Break is the boon that we all look forward to throughout the trimester. Its blessing is twofold: It serves as progress marker during this journey and lights the final weeks of each trimester as a beacon for the coming rest and relaxation break holds in store. However, as one gets older and life gets more full, the most unfortunate lessons are learned.

The particular lesson in store for most holiday breaks, is one in which this particular protagonist comes to terms with the fact that R&R is a truly rare thing. As this realization settles in, the most delightful piece of irony presents itself around the end of the second week of break, when you look in the mirror and see this exhausted, bedraggled cretin staring back at you and you find yourself asking, “So, when does school start?” 

The Redline Holiday Train: another unfortunate product of break

Time with family and old friends is amazing indeed, but as we all know, it can drain you like nothing else. You find yourself missing the weekly exams and the stringent schedule you’ve grown far too accustomed to over the last couple of years. You find your friends are night owls that often want to stay up well past 10, which is already an hour past your bedtime as it is. Break can be tough, between the late nights and the creative self-exploration that has finally found space in your mind to slowly drift through, as tendrils of smoke, awakening that executive, free-thinking part of your mind that you thought had been buried under piles of medical books. What a drag.

Brunch with the gang, yet another melancholy product of ample free time

Hence, the first day of class was quite a relief. Regimentation and structure is what the human mind needs most. The transition was a bit too effective as Dr. Ed Bifulco, himself quite the master of irony and satire, opened up his class on End Range Loading with a brilliant appeal to our executive, free-thinking. Just when I thought I could put my mind back into that comfortable box, we were encouraged again to use critical thinking (ugh) by Dr. Jim Jenkins, NUHS’ resident rehab guru. I guess I’ll have to keep my mind out of that box just a bit longer.