I Leave so soon!!

It's hard to believe that in less than 24 hours I will be leaving for three months... I just got back from a couple days down in Waco yesterday.  I got to see almost everyone that I wanted to see (except for Rick, Josh, Lindsey, and Callie!), and fill out a permit for one of my classes to count for both my medical humanities major and biology minor! And now I'm TRYING to actually pack my stuff... so far all I have done is make some very nice piles on the guest bed, a checklist, and completely trash my room...

All the piles on the guest bed! 

And what's best about this is that I really haven't even thought about what clothes I really want/need to bring... I on my insanely detailed checklist I did slide into generalities here, with the ever ambiguous check off item of "shirts and t-shirts."  It's hard to decide what I'll feel like wearing in September or October, especially when I'm currently living in a place where the temperature is around 100° and the high in Maastricht today is only 81°.
I realize that this semester is going to be a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.  I'm making headway through my summer reading (my first since high school!) and enjoying it, even the hard to understand stuff!
I'm really excited for dinner tonight. My family is taking me out to a fun asian fusion/sushi place in Midtown Oklahoma City called Pachinko Parlor... Mom and Dad have been and said it's really good and fun!  And Megan and Eileen Wilson are joining us for dinner!  Megan was going on the trip as my group's TA, but she got accepted to OU School of Medicine, so she just started classes!

What Will Make You Happy

So for those of you who don't know, my sister Katelynn is getting married in December, and she and her fiancé, Ryan, are in required pre-marital counseling.  One of their assignments for counseling that I found interesting is this: what material things, physical possessions, do you have in order to be content?  What kind of car, how many bedroom house, where do you want to vacation, and how often?  This got me thinking, in addition to one of my med school essay prompts "what are your goals for your future in medicine" that really, I haven't set any life goals, other than to be happy, healthy, and a doctor.  So I'm now setting down, "on paper," my goals, my sort of bucket list.
 This is in no particular order, it's just what I want to put it down to see what I want.  These all don't have to happen all at the same time, but I want to be able to do all of these.  Some of these are experiences, some of these are physical possessions, some are just achievements...

1. A successful medical practice, which allows me freedom to live without financial stress
2. To go on at least one medical mission trip every other year
3. At least one dog, and a big dog, not a little one... bonus if it can catch a frisbee
4. Go scuba diving at least once per year
5. A salt water fish tank... I miss ours from the old house, and I think mom would put one in the new house if she could figure out where...
6. To own a vacation house with a palm tree in the yard... preferably with a sand yard to go with it
7. House big enough to entertain and have friends and family visit... even if it is Katelynn's baseball team of kids...
8. Own one impractical car... Like a car I only drive on days when it's sunny and I want to go fast.
9. Have a happy family... maybe even with a couple kids...
10. Visit Australia, Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe (Basically go to all continents but Antarctica...)
11.  Go to New Zealand
12. Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef
13. Go to the Summer Olympics
14. Have a house with a Library full of books
15. Run a half marathon (possibly the Student Foundation Bearathon!)
16. Become Fluent in Spanish
17. Be able to take my parents on a long, exotic vacation
18. Write a book

Countdown to departure is now T-Minus 37 days, 18hours, and 20-ish minutes until I leave for Maastricht! (not that I'm counting...)
I"m really getting excited, I've ordered all my books, and they're arriving in the mail, and most excitingly: my backpack came in the mail yesterday.  Now only a few things stand between me and my European Semester abroad: 1. My MCAT.  I take it (again) on Aug 12, ten days before departure... 2. My Med School Applications (haven't quite submitted those yet- will do this week!) and 3. Planning where all I want to go!
I discovered a cool way to plot out where I "dream" of going while Im over there: google maps.  I made my own map and I dropped pins on all the places I wanted to go! that way I could visually see where all I think I want to visit! I think it's pretty neat.  I need to talk to some of my friends who have gone on a Maastricht trip to get more recommendations on places to visit, hostels, etc... just one more thing for the to-do list!

View Mark's Maastricht Trip Planning in a larger map
I'm also getting excited for my classes.  I'm half way through reading one of my summer books Complications by Atul Gwande.  I've read Dr. Gwande's book Better for one of Dr. Attas' classes, and I enjoyed it, and I definitely am liking Complications as well.  Its interesting reading about cases that Dr. Gwande has treated, and then finding some very similar ones that I've seen working in the Emergency Room this summer.
It's an interesting point right now... I can feel the summer coming to an end, and school getting ready to start up, but then I feel like it's an eternity away. I guess now Its time to go back to studying!