This has been a fantastic weekend to be a University of Michigan student. The weather has been lovely, despite a few quick showers, and the entire city was seeping with school spirit yesterday for our huge football game: Michigan vs Notre Dame, Under the Lights - our only night game of the year in the Big House. Thanks to flextime quizzing, many of my classmates and I quizzed on Friday evening or early Saturday and were able to just completely enjoy ourselves on Saturday! I started out at the Galens Medical Society tailgate around 1pm. Galens is a fantastic group at UMMS that organizes social events, creates opportunities for students and faculty to work together in non-clinical settings, runs service projects that raise money for the children of Washtenaw County, puts on the annual Smoker show (which I know has been written about extensively on Dose of Reality), and more. I am very excited to be part of Galens this year and the tailgate was a very fun way to get ready for the big game!

Once the game started, the actual Big House experience was ethereal. Even after four years of undergrad at Michigan (and during the Lloyd Carr years, nonetheless), I had never experienced anything quite like being "Under the Lights" this weekend. Our student section was blazing with energy, all of us filling the air with our cheers, our maize pom-poms, and our glowing blue bracelets. There was a multi-jet flyover before kickoff, a tribute to Tom Harmon (one of our football legends), a Beyonce-themed half-time show (which she even introduced!), and an Eminem sighting in the press box. This game felt more like attending a Superbowl than your average September college football game. Plus, with a crowd of 115,109 fans, we were the largest crowd at an NCAA football game on record. There's just nothing more energizing than watching a great game with 115,000 of your closest friends!

Oh, and we won, 41-30. :)

I'm so happy that I am able to experience the energy of the Wolverines again in medical school. I love being back in this fiery college town - and having the time to actually enjoy all of the perks of living here!

Time to go prepare for the second week of our Cells and Tissues block. Thanks for reading and Go Blue!

~Korie