My New "Toys"

My recent purchases
With the money I spent today on all my new "toys" (aka doctor stuff) I could have easily bought a plane ticket to make a trip back to Central America (which would probably be a lot more fun than poking people's knees with rubber hammers and sticking otoscopes in people's ears). At least now when I "play doctor" I have cool stuff to do it with. This week is flying by, and I'm loving every minute of it.
I was accepted into the rural program today which is the main reason I decided to come to ETSU. I'm really looking foward to it. There will be 7 other students at my site in Rogersville, TN. The program involves alot of hands-on, experiental learning with real patients and many components of public health such as community health presentations and research on health-related topics in the community. The site I will be working at has a large population of Hispanic migrant workers in the county next door so it looks like I will have the chance to practice my Spanish, not to mention that several of my classmates have done mission work in the Americas and some speak Spanish as well.
Speaking of my classmates, we're all starting to learn each other's names, etc.. Everyone is pretty nice (ok so I haven't met a mean person yet in Johnson City), and I'm looking foward to getting to know them over the next two years. Today's activities included team building exercises on ETSU's low ropes course. Though not quite as nice as UT's new facility, the rec. center here is by no means shabby or outdated, and I think I might have to take advantage of the free indoor and outdoor rockclimbing walls once a week to relieve a little post-study stress.

My white coat ceremony is Saturday. T-4days and counting until the real work begins.