It's Official: I'm a Med Student!

This weekend was WHITE COAT WEEKEND.

On Friday, I had my very last day of lab work.  It was actually bittersweet.  On the one hand, I was super excited to have one lab rotation behind me and was definitely ready for medical school to start.  On the other, I really liked my lab and the people in it.  I'm planning on staying in touch and am seriously considering the lab as an option for my year-long research project (which will take place during my third year overall).

Friday night, my mom came!  I was such a good daughter, too - I cleaned all of my floors, washed my sheets, and ran the dishwasher in anticipation of her arrival.  She got in around 8:45, and we walked down to Walnut Street for gelato.  Even though it didn't taste like real Italian gelato, it was pretty freaking good (especially my scoop of raspberry truffle - yummm).

On Saturday, we packed in a LOT of activities.  First up was breakfast at Pamela's (sadly, not the same thing as breakfast at Tiffany's).  Pamela's is the breakfast place that Andrew and I tried, and the pancakes were still delicious the second time around.  After stuffing ourselves full of breakfast food, we went to to the Andy Warhol Museum.  I feel like I'm finally able to get around this city; I got us there without a map or printed directions, and we didn't get lost at all. The Andy Warhol Museum was unlike any museum I've experienced.  There was a really neat mix of his video/photography/pop art work.  More impressively (or at least I think so), the museum also has over 600 "time capsules" that Warhol created.  They contain everything from letters to paintings to newspaper headlines.  The staff there is working on archiving them.  I don't know when they started, but they won't be done until 2014!  The museum also has some pretty weird rooms, one whole collection was entitled "Sex Parts and Torsos" - my mom's reflection, "Andy Warhol was one strange dude."

Following the Warhol, we went to the Strip (a recurring theme when I have visitors).  Then, we went out to Ikea so that I could get a loveseat.  My living room was looking pretty empty, and I needed more seating.  This was mostly a good idea.  I say mostly and not completely because my mom and I didn't really think through "getting the loveseat into my second floor apartment."  It was heavy, and we are not very strong.  When we were trying to get it out of the car, this nice guy and his wife pulled their SUV over and asked if we needed help. em-bar-ras-sing.  We finally managed to come up with a roll maneuver that got the damn thing up the stairs.

We capped off Saturday with shopping on Walnut, sushi, and Julie and Julia.  All of which were very enjoyable :-)

Today, my dad, Sean, and Andrew all arrived around 11:00.  We did lunch nearby, after which my dad had to drop me off for the ceremony.  For some ridiculous reason, the students had to arrive at 1:00 for the 3:00 ceremony.  The school wanted to take official pictures of us, but that only lasted until around 1:40, leaving us around an hour to "talk amongst ourselves."

When the ceremony finally started, we processed into the auditorium and filed into rows alphabetically.  There were a couple of remarks; the keynote speaker was actually fantastic - the best I've heard at any graduation/ceremony like this one.  Then, the Dean of Student Affairs read our names off and we "got coated."  I feel like a real medical student now!  We also took the Hippocratic Oath (again, very medical-student-like) and I took a ton pictures with my family.  After we went out for a celebratory dinner, everyone headed home, leaving me here, ready to start school tomorrow!

I'm sure you all want to know what I look like in a white coat, so here are some pictures :-)

I'm getting "coated"

Walking off stage, wearing my coat

Walking up the steps, in my coat

Not an alumnus yet, but someday!

Andrew and I

The O'Neill clan