Well, I'm back from the sunny south. Okay, maybe not so sunny, since it rained most of the time, and maybe not really too much more south than we are here, but it sounds good, anyways. Buffalo was about as charming as the part of east Hamilton I drove through when I got off the highway at Burlington Street to come home. Ah Steeltown - home sweet home! Things became much more lovely as I passed James Street, and as I went for a run at the Bayfront park this afternoon, I enjoyed the trees and the water that make you feel like you're at a cottage somewhere.
The exam went well, I think, though I won't have results for 6 weeks or so. It really didn't feel much like an exam, because it was just in a little computer room with a few other people (all writing different tests), and you kind of set your own pace, taking breaks when you decide to, etc, as long as you fit it all into the 8-hour day. I had done a practice exam using a CD-ROM they had sent when I registered for the exam, and the real thing was so similar in format (and the same computer program) that I felt like I was just at home doing practice questions rather than writing an exam. The one next month won't be like that - it's a series of simulations with live people. I find that a little more intimidating.
So (assuming I passed) that's it for the general US licensing exams. Doesn't really mean much, practically speaking, except that I don't have to take any more US exams until I finish my residency and am taking my surgical board exams, and that's a few years down the road. So it's nice to be finished this "chapter" of things.
Now I'm off for the weekend, and then back to work on Monday. Fortunately, I don't feel the need to wind down too much after this exam, seeing as I've been pretty wound down for the last couple months. Otherwise it would be kind of a bummer to have to go straight back into things after a big exam like this. I'm just thankful to have had extra time to really focus on studying - I've definitely learned and consolidated a lot more than I would have if I'd been spending the last few months putting in a few hours at the end of exhausting days/nights at work. And now I'm in pretty good position for the Canadian exam at the end of Oct. It's a different format, so I have to think about things a little differently, but it's the same material, so nothing should be new (except that I have to start thinking in Canadian laboratory units and drug names again).
