"Everyone's talking about it..."

So I definitely thought I was going to start running out of things to post on this blog, as I have kind of fallen into routine in dental school. Get up, go to class, eat, study, sleep. That's pretty much it. Except not this week! This week, I decided to sleep through my science exam. Normally, the exams are at 7 AM every Tuesday morning. I had been studying hard all weekend for this exam, which according to the D2s (second year dental students) is one of the most difficult of the year. Monday evening, I stayed up a little later than usual to get an extra 2 hours of studying in. Before I went to bed, I set my alarm for 6 AM. However, it never went off. I woke up at 8 AM on Tuesday, an hour after the exam had started, and PANICKED! I knew I was supposed to call the associate dean of the dental program if there was ever a problem, but of course I did not have the number. I finally got ahold of the number by calling another office on campus, but he didn't answer the phone. I left him a frantic message and then promptly called my mother and cried. (Naturally...you would have cried too!) Luckily, the associate dean called me back shortly after that. He was super nice, and had spoken with the science program director already. Thankfully, I was allowed to take the test. As it turns out, I wasn't the only one that missed the test! One of my classmates turned up at the testing center late (he thought the exam was at 7:30AM). In his panic about missing the test and trying to find the science program director, he actually fell down the stairs and twisted his ankle pretty badly. At least I escaped with no physical injuries! Honestly, the most upsetting part was the fact that I had studied so hard, and I felt like it had been a waste of time if I wasn't going to take the test. I was more upset about that than possibly receiving a zero! Thankfully, neither of those scenarios happened though. Grades came back, and I did pretty well, considering the circumstances.

Anyway, a few days later, I was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with some of my classmates. A few D2s sat down with us and mentioned that they had heard about the D1 that slept through the exam. I casually mentioned, "Oh, you heard about that?" The D2 replied, "Oh yeah, everyone's talking about it. It's just like high school here, everybody knows everything. Except we don't know who it was." I ended up fessing up and revealing that it was me. I suppose it is slightly less embarrassing than dropping your food in front of the whole cafeteria or throwing up in class. If I become known as the "the girl who slept through the second exam of dental school", I can live with that. It's actually pretty funny now that the whole situation is over.

In other news, I hosted a girl who is interviewing for the dental program here. She is actually in the same master's program at RFUMS in North Chicago that I completed last year. A few of my friends from that program put us in contact, so it was neat to meet up with someone who was in the same place I was a year ago. She was super nice, and I really hope she gets in here.

It also reminded me of how glad I am to be done with all the waiting and stress that goes along with applying to professional school. It feels so good to finally be where I want to be. Also, my roommate's birthday was this week, so I decorated the apartment. I wanted to take her out for dinner, but since it was the night before my exam, she was thoughtful enough to suggest ordering in.

Yesterday, I met up for lunch with a girl that I went to college with. We hadn't kept in touch since college, but she also just moved down here recently. (Her husband plays for the NFL and accepted a contract with the Arizona Cardinals.) It was really nice to see her again and talk about what we were up to. It's interesting about how life has brought us both to Arizona, but for very different reasons. Even though she lives on the other side of the valley, I hope that her and I can continue to keep in touch and hang out. Sometimes it is just so nice to get off campus and talk with people about something other than teeth! (We also met up at Tempe Marketplace near ASU. When you come and visit me, we will definitely go there. It made me feel like I was on vacation...a cross between Downtown Disney in Florida and Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach.)

Other than that, not much else is new. This week coming up is full of more school stuff. I have a lab practical tomorrow. I need to create a veneer out of wax on one of the front teeth in two hours, with no input from my instructors. I spent time in the sim clinic yesterday to practice, and I churned out one that I considered pretty decent in about 1 hour 40 minutes. Hopefully, I can repeat the performance again for the practical. Someone caught a picture of me practicing yesterday. Obviously, I am concentrating very hard. :) After the practical tomorrow, we are learning to take impressions in lab. I am really excited about this because it is going to be super easy. I have taken about a million and five impressions while working as a dental assistant. It'll be nice to be able to relax and not worry about catching onto a new procedure. I also have another science exam on Tuesday. I will not sleep through this one! On Friday, we are having a D2/D1 potluck dinner. The older D2s have been super nice to us and have really helped us out. They set up a mentor program, ran a book sale so we could by used books, and have come into the lab on their free time to offer advice for u to practice with. It'll be fun to have dinner with them and thank them for all the things they have done for us. Also, I am in charge of bringing a side dish. Any suggestions?

Anyway, here's a few more pictures I took in lab last week. I'm trying to remember to keep my camera with me, but I often forget. Below is a picture of the girls that I sit next to in sim clinic. You can also see one of my professors in the background. He was actually the person we presented to for our presentation on Friday. Underneath that is a picture of my friend Tiffany. She is from Green Bay, Wisconsin and used to be a motorcycle instructor. I have already told her that she needs to teach me so that I can get my motorcycle license.