As a class, we have now finished our first "semester" of dental school. That means we are 1/8 of the way to graduation. It is pretty crazy how long, but quick these past six months have gone by. The days and weeks are long, but the months fly by. I have completed and passed 20 classes, worth the equivalent of almost four undergraduate semesters. I feel like I have just lived through a tornado going 100 miles per hour. I have lost a lot of sleep, down time, and time with friends, but I survived. I didn't get to home very much, but I was so busy with school I didn't really think about it.
We started out as classmates, from all different states, backgrounds, beliefs, experiences. We were all brought to the same place, because we all have the same passion. There were very few people who knew each other coming into school, but now we all know each other. I love having a small class of only 42 students. We are all going through the same thing and having 41 other people understand is great. It allows us to be closer because we are so small and don't have 100 other people "competing". We all support each other and help each other out. Everyone has their own forte and their own weakness, but we even it all out between our classmates.
We had a Halloween party, where most of the girls dressed up as tooth fairies in honor of our profession. It was really fun to see everyone's twist on the fairy we all grew up imagining.
The girls had a scarf exchange, where we all got together one night after a class finished and spent some quality time getting to know everyone even better. Our class has 25 girls and only 17 boys, so the girls pretty much over rule the boys in everything.
Then, to finish off the semester right, our WONDERFUL faculty and staff threw both dental classes a Christmas party to help us take our minds off of studying for a little while. I want to brag on our staff, they care so much about us, our education, and our well-being. All of them would literally do anything to help us through a tough time or illness. They ask our feedback on everything, which to us gets annoying, but I think it is awesome how much they care how it's affecting us. They provide goodies, lunch, and gifts for us out of the goodness of their hearts. They give us their cell phone numbers so we can call them at literally any hour, if we need them.
I am so incredibly thankful, blessed, and honored to be part of this legacy. I am going to one of the best schools in the country, and to think that it wasn't my first choice all along. God knew what he was doing when he put me here, and I am so humbled that I have the opportunity to become a dentist with this education. Some days I wake up and don't want to get up to go to class, because of how exhausted I am, but then I remember how incredibly blessed I am to have the opportunity to become a dentist. Someday I am going to be a dentist and be able to look back at the times spent in school with all my classmates and it will all seem so short. I don't want to take these moments for granted and the memories that are being and will be made at this little, new school.