It's definitely taking some time for me to ease into this med school thing. I've been out of school since the winter of 2008 and getting back into the swing of going to classes and studying during practically all other hours of the day has not been easy. I get distracted constantly, and I even find myself complaining about the necessity of certain classes ("Human Behavior," I'm looking at you). I begin to wonder if I'll ever get to the point where I get everything done right when I'm supposed to and still manage to sleep eight hours a night, eat healthy meals and exercise consistently. I swear, med school is like a juggling act - if you turn your attention away for one second, one ball falls and the rest fall with it. You can't let a single day go by without studying as much as you possibly can.

Right now, I'd say I'm particularly worried about my biochemistry and anatomy classes. Most of the other students have already taken biochemistry, but since I was an English major, I haven't. (Plus, I still have to memorize the structures of all those amino acids and sugars... *groans*) As for anatomy, I have no idea what the tests will be like (though I'm pretty certain they will be insane), and I have yet to get caught up in the reading. I know I'll feel much better about both of these classes once I've studied a little more for them. If I'm nervous about a class, it usually just means I haven't studied enough for it yet.

The DisneyStore.com order I placed on the 20th finally came in today! The Ariel pillow is so, so amazing in person. It's incredibly soft, just the right size, the embroidery is really well done, and it looks just like her. I couldn't be happier with it!

The "Medical" Vinylmation figure I ordered is also adorable. It came with a small Mickey charm with a blue Staff of Asclepius on it (which is the one I wanted of the ones available). I looked at the DisneyStore.com website today and the "Medical" Vinylmation figure doesn't seem to be available anymore, so I guess I got it just in time! ;)

If you haven't heard already, DisneyStore.com is releasing a line of limited edition collectible dolls, clothing, stationery items, etc. based on a series of 1950's inspired sketches of the Disney princesses. (Click here to see what's available in the line so far.) Each Monday through October 24th, a new princess doll is released. Cinderella was released first, and guess who was released today? My favorite - Ariel! She's pretty expensive, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't get her before she sold out (and from what I've heard, she's expected to sell out pretty quickly). Here are a few pictures of her:

I hope she arrives soon! ♥

P.S. Thank you, Jen, for letting me know about this line!

I'll be honest - while I think YouTube beauty guru Blair Fowler is super pretty and has a lot of wonderful beauty-related tricks up her sleeve, I simply cannot stand watching her videos. The way she talks at absolute warp speed is like hearing nails on a chalkboard to me. Ramble, ramble, ramble, um, um, um... So annoying! (I personally much prefer Michelle Phan's soft, rehearsed voice.) That being said, I couldn't help but fall in love with her and her sister Elle's new iPhone case line produced by Cellairis. Here are my three favorite designs:

Right now, I'm leaning more towards the top one, but they're all so cute! Although I love the second one, it's probably too "young" for me. Hmmm... Decisions!

So, what do you think of Elle and Blair Fowler's cases? :)

Every since I purchased the 17" singing Ariel doll from DisneyStore.com (hush, she's beautiful), I've been getting an inordinate amount of e-mails from "the mouse," telling me about the latest products to go on sale. I've been meaning to unsubscribe, but today, I must say I'm glad that I haven't yet because otherwise, I would not have known about these two amazing (and so very me) products:

15" in x 15" in Embroidered Polyester Ariel Cushion

Don't even try to tell me this wasn't an absolute must-have! I saw a picture of a full body-length Ariel pillow (probably over a year ago) from the Tokyo DisneySea theme park and have been pining over it ever since. Unfortunately, that pillow just does not seem to exist on this side of the globe. After tirelessly searching for that pillow with no success, I was extremely happy to find the above one (and to find it on sale too!). I'm already obsessed with her. ♥

Vinylmation "Occupations Series" - Medical

I don't own any Vinylmations (I wasn't into the whole Disney pin trading craze either), but when I saw the above one, I had no choice but to add it to my collection. I mean hello, if this isn't me, I don't know what is. ;)

The first week of medical school went pretty well by the way. I've never been this busy in my entire life. Sleep is something I look forward to now more than anything. We had our first quiz in histology on Friday and while I did do well on it, so did most of the students in our class. Even the average was an 89%! I'll admit I'm not used to being surrounded by so many intensely hardworking people. It's a little intimidating and, if I'm being completely honest, doesn't make me feel nearly as "special" as I'm used to feeling in a classroom setting. Every single person here was at the top of their class as an undergraduate. This could turn out to be a really good thing, however, because it can encourage me to work that much harder to be at the top of my class. I swear though, these students are so hyper-focused that we very well all may be getting 4.0's. It's really that intense. Even the second-year students were surprised by the degree of our class's focus in only the first week of medical school.

