First Day of PGY-2!

I feel badly that I've been neglecting blogging recently! Partially it's because I've been busy, but mostly it's because I've been lazy. But today is my first day of PGY-2 (that's post-graduate year 2, a.k.a. second year of residency) and I actually feel that first-day-of-school motivation to get back on track. Here's what my week so far has looked like:

Monday -- I wrote my USMLE Step 2 CK. The testing centre setup was identical to when I wrote Step 1 there three weeks ago -- I even was assigned the same desk. Perhaps because I'd been through the testing centre routine before -- or more likely because the exam questions were easier -- Step 2 CK was more bearable than Step 1, despite it being an hour longer (8 hours, ugh...plus break time). I got home and got caught up on The Bachelorette (it's so bad, but I can't. stop. watching. it.).

hopefully my last visit to this testing centre

Tuesday -- My last day of PGY-1! It was a little sad to leave the awesome family practice I've spent the past four and a half weeks at (that extra half week was because all residents switch over to the next year on July 1, which just so happened to be smack in the middle of the week this year). Because it was my last day in the northeast part of the city, I decided to check out Hermitage Park, which is a fairly large park in the river valley with several ponds, and seemingly the home of all of Alberta's Canada geese.

so many geese -- and no, that family was not even feeding them

I picked up groceries on my way home and had to rationalize not getting a $10 massive box of discounted ripe bananas (you can only make so many smoothies, my freezer is full, and it would have led to more fruit flies in my apartment than there are geese in Hermitage Park). I also wandered into Giant Tiger, a discount store beside the grocery store. Though I didn't find the baking pan I'd been looking for, I did find out that processed cheese slices don't require refrigeration and where to go the next time I need a litre of jam (pretty risky though, I'd eat it by the spoonful).

I've always refrigerated them? 

good deal ...and one that Joey would appreciate

Wednesday -- Canada Day! -- technically my first day of PGY-2, but fortunately I'm at an outpatient centre this month, which was closed for the stat. Because I had a headache and couldn't help but be anxious to get my Step 1 score* at noon, I decided that it would just be best to stay in bed and watch the entire third season of Orange is the New Black. I did manage to take a break to do some meal prep and then headed out at 11 pm to watch the Canada Day fireworks in the river valley (well worth it; they were some of the best I've seen!).

*Silly me, it took me half the day to realize that USMLE scores aren't being released this week, due to Independence Day!

lighted High Level Bridge & fireworks
photo by Darlene Young, Global News (my cell phone photos were terrible!)

Thursday -- My actual first day of PGY-2! I woke up early, ironed my white coat, packed my lunch...it felt just like the first day of school, complete with anticipation/anxiety. The day turned out to be busy, but really great. I'm lucky to be working with such a wonderful staff physician who cares a lot about teaching and actually motivates me to read papers (that's saying a lot...on my off-service rotations this past year I've taken "primary literature" to mean the "summary/recommendations" section on UpToDate). Overall, I'm just so happy to be back in my specialty after a year (or three years, if we're including clerkship) of switching services/hospitals every four weeks. I do have six months of off-service rotations coming up this year, but getting to spend half the year doing the thing I signed up for is pretty great!

and it's gorgeous weather for walking to work :)

Happy long weekend, American friends!