After completing another trimester filled with learning and hard work, it was quite easy for me to slip back into “break mode.” When I got back home, my 12 chickens welcomed me. That same afternoon, one chicken laid her first egg! By the end of break, 8 out of 12 chickens were laying eggs. I camped in Door County (as usual) and also Upper Peninsula Michigan.

The first week back at school can be somewhat disorienting (as I adjust to new courses and schedules). It was nice to see everyone again. I am excited for a new set of classes: clinical endocrinology, functional laboratory and point of care testing, clinical nutrition, advanced diagnosis and problem solving, homeopathy,  physiological therapeutic–modalities, psychopathology and health psychology, and business planning. On the clinic side of things, I have now officially begun my hydrotherapy clinical rotation. I will carry out clinic hydrotherapy treatments such as constitutional hydrotherapy, Russian steam, and infrared sauna. I look forward to diving deep into the coursework and learning new things. Next trimester, I will enter the student clinic as a naturopathic intern (whoa…time has gone by quickly)!

I am already embracing the fall season. I am cooking soups and stews (my favorite meals this time of year). I will soon decorate my on-campus studio apartment with a various pumpkins, gourds, and colorful leaves. I also look forward to crisp autumn walks when my wife and dog visit. If I’m lucky, she will bring me some pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread (which are excellent treats this time of year). But on a daily basis, I mostly look forward to simply witnessing the changing colors of the leaves and the amazing earthy smell of decaying leaf piles!