Perhaps a break from all the recipe posts would be nice. :O It’s finally the weekend again and I’ve [more or less] caught up with everything since my trip to Florida. Florida reminded me of how much I miss warm weather. I used to think I preferred colder temperatures, but who am I kidding? There is no denying that I love sunny skies and frolicking at the beach. That said, if an awesome medical school located in a cold climate happened to accept me, I’d obviously still go. I like to think I’m a pretty adaptable person. This is all still speculation though, since we haven’t made it to actual cold weather yet. I like to tell myself that the cold will build character (and teach me not to take warm weather for granted).
Before I get to all the pictures, I have to mention this–I realized it two years ago, but I have to throw it out there again. I was incredibly blessed to have the professors that I had for exercise biology. They were amazing, and to say that I miss their classes would be another one of them understatements of the year. My mind just clicked with what they taught, and their enthusiasm for the course material definitely rubbed off on me. One of em’ gave me his home phone number this summer so I could tell him what I was up to/he could write it into my recommendation letter and make me sound awesome to med schools.
JDS: New Jersey’s definitely very different, but you’ll be okay, Farrah. Just be brave!”
I’ve been listening to his lectures (thank you for still giving me access, Smartsite!) to get a better understanding for my physiology class, which is helpful in some ways (he’s a lot more interesting to listen to, so the information sticks better) but not so helpful in others (it just makes me miss EXB and the focus in my current class is different :[ ).
I separated all the forearm muscles off of Archie this week and skinned the hand so that we could try to see the blood supply. I know this sounds disgusting, but after I came back from Florida, I took my weekly anatomy quiz and was extremely disheartened/discouraged/upset that I missed a question. (It was still an A, but I was pretty annoyed with myself (was I getting too cocky/overconfident? did I not check my answers closely enough?) since I’d been sure my responses had been correct. It turns out that one of the questions got mis-keyed, so I did get 100% after all. :D! Anatomy remains as my favorite class; I’d really love to teach it in the future, alongside my hopeful-future-career as a physician.
Anyway, I got to Florida at 11 p.m. (it was 85 degrees outside) and stayed at Holiday Inn Express that night. $69/night for a suite that included a free breakfast, as well as a free shuttle to/from the school and to/from the airport cannot be beaten.
Then I took a flight to Tampa. Word of warning–never fly Spirit Airlines. Who the eff charges $40 for a carry-on? Yeah, you read that right. A carry-on. I honestly thought the guy was kidding. My flight was cheaper than the carry-on, and I am forever in hate with them. >:O
I stayed at Econo Lodge for 2 nights. At $40/night, it wasn’t too bad, but if you add up all the money spent on flights and car rentals (plus that stupid $20/day young driver fee) and hotel stays and trains, it made for a freakishly expensive weekend. ;_; The silver lining is that my back-to-back interviews meant that I didn’t have to fly to Florida twice, so I did save some money there!
So I consoled myself by going somewhere fairly close by and free. Siesta Key Beach is apparently rated as #1 in the country, and I can definitely see why. The sand there is incredibly soft. Think of the flour that you use for baking in a slightly firmer form and you will have the consistency of the sand at Siesta Key. It’s amazing. I had to resist the urge to cartwheel all over the place (this didn’t happen only because I was carrying a bunch of stuff).
If you look closely, you can see part of a rainbow. :D
Apparently, lots of couples like coming here when the sun’s setting. (I am a total sucker for sunsets on beaches, so I can definitely see why.) But pretty! :D!