Three chapters from our human behavior textbook, three journal articles, histology slides and associated questions, yet another dense histology chapter... All assigned today to do by tomorrow.

Thanks for the welcome, med school.

At least I got myself a brand new stethoscope today:

*grins*

In other news, every time I think about my last post, I feel so down... It may have only happened yesterday, but the intensity of the disappointment I am feeling at the moment still surprises me. I want more than anything to text him or call him and tell him how I feel, so I guess it's a good thing that I deleted his number from my phone.

Only now am I realizing just how badly I wanted that relationship to work out. Back to feeling depressed I guess... ;(

Hello, friends. I just finished a week-long orientation for medical school, am in a brand new city, and I'm about to begin classes on Monday. (I'll try to write a longer post about these very big life updates soon.)

For this post though, I would like to discuss another major life update - the ending of my relationship.

It's sad when someone that seemed to be the "entire package" can still not be enough. This person can come from a wonderful family, be successful, hardworking, intelligent and even very good-looking, but if he isn't "your rock," then the entire relationship is essentially a sham. If he can't talk about his feelings, is in any way afraid of commitment, can't make the tiniest bit of effort to be with you (and no, I don't care how busy he is), then he's not the one. At least not the one for me...

I could go on and on, but really, what else is there to say? I'm terribly disappointed, and I admit there were moments when I thought he could possibly even be "the one." However, it quickly became obvious as I was preparing to leave for medical school that he was not going to make me a priority after I left.

Knowing the day I would be leaving, he sent me an e-mail that morning. I promptly texted and e-mailed him back, but for the rest of that day and the next, I didn't hear a single word from him. I left without seeing him or even saying goodbye to him, and I was devastated. Even if he was up to his ears in work, he could have at least had the decency to send a short text to tell me what was going on. When I asked him during our last phone (and break-up) conversation why he hadn't sent me at least a text that day, he told me he didn't have a "good excuse."

The break-up part of the conversation began, by the way, when I admitted to him that I had lately been feeling like a burden to him. His work schedule was so hectic that I actually felt like I was imposing on him when I texted (and trust me, I texted, at the very most, only once a day).

I knew it was the end when he didn't disagree with me. I was a burden to him. He didn't have time for me, or at least that's the excuse he wanted me to believe...

Personally though, I believe that when all was said and done, he simply didn't care about me all that much. I mean, how could he have? Yes, I am aware of how busy he is, but no one is too busy to make contact at least once or twice a week with the person they are in a relationship with. No one. All excuses aside, if he cared about me enough, he would have tried to make it work. If you're lucky enough to find "the one," you don't let them go without a fight.

To add insult to injury, I just updated my status on Facebook to "single" and am now feeling particularly vulnerable because of it - for whatever reason, I felt like it just had to be done. It will be one of my ways of "moving on" I guess... (I've already tossed (and broken in half when possible) the few things he gave me. Ha.)

For my own future reference, here are several warning signs that I, in retrospect, should have been a lot more wary of:

1) He was an adrenaline junkie and completely reckless. He even did hard drugs for a long time (and still smoked marijuana and did acid on occasion).

2) He told me early on that he was holding himself back with me because he knew that I was leaving.

3) He didn't call me after he first met me. (I actually ended up texting him first to see if he was still interested because over a week had passed. That was my first mistake.)

4) I knew that his last relationship had ended because of his work schedule.

Honestly, there were so many signs that I don't even feel like taking the time to write them all out right now. It's already clear that I have to be smarter in my approach to relationships in the future and try not to allow my attraction for the person to get in the way so much... I have a tendency to settle for much less than I should and be way too accommodating.