Arden's Garden

Oh my word . I am helping my younger sister fill out an application for a summer internship (the high school version of what I did this past summer) and she is asking me the most frustratingly obvious questions.  "What city was I born in?" (We've lived in the same city for our entire lives).  "Am I a dual citizen?" (We've been out of the country only once. We don't have any family or friends outside of the country).  When filling out the addresses for volunteer experiences: "I need to check what country these are in..." (Me, with the last ounce of my patience: "They're all going to be in the United States.")  Yet, when I take a step back and breathe, I realize two important things.  Firstly, when I was her age (15), I asked a lot of dumb questions too. I had to fill out forms every now and again, and I'm sure that my mom was constantly frustrated with me as well.  Secondly, this kind of cluelessness and ignorance is how we al...

This week and past weekend has been a bit difficult, since my sister moved out (the first one of us siblings to do so). My college semester began on Thursday (the 22nd) so I raced to get all the initial "welcome to the course" assignments done that day, for all five classes (my sixth class, that Organic Chemistry Lab, begins mid-September). Then, the very next day (Friday, the 23rd), my entire family piled into our cars and drove north. We stopped for the night (Friday night) then, on Saturday, we helped my sister move into her place, which she is renting with two co-workers. It was a difficult day, especially for my mom. After we said our goodbyes and drove away, we stayed at a place on Saturday night and arrived home later on Sunday afternoon. By that time, I had to unpack and there was no time to do schoolwork. Which...brought me to Monday and oh. my. word. Monday was one crazy day for me. It was definitely made worse by sleeping in late, but then I had the benefit of the ...

My journey to medical school is still ongoing, so I'll explain where I'm at first and then I'll explain how I got here. Currently, I'm working on my applications, which I plan to submit right before October 1st (the first deadline for a few schools). I'm scrambling to get letters of recommendation, which I know I should have been working on for a long time, and I just signed up today for "Organic Chemistry 1 Lab" at a local community college in the hopes that it may improve my chances of acceptance even though it'll be labeled as an "in progress/future" course. I haven't written my Personal Statement yet, so I'm planning to complete that within the next week. On top of all that, I'm still a graduate student, so I have 11 credits of graduate courses to focus on this semester. Does it sound crazy? That's because it is. Look, I'm trying my best. Let me explain how I got here.  Medical school was something I always thought abo...

I've been away all summer, living in Washington D.C. as I completed an internship, but now I'm home and, to be honest, I had forgotten about this blog in all that time. In my defense, I had a lot going on and every day was jam-packed with work, grocery shopping, and then some "me time" in the evening. Actually, that "me time" was more like "me and my sister time". Since my sister works remotely, she decided to move to D.C. with me, split rent, and go into the city in her free time. So, in the evenings, we would binge "Once Upon A Time" or "The Office". It was a great summer.  Anyway, I'm home now! I'm starting another semester of graduate school, applying to medical schools, and enjoying life. I'll be posting updates on my medical school journey, including application stress and backup plans for applying next year if I don't get accepted this time around. To be honest, I'm typing this out at about 10pm, so I...