Take that, Finals.

The semester is finally over. Finals became an all-consuming succubus by the end, but I got through my first set of cumulative med school exams and am happy to report that in the end, none of my grades were affected either way by my scores on the exams. Normally that would seem like a whole lot of work for nothing, but I'm trying to stay positive about the experience (now that I'm on the other side of the looking glass) and choosing to look at it as my first chance to prove that I can jump over ridiculously tall hurdles. But enough about those horrid tests...

The day after finals I was lucky enough to fly away to the island of Kauai (one of the Hawaiian islands) for my 4-month delayed honeymoon. My wife and I lucked into using her aunt and uncle's timeshare there as a wedding gift (thanks guys!), so we were actually able to afford the trip. The island was absolutely beautiful, and it was refreshing to spend time with my wife in which neither of us had to worry about school or work. We explored the island as thoroughly as possible over the week, and even so are already dying to go back. The weather and people on the island were both wonderful (which is a drastic change from our impressions thus far of the greater Milwaukee area), and we really felt like we were home all week. Certainly not a feeling either of us anticipated, but a welcome one nonetheless.

Since we flew back on Christmas day I've been trying to take it easy, but have failed miserably in that respect. I've had this nagging feeling everyday while I am home that I am not getting enough done, and as a result have been multitasking while doing almost everything. This is especially odd considering my past personality, which was focused (almost to a fault) on enjoying my free time by watching DVDs, playing Xbox, etc. In fact, I often had to play catch-up during undergrad to make up for my procrastinating, free-time creating ways. Seems like my first semester of school has already changed my work ethic to a certain degree...probably not such a bad thing.

School starts on Tuesday, so I'll be sure to update at that time!