It's midway through summer, and I have been getting my crop share for a few weeks now. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the selection that I have been getting in my boxes. When you don't personally pick out your produce, you are left with the creative task of figuring out what to do with vegetables that you might not typically work with. There have been all sorts of tasty tidbits included in my share: rainbow chard, kale, cucumbers, assorted lettuces, beets, kohlrabi, snap peas, turnips, and so much garlic. For as much as I love garlic, I found myself with more than I knew what to do with. Some of it made its way into jars to infuse olive oil with its delicious flavor. 

It’s week 11, and I just registered for classes for the last time! We just went through the selection process for the clinician whom we will be working under for the next year in the clinic. It was a hot topic all week last week, with everyone trying to find out who everyone else was going to be picking, and hoping that there would still be room on the shift that they wanted.

I have a new obsession: Audiobooks. My love for them has been growing over the last few months, but I have gotten to the point where they are one of the only types of media that I am consuming anymore.

Among all of the other things that I am involved with, I am a board member for our school's Pride Medical Alliance, a group comprised of National's LGBTQ community and allies. We have all sorts of events going on this month, such as "Be an Ally" week, tie-dying shirts, and marching in two different Pride parades alongside the Open Door organization.

I feel like I frequently begin my posts with some expression of disbelief over how fast time is moving, but it really is just flying by! It's week five with all of its early assessments. The cygnets have even hatched, and there are a bunch of new, fluffy little babies roaming about. This past week has been especially action-packed; complete with a lunch and learn presentation put on by the post-graduate department, and a clean needling technique certification course.

So…we are back from break and working on falling into the groove of the next trimester. Breaks have always been strange for me, because I spend so much time juggling things during the term, that when there is no school and there is suddenly all of this time, all sorts of issues from day-to-day aspects of life can crop up.

I only have four more exams left for the term! It's great to have the end in sight, though there was some guilt as I told the kiddos that mommy was not going to get to play until Wednesday. They will be so thrilled to have me back, even now as I write this, my son is curled up and sleeping next to me on the couch. In the midst of all of this test prep to become a DC, I took a ride out to the Rustic Road Farm about a half hour drive west of campus in Elburn, Ill. to order my seasonal crop share.

Self-care week is here! For at least the last year or so, Week 13 has turned into self-care week. Student clubs and some faculty host events and talks-all with the focus of taking care of yourself, so that you can take care of others. Activities include everything from Tui Na massage, to Tarot Card reading, giving students the opportunity to reset their brains before the last push of studying begins.

I've been saying it all term, but really, where has all the time gone? With the craziness of the snow days and holidays, time just seemed to fly. This was the first weekend in a while that I haven't had to work, go to a seminar, or do anything else besides study; and there is always studying to be done.

Clerkships are a course of clinical medical training usually lasting a minimum of several weeks that take place during the third or fourth year of medical school; they typically allow the participant a chance to learn a specialty. When you get to the clinical stages of your education at National, there are some opportunities for positions outside of the school clinic to pick-up clinical skills. Those in the chiropractic program can apply to work in a few different VA hospitals and at the Medical College of Wisconsin. To get to participate in one of these programs you need to apply and fulfill any of the additional requirements that the program has for admission.