I feel like Dante.

I always feel this way, after a semester - I feel like Dante Alighieri. In the first and most hellish part of his Divine Comedy Trilogy, the excommunicated Italian poet Dante trudged through a lavish and brilliantly imagined Hell, led by the great poet Virgil. His trek began on Good Friday with a descent into the heart of the earth, and concluded on Easter Sunday morning, as he ascended from the depths of Hell, climbing out of the bowels of the earth to stand beneath a beautiful, starry sky. Yup - that's how I feel. The FINAL final was on Tuesday, and that's exactly how I feel.

It was a battle, to be sure, but, honestly, it wasn't that bad. The question-writing-professors could have been much more malicious, but in the way they put the questions together, I felt that they were, if anything, gracious. I think I did well - I am, perhaps, more positive since I did really well on that third mini (the test I had last Thursday). I feel that I'm getting a working understanding of this whole "studying for med school" thing - i kind of know the details they want from me, and I know the comfort level I need to have with the information. I know that I've got to do questions and questions and questions, and make sure that I've gone through everything several times. I've learned to stay extremely current - never letting a day go by without having covered the information. I've also learned about the changes that I have to make - taking a final gave me a unique perspective on the purging and retention of information, especially in light of (1) the Shelf exams I'll take next semester and (2) the Boards.

I finished the Beast about 40 minutes early, and went straightaway to James' Store, where I proceeded to purchase a case of Kubuli beer. It's not great - it's got a picture of Dominica on it, and it's smaller than the American beer, as well as being slightly less potent - but, like many brews out there, it's delicious when cold. This is one of those times that makes me truly glad to be here in the Caribbean with a favorable exchange rate - I bought a case of the stuff for about $60 EC - which roughly translates to each beer costing about $0.90 USD. I LOVE this place!

Also, I've finally been able to enjoy some much-needed gym time. Nicole's tagged along, and we're both working on getting beach-bodies. There's a delicious muscle-soreness that is only the product of careful, deliberate sarcomere trauma.

Perhaps the most exciting news concerning the ending of my first Lap around the medical school field of glory, is that I can read for pleasure without guilt. I love the Internet - I was very lucky to find the online text of one of the books I've been really looking forward to (Charles Stross' Accelerando). I say that I was lucky because this book was published in 2005 or 2006, and most of the books that one finds free online are either (1) very old, like The Wizard of Oz and Oliver Twist, or (2) so bad that no one wants to read them and publishers are still shaking their heads at the waste. So, I headed over to the computer lab and used my 140 page-a-week allowance to print out Accelerando, and now I have it next to me, hole-punched in a gray binder I bought off of a 4th semester student for $1 EC, as I sit here on the upper deck in front of Subway, listening to the breeze on this hot, carefree summer day.

Ugly Betty and Gray's Anatomy are on tonight, and Nicole's excited - I'm just glad that I have a new book, a mini-fridge full of Kubulis, and absolutely nothing to study for.