Kaitlyn's Adventures Abroad: Springfield and the Boards

I feel like every time I write a new post, I am apologizing for how long it has been since the last time I wrote. I would like to say that is going to change....but I know myself well enough to know that isn't true. So here is a blanket statement for all future blog posts, "Sorry it has taken me so long to write."

I am back in the States for the foreseeable future. I have very mixed emotions about this. I was ready to be done with Curacao, but would move back to the Dominican Republic in a heartbeat. I have enjoyed being in the States for the last four weeks, but can't help but feel that my "unique factor" has gone down a bit since I am no longer living abroad. Either way, it feels good to finally be almost done with step 1 of medical school. It has been a really long road with roadblocks and detours, but I have persevered and am now studying for my first set of boards.

As I said, I left Curacao 4 weeks ago. I was more or less told not to come back to the country after they saw that I had never completed my residency paperwork, but I was not planning on moving back there. What kind of plot twist would that be if I ended up moving back there. :( The trip itself was uneventful, but I did have a 10 hour layover in Miami. Thankfully I have two sets of great friends. One set kept me company for a while before they had to catch their plane and then the other set gave me a pass to the Admirals Club. That was an amazing experience! If there was an admiral's club like thing outside the airport, I would sign up in a heart beat. I was so comfortable and they had really yummy chocolate chip cookies, coffee, showers, power outlets...basically everything you could want for a layover.

I had a wonderful three week vacation back at my parent's. I got to see a couple friends, spend time with Libby, and recharge for the next step of my education. I love visiting my family. It always reminds me how incredibly blessed I am to be part of such an awesome group! Unfortunately, Kristian couldn't be there because of work, but I did get to see him around the New Year.

I have been in Springfield for a little over a week so far. Studying is grueling, but I am remembering so much. It is amazing how our brain just files away the information and we can retrieve it, usually with some difficulty, at a later date! We have had one tornado warning (I had forgotten this was in tornado alley). It was a rather terrifying experience because of two factors: I am terrified of tornados and I am rather claustrophobic. Here is the story:

It was 2:30am and I was sleeping deeply, enjoying the few hours of sleep I get a night, when all of a sudden I was awoken (miraculously, because I sleep like the dead) by the tornado siren. My roommate was still awake and we went and hid in the bathroom. As the wind started to pick up, we realized that there was a huge window in the bathroom and that the closet in my room might be safer. As we were hiding in the closet, I started to feel like I was going to pass out as the walls started to close in around me. To calm myself, I decided to reorder my "fear of natural disasters" list:

#1 the earth opening up and swallowing me

#2 tornados

#3 earthquakes

#4 tsunamis

#5 lightening storms

#6 flash floods

#7 volcano

#8 hurricane

with others like hail falling in the bottom part somewhere. After about a half an hour, the sirens turned off and we worked on getting back to sleep. I'm hoping for a light tornado season this year.

Alright, back to studying. I'm sure I'll write again in another six months or so :)