From D1 to DR: The Time Has Come

Hello my fellow readers, the time has officially come for me to start school this week! I have check-in this Thursday, in which I get my laptop configured to the system and meet my classmates, and Friday I get my picture taken for my student card and get access codes, a key fob, etc. I have come to realize that I may not be able to blog once a week like I had hoped. The reason for this is that current and past students are saying a day in the life of a MERP students looks like this:

8:00am-12:00pm: Lectures (Two 2-hour class lectures, one from 8-10, another from 10-12)
12:00-2:00pm: Lunch Break/Study Time
2:00-3:00pm: Academic Success Meeting OR Anatomy Lab

I am pretty much gone all day, and after I get back home, workout for an hour, eat dinner, and look over my lecture notes from that morning, it is already 10:00pm and I need to go to bed to get up and do it all over again. Yay. I know my scheduling is highly determined by time management skills, and thankfully, that is the one thing I know for sure I can do properly. From organizing my life in undergrad to the point where I would actually schedule "sleep" in my agenda, I know I can figure out my days here in Toronto. I am definitely excited to get started!

I will try my best to blog every Sunday or Monday (Ok..I know today is Tuesday...I am already not staying true to my word!), but by the sounds of it, I will be a lot busier than I thought I would be. I will know more in the next couple days as they will officially give us a schedule, outlining our days more in-depth. I also wanted to mention in this blog post of how grateful I am for my supporters. People have said some amazing and motivational statements and have messaged me some tear-jerking messages. From people who I know and love, to people who I would never think would read my blog, it is truly amazing to feel the love and support from all of you. Since moving up November 1st to North York, a month early before my school semester commencing, I really had some days where I questioned if I am doing the right thing. From a massive loan, to leaving my family, missing weddings, engagements, and birthday parties, I know I would be sacrificing a lot in the next couple years. A pleasant email from a fellow high school friend (yea Sydenham! lol) sent me the nicest message, which was facilitated by her reading my last blog post to encourage an act of kindness: "call or message someone who you haven't in many years, just to see how they are doing." She mentioned to me that: "If you aren't moving forward, what's the point? Staying stagnant does nothing, but if you go for something, at best you get what you have worked for, at worst it's a learning experience. What's there to lose? Even if you aren't sure if you are doing the right thing school or life or whatever, you are moving forward! And that's never a mistake." Wow thank you so much Chelsea! That message came at the perfect time :) Let's go for a drink soon!

All in all, I just wanted to say thank-you. If you have stumbled across this blog last week or have been a follower since Day 1...Thank You. This journey of mine will definitely have its ups and downs, and thankfully I have amazing people in my life to help me along the way. I am off to look over some notes, not much longer where I can voluntarily decide to do this, soon it will be "AHHH look over everything right now!" Highlight. Re-write notes. Write on the white board. Draw flow chart. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I know I am a nerd when I can't wait to do this.

Bye for now! And Happy December! <-- Do people say this? I don't know, but enjoy !

-E xo