The view of downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota from the Witches Hat water tower in Prospect Park open only once a year.
The unfortunate part about medical school is that they make you take tests, lots and lots and lots of them.
The MCAT was nothing compared to the USMLE Step 1 board exam that I took last year - everything from the first two years (and much more) crammed into an 8 hour exam. Now, after a full year of clinical rotations, the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills exam that I took three weeks ago was a $1400 (not to mention I had to fly to one of five cities where it is offered) day in a standardized "fake" clinic. Basically it is an exam to test your English since most people taking the exam are foreign medical students. I feel bad for them since I studied two days and they had been studying for months.
Anyway, yesterday I took the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge exam - 9 hours of grueling multiple choice questions (A-N sometimes) on clinical scenarios. Overall, not as bad as the MCAT or Step 1 but still not terribly fun. Oh well, time for the next chapter in my life... Peru!
I am moving to Peru for the next year because I received the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholarship. I will be doing cardiovascular disease research in Lima and Arequipa, Peru. Non-infectious diseases are now the #1 killer of Peruvians (just like in the USA) and not very much is known about their unique risk factors, genetics, resources, prevention programs, awareness, etc. in the community. I will be taking a year off of medical school at the University of Minnesota and will graduate in May 2011.
I will go to Washington DC to train at the NIH from July 5-19 and then to Seattle, WA form July 20-30 to take the STD/HIV and Principles of Research course and then fly to Lima July 31. I will return to my humble Minnesotan home June 2010.
Wish me luck!
I look forward to hearing from you on this wonderful adventure!
