Relay Day--Week 8

As you can guess from the title, I spent most of this week getting pumped for Relay for Life. I will talk about that soon, but I first want to tell you about the days before.

My refutation speech on Tuesday went pretty well. I did mine on smoking at Augustana. We also had a mock trial in the class on Thursday. I was pretty nervous for it beforehand, but luckily, I prepared really well, and we got to choose our roles, so I was able to execute mine very well. (I gave the opening statement for the defense.) It was actually really enjoyable and funny!

Tuesday was also the induction ceremony for new BBB members. I sat with Heather and one of the members of my SNT group, Bryan. We chatted a little about Relay, since we were on the same team. It was great to see all of the new members and celebrate their acceptance into the society.

Shadowing went pretty well this week. I was able to help quite a bit around the clinic, sweeping floors and restraining animals as needed. Dr. W and I went to semen test a bull on Tuesday, which was something new.

Finally, Friday arrived! Relay for Life was so great!  We started with a Survivors Ceremony, complete with two laps around the track at Pepsico Rec Center for survivors from the Augustana community (some students, some faculty). We had a great speech by one of our most revered professors, Bob Tallitsch. Most of the rest of the time was spent walking around and dancing to the music they were playing. Because I reached my goal of $100, I got a cool purple wristband that allowed me access to the VIP room and free food from Noodles and Company. I had such a great time with my teammates. They are all really cool and funny people. We played games and talked. Devon and I cheered on Sarah, Bryan, Liz, and Emma when they played water pong. We finished at around 5 AM, and I didn't get to bed until 5:30. Needless to say, I was really tired and slept until noon, but it was so worth it. My only regret is that I cannot go next year because I will be home (hopefully working before I come back to graduate in May). We did get a team picture, though, so I can always remember the great time I had.

Team Cure Brigade! From the left is Renae, Liz, Bryan, me, Grace, and Emma. Sarah is in the front. I really like this picture because we all look so good!

 This weekend has been pretty low key aside from Relay. I've just been working on homework and resting so I can recover from staying up so late on Friday/Saturday.

I got A's on both of my tests--Anatomy and Physics--so things are still going well academically, too.

Next week, I have lots of things to look forward to. Monday is my induction ceremony for Mortar Board. Wednesday is our end of the year meeting for Circle K--a potluck at Shantytown (a fundraiser put on by Habitat for Humanity where student groups buy cardboard boxes and sleep in them overnight to raise awareness for homelessness). We have an orthopedic surgeon coming to Anatomy on Wednesday to talk to us about knee and shoulder surgery. Saturday is Celebration of Learning, where I will get to display my poster from Molecular Genetics and answer questions anyone has about it while I stand in the hall with my fellow students. I'm looking forward to showing off my own work as well as seeing that of my peers.

Well, that's all for now! It's getting down to the wire with classes; only two more weeks of learning before Finals Week, and then I'll be home for the summer. Busy, busy. Have a great week!