Is that.... blood?!

Hello, hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Thursday. We officially survived the week. I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday, so I can finally have time to get things done around the house. Today I started making dinner as soon as I got home, so Connor was happily surprised when he walked in the door and found a bowl of pasta and baked eggplant waiting for him! It was really delicious. It was whole wheat pasta with spinach, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. I also picked up some fresh bread on the way home. You can imagine how much I ate. It was just so nice to finally have some time to enjoy the new home and cook some good food.

I actually have a funny story about Connor coming home today. I hear him knock on our patio door, so I walk up to the door and see him standing there, looking very handsome in his scrubs. Then I open the door and am smacked in the face by this horrible, offensive smell. After being in the anatomy lab for 3 hours, he seriously smelled like a cadaver. It was SO GROSS! Okay now get ready for this... Not only did he reek of formaldehyde, but he had blood stains on those scrubs. I nearly passed out. So yeah, this scene occurred right in the middle of my kitchen, which was originally smelling of delicious food. The perks of living with a medical student! ;)  Times like these, I wish I had a washer machine in the house.

I hope you guys have an awesome Friday! 

Love,

Mandy

Back to School Week

School is officially in session and it's CRAZY. I started student teaching yesterday in a high school full of hormonal teenagers and no AC. Needless to say, it was chaotic. My cooperating teacher is awesome, so I'm very, very lucky. She makes me laugh all day long. But she's also really caring, which is so important when it comes to our ESL kiddies! The day flies by because of the constant shifting from one classroom to the next in such short amount of periods. We push-in for three science periods (Living Environment & General Science), and two math periods (both Algebra 1). Working in Science and Math classrooms is definitely a departure from what I'm used to, but I'm learning so much about the different demands of a secondary ESL teacher. We have one period of ESL III (my favorite period, of course), which is where I'll be doing my solo teaching. Pause for a shudder. It's kind of scary, but I'm ready to just get started. No time for anxiety to set in. Monday will be my first lesson all by my little self. Hopefully, I do well and the kids don't walk out on me.

Connor had Anatomy lab today and they worked on the heart. He and his group were randomly chosen for the quiz today. The professor plopped a bleeding (okay, so not really bleeding, but this is how I imagined it) heart in front of them and pointed to a specific part of it and said "What is this?" I would've said "gross viscera" but I don't think that would've flown. Of course, Connor got that question right because he is incredibly awesome at all things science related. (He's so cute, too.) If the anatomy stuff doesn't get you, my nauseating lovesick rambling will.

So, right now I'm working on putting together tomorrow's ESL III smartboard lesson about organizing ideas into groups. And Connor is sitting in the living room doing his usual stuff: burying his head into 4 textbooks and listening to a lecture with headphones on. Normal night! We have been exhausted lately with the move during this hectic week. Thankfully, my momma-bear came over for night to help me clean-up and organize the kitchen. That was a big help. We still need to get the living room and bedroom put together, but I'm sure that won't happen until this weekend when we MAYBE get time to breathe. Connor has his first HUGE exam on Monday, so I don't expect to see much of him. If I do see him, it will be the Connor that I described above. Hopefully he will kick butt on his exam and feel wonderful when it's over.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their day off today! (Hopefully you DO have off, as you rightfully should!) Connor and I are currently at his parents' house. We went to the beach yesterday and got home late after taking the ferry, so we decided to stay the night instead of driving an hour back home.

We had so much fun at the beach! It was a beautiful day of relaxation and eating really delicious food. There were really cute babies there, too! Nothing beats little rubber babies. Connor played beach volleyball with the guys, which was fun to watch. It was a great way to end the summer and soak up every last bit of the sun before cold weather hits!

