Here I am, in the momentary lull between exams, a hectic day of travel, and Christmas. Various relatives have been coming, going, and returning, with more to come and go today. How wonderful to have a family that's willing and eager to travel great distances to be together. There's a beautiful lazy snow falling now, which I predict will make those of us traveling today less than thrilled.

It's been longer than I wanted it to be between posts; I'm afraid by now I won't be able to capture some of the excitement and import of the latter half of my term at school. Probably the most interesting was the two weeks I spent with the anaesthetists in the operating theaters of Cork University Hospital. I got to see a laparoscopic bowel surgery, some neurosurgery (where I got to see how the brain pulses!) and watch an anaesthetist put lidocaine underneath the sclera in preparation for cataract surgery. Wicked. Though I don't expect to go into anaesthetics, it was cool to see, and got me excited to continue to learn about surgery. I got to start some IVs, put in some airways, and learn about various anaesthetic agents. So all in all, a very educational couple of weeks. I finished off with a few weeks with some respiratory and cardiac patients. That included a few good tutorials, and I got to hear some heart murmurs and the like. The two or so weeks after that were devoted to exams. Few classes, too much studying.

The next term, starting in January, should be quite exciting. With the exception of 2 weeks spent learning more about epidemiology we won't have any classes whatsoever; all of our time will be in hospitals and clinics around Ireland. For the first 3 weeks I will be with a GP in Clonmel, the county seat of Tipperary. It turns out that it's not as far as the song would have you believe. I'll get a week of vacation, or I think they're actually calling it private study time. Then I'll be back in Clonmel for a month in the hospital there. It should be really interesting to get to see medicine in a more rural setting than Cork, since most of Ireland doesn't have all of the resources of the city. The doctor who organized this term is also hoping that there will be some continuity between the GP and the hospital so that I might be able to see the full course of some of my patients' care. The town is about and hour and a half north of Cork, and I don't really know what my living situation will be. The school will put me up somewhere, likely a bed and breakfast, but I probably won't know until I go back. Most of my friends will be in Cork the whole time, so it will be strange to be away from them for so long. I imagine I'll be back at my own place for the weekends. I'll probably have little to do but write while I'm up there, so hopefully I will be posting frequently.

I think that's it for now. Mom's up, and the heat's on in the other room. Later.