Carla Visits!!

Carla's parents surprized her with plane tickets to Edmonton for this weekend!! So I've been visiting with Carla for the past two days! So far I have showed her off to all of my roommates, given her a tour of campus (something I haven't even done myself), showed her the hospital, and we've gone out for dinner twice (including going out for Chinese food with about 20 meds from my class to celebrate the Chinese New Year). I found it funny to learn that the menu in Mandarin is not the same as the menu in English. The meals are different and significantly less expensive. I only paid $11 for a 4 course meal with something like 10 dishes.

Unfortunately that night Carla got really sick. It started with GI upset, and by Saturday morning had somehow evolved into a nasty cold. I have seriously never been as sick as Carla is right now, in my whole life. She has been in bed all day long. Its too bad because we had big plans for today, including shopping at West Ed and clubbing with some of my friends. Well at least I got to take care of my girlfriend for a weekend (which I will probably be repaid for in some form or another ;-) and get in more studying than I originally would have. Hopefully Carla will be all better tomorrow morning...

On another note, I have been getting discouraged over the past couple of weeks in the anatomy lab. What started out as an intensely interesting experience, has quickly changed into a monotonous, required task. I think the problem is that the cadaver I am dissecting is very obese, so I spend a huge amount of time (i.e. at least 3 hours so far) simply cutting away fat. And this fat is everywhere, attached strongly to all of the vessels, and basically prevents you from observing anything in the anatomy without carefully teasing away the fat with tweezers. Hopefully my disections for the next course (Gastroenterology) will not be so tedious.

FAAMSCAR Banff Conference

I had an amazing weekend at Banff. The first year med students at UofA and UofC got together for a retreat at Banff for "student wellness". This trip started with getting drunk on a bus for a 7 hour trip to Banff while playing strip poker with about 10 people at the back of the bus (the game ended when Phil striped down to nothing but his socks...). After arriving in Banff, we checked into our rooms, had a welcoming dinner/lecture and then headed out to the local clubs for some dancing all night. The next morning i slept in and eventually dragged myself to a couple of lectures: the first was a meditative Yoga session, while the second was a discussion on wellness and relationships in medicine. After which I shopped with some friends at downtown Banff, and watched a movie at the local theatre. The next morning most people went skiing, while I instead hit up the hot springs (that picture is the entrance to the springs). After a nice 2 hour dip in the pool, I walked back to Banff (40 minute walk!!), had a latte downtown and enjoyed another 7 hour bus ride back to Edmonton!!

I really enjoyed the chance to get to know some of my classmates better, and interact in a non-academic environment.