School without school

It's high time for a quick update. As fourth year has unfolded, it's been quite a unique three weeks.

I am only taking three courses - a Directed Studies (where I have blocked off my Mondays for), problem-based learning (7 hours a week of class), and Pharmacy management (3 hours a week). As such, I have a lot more "free" time in my schedule, which has led to a few things. Even though I have so little class, I can usually be found on campus anyway, due to any random arrangement of volunteerism. Whereas previously, my volunteering commitments were limited by my schedule - if they didn't fit, obviously I couldn't do them - now, I am finding that I am committing to a lot more, and as I look forward, I think it'll be important for me to reign in that enthusiasm a little bit. Secondly, even though my schedule doesn't look all that difficult, I'm still busy. In addition to doing lots of CAPS-related research, there are residency applications, time spent stressing about whether or not we will have jobs, and - as I alluded to earlier - as a fourth year student, many random questions about pharmacy or pharmacy studentship at UBC get directed my way. It's difficult to get work done in the PhUS lounge for this reason.

However, one fantastic change for this term has been my increase in sports. Last year, I did ballroom dance for 1.5 hours weekly, which was pretty much the extent of my physical activity. Now, I am doing vinyasa yoga with Jenny, Julianna and Tzu twice weekly, am (for some reason) now the captain of a first-year pharmacy Tier 4 CoRec volleyball team (we still need more girls, if you happen to be interested), and also have the opportunity to play badminton (aiming for at least one session every two weeks or so). With the exception of the last few days, I have also found that I am more rested, despite the commuting to campus that I am doing, and perhaps because there is less stress associated with having less school and fewer exams to study for.

There are lots more things I'd like to eventually discuss - what it's like for Joey this term, my more updated thoughts about residency and where I'm going, my newer volunteering activities, and my newer perspective on how I have been interacting with pharmacy students... perhaps for next time. But one item that is important for me to mention is that even though I am doing much better as a person, I still find that I am not dedicating the time to doing work, whether that is CAPS-related, residency-related, or pharmacy-related. I need to find the motivation to get back to the fundamentals that have made me "successful" while also balancing the refreshing aspects of life that I have recently discovered.