March

March was definitely one of the busiest months of the program! This month we took the NBME Pharmacology Shelf exam. I carefully prepared for the exam by reviewing old lectures (and pharmwiki, of course). I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information I had retained over the entire program. Overall, I felt the exam was a fair representation of what we have learned this year. Based on my scores, I know that I am capable of excelling in medical school.

This month we also collected soil for our Environmental Signaling course with Dr. Mielke. I chose to collect soil uptown in the Touro neighborhood. We just received the results of our tests and I am happy to say that the soil outside of my house is surprisingly safe. On the other hand, the levels were much higher near a charter school several blocks away. I believe this is of serious concern as these lead levels could potentially harm the students of the school.

This past weekend I went home for Easter. It had been a while since my last visit and I was excited to see my family. I ended up bringing back a large bag of boiled crawfish to peel. I think next week my roommate and I are going to try our hand at cooking crawfish etouffee.

Several days ago we took our second Cell Control exam. We are now one exam and several classes away from finishing up the program. I am proud of what I have accomplished so far and I am looking forward to attending medical school in the fall! 

Volunteering
Soil collection: 2 hours
UMC: 4 hours
March total: 6 hours