Titanic, optometry school is Rose Calvert, and winter break was the plank that Rose was on before she and Jack – I mean… I – let go, then I would have shared the plank with Rose! The plank is the only thing that can keep me alive! (Okay that was a very poor and confusing analogy, I just wanted to reference Brad Pitt’s Golden Globe acceptance speech!) But really, winter break was just what I needed in order to feel refreshed again.

My class celebrated the start of break with a holiday party! We had people dressed in onesies, their favorite Christmas sweaters, and all sorts of holiday accessories. It was a great way to see everyone before we headed home to our families, and also to celebrate completing our first semester at THE Ohio State University College of Optometry.

(yes I am wearing a Christmas sweater of a Shih Tzu – just like my dog, Kiwi)

Once I got home, I had plenty of downtime to decompress doing my favorite activities. I spent a lot of time with my family, ate a lot of good food, and got to work on some music (and record a holiday song with my brother!)

IMG_1194  <- our cover of Kacey Musgraves’ Christmas Makes Me Cry (opens a new tab)

I wasn’t just laying around though, I did manage to finish the entire Pokemon Sword game on my Nintendo Switch. In other news…

I’m back and ready for my second semester! We finally get to be in clinic this semester, so that will be my extra motivation to study hard – for my future patients.

… and did I mention how thankful I am for winter break?