Free Weekend

The second year of medical school at UNC is divided up into thirteen blocks of pathophysiology. Basically we go through each organ system of the body and learn the major diseases that affect said organ system and the most current theories on how this disease process works on a molecular level.
And don't let them fool you, many of these are crude theories. If I have learned one thing since being in med school, it's that the human body is more complex than the most confusing thing imaginable times forty-three taken to the millionth power. I mean one of the most common causes of a good number of diseases we learn about is idiopathic. This basically means no one knows what causes it or why it happens. Some physicians joke that it stands for the doctor is an idiot and the patient is pathetic (of course they mean that in the most compassionate way I'm sure).
Anyways, I spent the last three weeks learning the major diseases of the digestive system, everything from achlasia to Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (with things like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in-between). Then we had a test on Friday. While this meant a lot of studying last week, it also meant that I just had a weekend free of schoolwork. I know it sounds pathetic but these are the things you live for in med school.
I had some lunch with some classmates on Friday, came home to spend time with the fam that afternoon, then we went to my brother-in-law's, Ben, birthday party. All four of us slept in on Saturday and we spent the day together doing some Christmas shopping, then coming home to sleep some more, make a fire, and enjoy time together. A great day relaxing together. Sunday we went to church then home to rest before I went to the first UNC home basketball game of the year. what a glorious weekend.