I can't express how truly excited I am for Fall weather. It's by far my favorite season and it's a shame that it's so short. If I could have my way,  Fall would last until the week before Christmas. However, would it be as magical? Probably not. So we must enjoy the beautiful colors, the perfect 60 degree weather, and rainy afternoons while we can. Oh, and no more bug bites! *sigh of relief*

So I know most of you are probably thinking "Enough about you, lady! What about the medical student?" Okay, okay.. here it is. Connor has been watching plenty of lecture videos about things I wish I could wrap my mind around. Some of what he is studying includes: Genetics (like I said, I wish I could understand), Embryology, and Anatomy. Embryology definitely seems more interesting. Connor is obsessed at looking at spines now and how they curve.  It has something to do with how the spine develops in the fetal stage and continues to develop after the baby is born. So if your baby is around, he will probably have an urge to look at his/her spine to see how it is developing.  Totally normal!

Speaking of normal, Connor has been working on a cadaver in anatomy lab, which he has affectionately named "Hank." When I say "working on" I mean he has opened the back, dissected through superficial muscles of the back and the deep tissues, opened the spine with bolt cutters, studied the spinal cord, opened the chest cavity, removed the ribs with a bone saw and dissected out the lungs. If you need to take a breather after reading all of that gross information, please do. It makes me queasy just thinking about it. Thankfully Connor has a strong stomach. I'd be a wreck in that room!

So living with a medical student definitely has it's pros and cons. I absolutely love having a stethoscope in the house. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, so anytime my stomach feels even the slightest bit off, I love asking med student Connor to take a listen in to hear my inner workings. Hey, you never know if he might catch something! The cons? Well, I'll definitely have to get used to seeing him sitting in the living room reading a book while simultaneously listening to a lecture with headphones on and talking to himself in a language foreign to the one we communicate in. But really, it's awesome when he gets enthusiastic talking about these things and his eyes light up. Ladies & gentlemen, the shoe FITS! This is totally what he's meant to be doing. God bless his journey to doctorhood! :)

Talk to you all soon!
Mandy

What the heck is Erythematosus?!

So, we are arriving at Connor's second completed week of med school and we have plenty of flashcards to show for it! He had his first quiz this Monday, which involved over 100 flashcards on medical terms. He's now studying some more for his second quiz next week. I hope he has enough space in that big brain of his to store all of this heavy information. I can barely pronounce some of these words! Like dyspareunia... umm what?

We are still waiting to move into our new apartment. Living out of bags has been pretty crazy. I'm starting to feel kind of anxious as I try to navigate through all of the luggage! I can't wait to finally get the keys to our new home and start decorating! It will be so nice to have our own space again. I forgot what my cozy bed feels like! :O

I start student teaching next Tuesday (conveniently on the same day as we move in to our apartment). I'm so excited to get in the classroom and meet the students. I'm very nervous, but I know I'm going to learn so much and gain some really cool experiences. Hopefully the high school kids don't kill me! ;)

Today I went on a boat with our new friends. It was such a fun time. I kind of got sea sick, but not as bad as usual. I don't think I'm meant for the water (I am a Leo after all! Cats and water don't mix), but I had a great time relaxing under the sun and seeing some beautiful scenery. There were huge mansions all around the border of the bay. It was gorgeous! I also went to my first Zumba class today and my legs are unbelievably sore. I can't believe people can jump around for that long. But I guess that's a great way to lose weight. It was really fun though. I laughed a lot with Jaime (she invited me to her class). I think I'm going to go again and try to get the hang of those crazy dance moves! WOOP WOOP

Diving Right In

Hello! My name is Mandy. I'm a soon-to-be ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and the fiancee of a DO medical student. My fiance, Connor and I have been together for three years and will be married next June. We are so close to moving in to our dream apartment and beginning our exciting life together in our new home. We've had a very "interesting" start to this adventure, but it's made us stronger than ever! 

I decided to start this blog as a way to share all the details of my fiance's nutty medical school life and my experience as a teacher with all of our close family and friends. But I also wanted a way to connect to other ladies who are currently experiencing (or have experienced) the unique life of being married to a medical student. I hope to be inspired by their unwavering love for their brilliant hubbies and their very creative ways of staying busy! I love baking, cooking, decorating, teaching, pinning on Pinterest, and watching bad reality TV (I know, but it's so entertaining!). I can't wait to share all my new and fun experiences as the two of us begin this very exciting adventure together!

Love,

Mandy