On Friday I was walking past the hospital on my way to my medical neuroscience class and I had one headphone in as per usual, listening to this awesome podcast I'm obsessed with (Hey Mister Jesse. It's a swing, jazz and blues music podcast, hence my obsession) Anywho, so in the midst of my swing, jazz and blues, I hear someone yell out "Rachel!" It took me a few seconds longer than should have been necessary to realize someone was yelling at me (I think I still feel slightly invisible/unknown on this large campus...compared to Knox at least) so I do finally turn around and this girl emerges from behind some columns I had walked past a minute ago. Our paths were perpendicular, but she must have seen me as I crossed in front of the columns. So we are kind of far away at this point and when I turn around, I start wracking my brain to figure out how I recognize her. She's too far away to really tell her facial expression but it immediately went a little sour and she kind of raised her arms to brush away the fact that I had turned around. She stumbled over the words "Oh...sorry! You're...not Rachel."
ummm.....but yes I am! Unfortunately we were too far away for me to ease her embarrassment by laughing about how "well, actually I am Rachel! But, apparently not the Rachel you mistook me for?" So all in all it was awkward. She probably felt it was more awkward for her, but I feel it was more awkward for me because she mistook me for...being me! Or some other Rachel. I guess I'm not the only one on this campus.
Back to why I kind of stink at writing my blog on a regular basis. It's because I have too many awesome things to do. Which ultimately takes up a lot of time...but also gives me so many stories that it's overwhelming to pick just a few. I really am taking a greater number of classes right now than last semester and they are somehow just keeping me very busy. But they are fantastic! My medical neuroscience class is a more in-depth study of the brain, spinal cord, vascular system, you name it, than I have ever had. And I'm just eating it up. Except not really. And that's a bad joke to make because we just saw a real spinal cord/vertebral column in lab the other day and well....to put it crudely, the surrounding tissue looked a whole lot like chicken. Or pulled pork. Which surprised me. Because the brain doesn't look like either of those things. And so it was very strange for me to see a part of the body that is not grey or white matter. But don't get me wrong, it was not appetizing. Not in the very least. In fact, I often can't eat until about 1 pm on lab days, when lab gets done at 11:30, because I can't quite get over the whole "dissection" thing.
The three other classes I'm taking are excellent also and on top of that I have my lab rotation(s). I say "rotation(s)" that because technically I am rotating in the Neurosurgery lab right now but I'm also still working in the Health, Brain and Cognition Lab because before too long I am going to be back there for good! The really exciting thing with work this past week was that I got to test out the app that our lab developed with the help of a local programming company. It's been a really interesting process to take what was first a real-life task, and then a computer-based task, and to put it on the iPad, with the hopes of making a sensitive, flexible tool that can be used to track certain cognitive abilities in clinical populations. I really enjoy thinking about the fact that technologies that I will probably be working with down the road in my career, probably aren't even invented yet. I mean, even when I was applying for grad schools I didn't expect to be working with an iPad for cognitive testing. Just another reason I am really grateful for this job. It always surprises me. Which is incidentally a quality I like in people too :)
So the busy-ness is mostly what has kept me from writing for awhile. But don't worry, that doesn't mean I have forgotten about you. I've actually been reminiscing quite a lot lately about how glad I am to have this blog, and how grateful I am that people read it. And even if people didn't read it....I'd probably still write. Because it is really a good chance for me to slow down and just think about life. Which is a quality I find is often overlooked in this day and age of constant productivity (which often actually means mindless-wandering around the internet). I really think we need to spend more time just thinking about our lives (because it often makes us more grateful for even the little things) and less time wishing things were different, more exciting, less stressful, more elegant, ect ect.
On a totally different note, because I need to wrap this up soon or I might lose all of my audience to boredom, here is my latest and greatest news. In just a few months I get to, once again, be an American in Europe, trying not to look like an American in Europe.
AND I CAN'T WAIT! (was that too excitable?)
One of my best friends that I've known since my summer in Iowa City, has been planning to take a trip to Europe before his life gets swallowed up by med school (and I mean that in the best way, because he's going to be great in med school! But it will legit swallow most of his life). He actually studied abroad in Denmark the semester before I did so we both have host families to stay with and a deep desire to be back there. We've joked for awhile about going to Europe together but ever since the idea was first implanted as a tiny seed in my brain, it's turned into more of an obsession. Finally, after a lot of logical discussions with myself in my head (and after getting enthusiastic approval from my really awesome boss) I decided I needed to join him on his adventure. I just couldn't pass up a chance to travel to incredible places with one of my best friends. I just really hope 2 weeks with me will be as fun as he thinks it will be. I honestly do think we will be excellent travel buddies because we get along really well and we basically never run out of things to talk about. So that will be helpful for our multiple long train rides together...through the Swiss Alps. And the Italian Riviera. Ok I will stop bragging. for now. But be prepared to hear more as the plans become more concrete in a few weeks :)
I have all kinds of other things to say but my cognitive neuroscience paper on "The Mind and Brain of Short-Term Memory" is just begging to be read. And how can I say no to a title like that?
Before I sign off I have to share with you a few of my favorite songs of this past week. I'm no music expert. Or even aficionado. I have the enthusiasm but not the extensive knowledge yet. But nonetheless I'm going to share what I like because you might enjoy it too. And dancing to this kind of music is one of the things that has made me really happy lately (not to mention, it is fulfilling my #1 resolution of 2013! --which was to swing, swing, swing dance more :)
Suzy - Caravan Palace (I've been all about the electro-swing lately. It really gets me out of bed quickly...and keeps me dancing while I get ready)
Be prepared, there will be more in future posts. I'm obsessed with everything swing, jazz or blues right now. And with clothing from the 20s-40s eras.
Tak for reading! hej hej
