1st Weekly D1 update :)

Staying true to my word, I decided to update my blog for the week and share pictures as well. First and foremost, I want to congratulate one of my best friends on marrying the woman of his dreams! I wish I could have been up at the alter with them but there's this little geographical barrier that prevented me from doing so. I definitely missed out on a beautiful event and I owe them big time!...

This week was an exciting one for our class, we got out scrubs...making this adventure that much more official! Until now, we have been wearing business casual ALL DAY LONG which has been super uncomfortable! I don't mind that I lost my individuality by dressing up, the scrubs are just one step in making this class one cohesive unit and I love that.

Getting used to 4-8 hour school days has been difficult. Its one thing sitting on your derrier all day but its another going home and studying for the rest! For the first three weeks of this semester we had two classes: Epidemiology and Dental Anatomy. DA continues on into our second year where we will have many difficult quizes and section finals and then one cumulative final to drive home the message. This week was the last week of Epi (before its own final) and we begin a six week course of Fundamental Life Sciences on Monday... I dont care how long or difficult it may be... at least it will keep my fellow classmates awake *cough cough* [1st pic]. DA lecture has been easy to keep up with but I can feel the heat rising as she mounts more and more terminology since we started moving into the posterior teeth. I don't feel like the morphology will be as difficult on the tests. I think it will be the little facts and exceptions like "which anterior tooth is the most likely to be have pits and grooves?" or "which posterior tooth will be most likely to have two root canals...3 root canals?"or how about memorizing the root:crown ratios!

With regards to my presidential duties, I must attend three meetings a month (Dean's, clinical, student council) and hold another for my own council at least once a month. Wednesday was the first day I started my role. I attended a lunch/meeting with the Dean.The presidents of each class council and the overall student council attended as well. It always begins with the Dean briefing us on the state of the school and we respond with feedback and discuss any concerns our class might have. We learned that we will have a new research building completed in a few years and renovations to our clinic could begin as soon as 2 years from now. So far, student council hasn't been very difficult to manage.

This week was like X-mas because I got my first set of scrubs (embroidered!) and my new laptop! The laptop is the purrdy and very powerful. It was required we purchase a laptop up to $2000 fitting the new specifications for software we will be using.... I'm not sure that doing that this year was necessary but I wont complain since Uncle Sam paid for it! The financial portion of dental school initially has been extremely daunting. We shell out payments in the thousands easily every week and it never stops so I'm learning to just relax and let things be. This next weeks payment will be our first pair of loupes, woohooo! If you don't know how much those cost they could easily be a minimum of $800 and as much as a couple to a few thousand for a quality pair fitted with a light. But enough of the stressful stuff. Regan was recently offered a job at a fitness center here in a very nice part of town! In just 2 weeks she managed to get 3 job offers, and a volunteer opportunity as well. When I lived in Phoenix, AZ this last year I searched for 2 months with a Biology degree and ended up working at Safeway for $7.25/hr so she's certainly blessed.

So far this weekend, Regan and I have explored more of the area we live in,  University Circle, and it's very beautiful. There are tons of museums and places to visit so we're devising a strategy on how to conquer the area. Today we went to Cleveland's West Side Market for fresh produce/meat and although it was nothing like Pike Place Market, it was still really nice. While we were there, we waited a half hour in line for Gyros that have apparently been on The Food Network and Travelers Channel. They were DELICIOUS! But I feel like Ive been rambling forever.. its time for me to prepare to kick my Epi finals @$$! Here are a few pics:

We know who's ready for the final..

HP Envy 14 Beats by Dre Edition =]

The Cleveland Botanical Gardens

Art work at University Circle Park

This dinosaur was outside of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

 ...conquered!

