A Year Since the Interview

Just like that, I wrote my second medical school exam!!!! I got the exact same score as my first exam, so I guess I am consistent. I am not sure how my first anatomy practical went yet, but praying I also did well on that. Either way, MSK 1 is out of the way, and we are into MSK 2, which focuses on the lower muscles, nerves, and vessels of the body.

Leading up to the exam, I felt like a hermit this week, as I didn’t really leave my house unless it was for the gym or a mandatory at-school activity like the anatomy practice practical. The day before the exam, I didn’t actually leave my house (except to roll my bins in), which is kind of pathetic because I genuinely did not see or speak to another human that day or see sunlight. You gotta do what you gotta do, but it feels so rough when you’re in the thick of it. Besides studying throughout the week, I did sign up to attend a Family Medicine Interest Group talk that happened on Wednesday. The head chef and dietician from the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine came to speak about how to make effective and realistic suggestions to patients to improve their health using food as medicine. She emphasized that culinary medicine is not a replacement for medicine and treatments, but can be used with medicine to support patients in getting better. She talked a lot about how small changes are a lot more realistic than diets and fads. She also talked a lot about the importance of talking to patients about why they eat the foods that they do. For example, cost, distance to the store, lack of refrigeration, skills to cook, etc. and using that context to work with them to find ways they can still make small changes that actually fit their lifestyle. It was super interesting to me since I love cooking, and can’t wait to keep learning about culinary medicine throughout my 4 years here. After that, I was also lucky enough to take part in a Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) workshop led by some of the Tulane Family Medicine faculty. In this workshop, I got to learn about why POCUS is used more and more in primary care settings, what it can help achieve, and how to use it! It was so cool to hold an ultrasound probe and practice using it on models. I even got to practice aspirating a cyst in the model (the model is not a human, don’t worry!) Sometimes when I do things like this, I get a little starstruck that one day I will be in charge of doing this for real humans. It’s crazy to think about.

Speaking of things that are crazy to think about, it has been exactly one year since I had my Tulane medicine interview on September 26th of last year. This time last year, I still had no idea if I would be lucky enough to get into medical school, and this interview made that dream feel so close, and for it to finally happen still makes me pinch myself. Thank you, Tulane, for giving me this chance. It still feels surreal and wild when I compare it to my life last year and every year before that, since I started pursuing the path to medicine. 18-year-old Victoria would be so proud of herself, especially after hearing how many people told me I would never get here and all the rejections that happened along the way.

Okay, enough of the sap. I am sure you’re all excited to hear about how I celebrated my exam, and let me tell you, I celebrated hard. This post-exam felt even better since I have solid friends and people to celebrate with. On Friday evening, 7 of my friends joined me for a delicious dinner at Sofia, which is an Italian restaurant on Julia St. It was so nice to get dressed up, enjoy a dinner out, and hang out with my friends guilt-free. The restaurant itself is so nice inside, and the food is insanely good. We shared some kale salad, ricotta dip, pizzas, and chicken parm. I also got a watermelon mojito to start my night. We ate and yapped for a couple of hours before heading to the block party with the rest of our class. This block party was at Razzoo, which is a bar on Bourbon St. If you know New Orleans at all, you know Bourbon Street is an unhinged place. The night was definitely unhinged in a great way. I won’t get into too many details, but it was entertaining to see everyone let loose and have a great time dancing, laughing, and hanging out. I stayed out much longer than I should have, but that’s okay, that’s what being in your 20’s is all about. I did have to wake up early on Saturday for a super-secret interview (more details to come later on), so my sleep was less than ideal. The interview went really well, and then I headed out to Costco. My biggest regret is that I did not get a hot dog. It’s actually a sin to go to Costco and not get a hotdog. Also, there were no (psoriasis) French fries at the NOLA Costco. The fries are a staple in every Canadian Costco, so I am genuinely so disappointed because the Costco psoriasis fries (they don’t have psoriasis, they’re just flakey) are one of the best French fries to exist and now I won’t get to have them until I go back to Canada. Anyways, I restocked on some essentials and then had to rush home because I had to make it to my pool day! My friend Mia invited me and Stephanie to the pool in her apartment building, and we spent the whole afternoon tanning and swimming. I also pinch myself that I am in a city where there are pools and it’s hot all year round (Canada problems). I didn’t burn, which is a huge miracle for me, and most importantly, I had a great time. A few other classmates/friends joined throughout the afternoon, which made it even more fun. We then decided as a group that we needed pizza and walked to this pizza shop called Forbidden Pizza. We each had some insanely good slices. Then I went home and quickly rallied for another night out. My friend Nora was having her birthday party. It started with a pre-game at her house, followed by a night out on Frenchman Street. I have never been to Frenchman Street, but it is another iconic street in New Orleans that is arguably better than Bourbon. A lot of our classmates came out, and we went to a few bars, including a jazz bar with live music. It was another great night that was capped off perfectly by my Uber driver, who let me play Tate McRae on the way home, so overall 10/10 night. Side note, I have decided to dress up as Tate for Halloween, since we’re both not pop stars when we’re all alone. You’d think I would have nothing in the tank at this point, but Sunday was another busy day.

I had to get up early again for pickleball, so again, minimal sleep for me (but so worth it). I played pickleball with the usual group that comes out for a couple of hours. I got a lot of great games in before heading home to prep for my fantasy hockey draft. I started this league 3 seasons ago with my ice crew pals, and we continue to play now, even though I am no longer part of the team (still devastated about that btw). Like I said last week, I take fantasy hockey very seriously, so draft day is one of my favourite days of the year. I got so lucky as the ESPN computer randomly placed me at 5th overall, and I got Macklin Cellebrini. The rest of my roster is in the photo below, but I am so happy with how my team turned out. I named my team Father and Son because Crosby is like the mentor dad to Macklin. I have never had Crosby on a fantasy team (crazy, I know, because I love him), so I am excited to have him. Sadly, I lost Boldy and Quinny, but that’s life. I love playing fantasy hockey because we all get so competitive, even though we play for charity. The winner gets to choose the charity we all donate to, but you also get bragging rights. Fantasy draft day also means it’s hockey season again, which is music to my ears. My goal is to convince as many of my classmates to watch hockey and get them into it (‘Canadian radicalization’ if you will), so I can talk about it and not sound like a total dork, since only one other person knows what I am talking about when I geek out about anything related to it. Genuinely, the biggest drawback of New Orleans is the lack of love for hockey, but I will change that. Funny story, when people ask me where I want to do residency, I jokingly say somewhere with an NHL team (training to be the team doctor).

Before I forget, I also have to mention that I did make it out to the gym a couple of times this week. Not my best week, but this upcoming one will be better. Also on the docket for this week is training for Acacia! I forgot to share, but I applied to be part of Acacia, which is a student-run clinic that provides free STI testing, education, and linkage to care throughout the New Orleans community for vulnerable adult populations across the city. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I was selected, and we start our 3-day training on Monday. I am really excited as I am a huge advocate for equitable and accessible resources and care for people, especially in the realm of sexual and reproductive health. I have spent the last 5 years doing research in this field, so to finally get to be on the frontlines and support people, and use the skills and advocacy I gained in research, is so exciting to me. I will update you all about how the training goes next week, and share what it’s like to be part of these student-run clinics as I get to start doing them.

Speaking of next week, that’s my cue to wrap it up. I capped off my Sunday by being very productive. I cleaned my apartment, made copycat Chipotle bowls, wrote my blog, and am now ready to sit on my couch for the rest of the night catching up on Dancing with the Stars. I hope you all have a great week, and see you here in October (where is the time going!!!!!)