8 days until graduation. It is crazy how suddenly it seems to have crept up on me. Since I finished all of my requirements in early May, I have almost forgotten that medical school exists except in the flurry of emails about graduation, loans, and people's books and furniture for sale that I get daily. I am SO glad I had a significant chunk of time off at the end of this year to focus on moving and everything else that needs to be done before I get started on residency.

I have been talking with friends and am realizing that I will be starting much later than most of then. My orientation seems briefer and I do not have to do ACLS. So I end up with a couple of extra weeks to get settled before having to worry about starting to work. Unfortunately, I realize that I now must begin to study for Step 3. Since my knowledge base of clinical medicine has nowhere to go but down during pathology residency, it is to my advantage to take it as soon as possible. So once I get more unpacked and our freaking DSL gets set up (we're still without Internet), I need to spend some time with my favorite friend USMLEWorld and get ready to take the final installment of the beast we know as boards in July.