We have reached that time of year again; it is Naturopathic Medicine Week! To kick it off, I will reiterate the 6 basic principles of naturopathic medicine, highlighting the couple that are most important to me. 

I have lived on campus for about two years. I have absolutely loved it, and greatly appreciate the fact that National University offers on campus student housing. When I first decided to come to school here, I was hoping I would live on campus. Then I found out there was a waiting list and became worried that I wouldn’t have the opportunity. Luckily, there was a two-bedroom apartment available for me. I really loved living in a two-bedroom, but decided to move into a studio apartment this trimester to save a little money. I didn’t want to get a roommate, so this was a good solution.

Between each trimester we get a few weeks off for a break. Normally I anxiously head back to Maryland, but since I moved over break, I had to stay local. I still live on campus, but in a different apartment (I’ll post about it in the future…I love living on campus)! My family ended up surprising me in Chicago! It was so fun having some of them visit me, and having them here to help me move.

Last trimester, I made a blog post about week 14 being the absolute worst week of the trimester. At the time, it definitely felt that way! Now that I am finished with anatomy courses, and therefore all of the anatomy practical exams, week 14 isn’t so bad! For starters, some classes are cancelled to give us time to study for finals. I will add that the only classes that are cancelled are the ones for which we were able to finish the material. If there was still additional material to learn, the professor is still having class.

We are wrapping up the final few weeks of Phase 1, which is the basic sciences courses. This is another exciting milestone we are about to pass.

This was my second 4^th of July holiday living in Illinois, and while I hope I make it out to Navy Pier for Fire Works before I leave, I have a great view of the fireworks from my on-campus apartment. I live in Lincoln Hall, and I can literally see three firework shows from the comfort of my air-conditioned, mosquito-free, comfy couch! 

I went to St. Louis this weekend with a classmate, Karolina, for a couple of seminars. When we had originally signed up for these seminars, we didn’t think we would have any exams the following week, since most exams are around week 5, 10, and 15. With this falling between weeks seven and eight, we thought we would be clear. We were wrong. Karolina had three exams week eight, and I had five! So, during the five-hour car ride, we made sure to get in as much studying as we could, fully knowing we wouldn’t get in much over the weened due to the seminars.

As Naturopathic Physicians, we will have so many different tools in our toolbox. I strongly believe that we need to have an understanding of every single one of those tools, even if we choose to focus primarily in another area for our practice. National University does a great job at providing us with the resources and opportunities to learn about these different modalities.  Not only does our required coursework educate us, but there are also several clubs and organizations on campus that help further our education and application of many modalities we can use in our future practice.

I have to admit, the first year was tough.

We did it! We are done with Anatomy and went on a well-deserved break!