I hate to admit it, but it must be said… M2  year is far busier than M1 year. As M1s, we all watched the older (and, of course, wiser) class ahead of us as they went through some quintessential M2 experiences -- 8 hours of lecture in a day, fewer quizzes and more heavily weighted exams, the dreaded male GU physical exam. ;)

It's hard to believe that we are actually the ones filling those shoes now. Our first sequence, Cardiology, came and went with a flourish. The material was difficult, but incredibly interesting, and the beauty of second year is that everything is so clinically relevant. Despite our busy schedules and intense amounts of school work, many of us have been carving out time to shadow in specialties that have caught our attention or to get some hands-on work with patients through the M2 Clinical Reasoning Elective.

It was quite an adjustment for me to go from a summer in the ED back into the classroom, but I appreciate the fact that we are just being taught so much. Within the three short weeks of Cardiology, I feel like the way I think about patients in the ED with chief complaints of chest pain or shortness of breath is completely different. Actually knowing the cause of certain pathologies is incredibly exciting.  I'm missing my free time a little bit, but it's really nice to just be back with my amazing classmates again, working through the challenging material together. As always, we still find time to have fun… we had a great back-to-school get together, have enjoyed football games (or at least one of them, so far…) and some last minute time on the river and at the pool, before fall weather kicks in.

Alright, time to go get caught up on Respiratory - our second sequence of M2 year, which is somehow already halfway over. Thanks for reading!

KZT