The Fun Goes On and On....

Laura: Hello again! Today I would like to catch you up on a few fun things we did in between visiting Philadelphia and taking a summer vay-cay in ITALY! (See how I keep teasing you with future posts about ITALY! Is it working....are you hooked?!). Looking back on this time period in early 2013, I am surprised how many fun adventures we were able to squeeze into really only about 2 months - the short span of time before I had to start studying the the dreaded Step 1 exam. This is a test that basically tests everything I learned in the first two years of medical school, and once school was over in early May I started studying LITERALLY like it was my job for 6 weeks. Soooooo thankful that we got to have fun before that madness started. Here's a little recap! 

1) Foof's Family Visits Rochester!  In late March, my family was able to come visit for a weekend. Of course we had to eat at Sticky Lips - first order of business in fact! Then we did some stuff, played some games, ate at some other places...and then we went to the Corning Museum of Glass! Alex and I had visited the city of Corning and this awesome museum last fall (sorry we didn't make a post about it...slipped through the cracks I guess...?), so we knew it would be a fun place to take my family. Now you have probably heard of the Corning Glass Company and their famous products - used for art, cooking, industry, and more - but I bet you didn't know their headquarters is in Corning, NY (about 1/5 hours south of Rochester)! Well it is - and if you come visit the museum you can learn all about the history of the company, the history of glass-making itself, and the science behind the unique properties of various types of glass. The museum is really an art gallery, museum, science center, and artist's workshop all-in-one.

While visiting the Corning Museum of Glass with my family, we actually took some glass art classes. My dad took a glass blowing class where he got to make an egg-shaped ornaments with black & gold Mizzou stripes (the only appropriate decoration for any piece of art!). My mom made a glass bead to wear on a necklace which required working with a pretty intense blow torch and tiny glass rods. Alex, Elizabeth, and myself worked at the glass fusing table to make wind chimes and a night light (basically you glue pieces of glass together and later in the kiln (aka oven) the heat will fuse the glass together). We had a lot of fun making our glass art project, exploring the museum, and visiting the ADORABLE Main Street area of Corning. Even stopped to have dinner at the Market Street Brewing Company - super delicious!

2) "Med School Prom!!!" - aka URSMD Formal 2013 - One of the coolest things I got to do during my second year of medical school was being a member of the Interclass Senate - a group of 4 seond year medical students (elected by their peers) who organize events to engage all 4 medical school classes (aka freshmen - seniors), basically help people mingle and get to know each other. This year the Interclass senate planned a number of small parties and a talent show, but the big event of the year is Formal, aka Med School Prom!!! This year the event was held at the Rochester Yacht Club (hence the Captain's hats) and was a huge success! Here are a few pics from that awesome night.

Interclass Senators 2012-2013

3) Lilac Festival in Highland Park - Every spring/summer in Rochester there are a zillion festivals to celebrate all the awesome things about our city or that just make summer fun. One of the first big festivals of the year is the Lilac Festival, which occurs around the time all the lilac bushes in the B-E-A-utiful Highland Park are blooming. We tried to go last year, but it had been so hot early in the year that most of the lilacs had already bloomed and wilted away. However, this year the weather must have been much better because there were tons of flowers! We spent the afternoon taking pictures and drinking fresh-squeezed lemonade.

After I took my Step 1 exam (I passed!!!), we did a couple more fun things before zipping off to ITALY for 10 days (teasing...teasing...teasing...).

1) BBQs w/ Med School Friends - Thankfully the weather was still glorious after my classmates and I emerged from our study caves, so of course we had to have some outdoor parties - gotta get that Vitamin D! Here's a few pics of my med school friends at a BBQ...
 

Lucy was a little freaked out by these mega balloons!

2) Foof in STL - The weekend in between taking my Step 1 and leaving for ITALY, I zipped home to visit my family for a few days. I was greeted with lots of hugs, congratulatory dinners, and a bouquet of GIANT balloons! Thanks, Family!!! Also got to swing by the construction site for my sister and her fiance's new house - they're building it themselves!!! These pictures are pretty out of date, the house is practically finished now!

Checking out Lizard's new house!

That about covers all the major activities we did in the spring and early summer of 2013. Stay tuned for some epic posts about our trip to ITALY!!!

-The Lorax-