 New entrance to the Cleveland Art Musuem

Ducks at a nearby pond

 Severance Hall

 The best part of my week =]

The Warm Up

I'm really terrible at this blogging business. I tell myself regularly "I'll do it tomorrow" but like I mentioned before, you just have to write! ...And I'm not sure where to begin now bc it's been 3 weeks since I first made an entry...umm since then, I had orientation week, my white coat ceremony, and a couple weeks of school. Its really been one big blur! I'll try and outline my experiences thus far starting from the beginning:

Orientation week was great! I had the opportunity to meet most of my classmates before school started which makes things much more comfortable in case you ever need help from your peers (There are 75 students in my class if I haven't mentioned this before). As a class, we were lectured on what it takes to be a professional, what to expect this school year, financial aid, and how to adjust to the big move. One of the guest lectures was from a fellow who works for Proctor & Gamble. He spoke to us about Crest and how their products, in his opinion, were the best in the industry. It made me laugh because, not even a week in to school we were getting swooned by vendors! He even gave each of us a free professional electric toothbrush with a bluetooth monitor that smiles and winks at you when you've brushed for the suggested 2-3 min! The most exciting part of orientation week for me was being introduced to our equipment :) ... and I still need to get insurance for that stuff....

At the end of Orientation week we had our White Coat Ceremony. Family and friends attend, and watch you walk across the stage to receive your white coat. Unfortunately, my family could not make it. Which is understandable considering its a 9 hr flight or 36 + hr drive. Regan and her mom did however attend which was very comforting =] They arrived the day before the ceremony which was Aug. 5th, after making the long road trip over (I'm sure they really enjoyed the bonding time together). I spent the weekend as their tour guide, even though I don't know very much about the area! It was fun. My apt is approx. a 2 min walk to a neighborhood called Little Italy. It has cobble stone/brick roads and lots of small shops and of course, Italian Restaurants up and down the street.

Eventually Regan's mom had fly home back to reality, but we had a good time while she was here and I had to start school. Its been two weeks since school started and its been a little overwhelming. The classes so far aren't necessarily difficult but there is a lot of busy work and studying. To my understanding, the way semesters work is we have 9 or so classes for the duration of the semester and we take those classes in blocks, a few @ a time for a few weeks or so. Then we take those finals and move on to the next subjects. Right now, one of our classes has been very dry :-P...... For the most part, everyone is hanging in there but we can't wait to move on!

One of the highlights of my experience so far is Dental Anatomy Lab. In this class, we are instructed to wax up a particular tooth and we have a week to complete it. Our first project so far has been one of the maxillary central incisors, your top right front tooth. You have a few tools, a flame, and wax sticks and you want to make an exact replicate of the tooth that fits "perfectly" in to your typodont, a model of the mouth. At first, it was really challenging because we were given a lecture on the anatomy of the upper front teeth but we were not instructed on how to use our tools and how to build the tooth! We were thrown to the wolves! For me, sitting in lab for a couple hours and doing this is sort of therapeutic though. Growing up, I really enjoyed sketching and I would do it to relax my mind.. so being in lab isn't much different for me.

I know there is SO much I've left out about my experiences so far because there is so much to tell but to sum it all up: I'm really enjoying this journey so far. My classmates are enjoyable and school... well.... is school. Having Regan with me has been a joy also. I truly appreciate her desire to move out here to be with me, it means the world! Between studying and her searching for jobs we haven't had a ton of time to explore Cleveland but we have plenty of time to do that! ......Oh! I forgot to mention that I was elected to be Class President which is TRULY AN HONOR. I hope that I can serve this class of highly talented individuals and that they won't regret putting their faith in me :) but thats enough for now, I need to study. I will get better at blogging, I promise! Here are a few pics

 One of my typodonts!

 Just one part of my tools! :)

 This cot and coffee table is all I had for about 2 weeks! Now we have a big comfy eurotop qeen bed that we got about $200 off muahaha!

 There are lots of beautiful churches in the area

 Little Italy Pics:

 Law school building... SO ugly!

 One of the carts our apt. offers for moving stuff

 Random Building on campus

 The dental school on far right

 The church where the white coat ceremony was held

Regan and I at the entrance

 My dentsim unit

 These are examples of wax ups. I couldn't locate my own pics :-(