Well, I finished the first year of medical school... I think.  You can never be quite sure I guess because the Office of Medical Education can always pull a fast one on you and remind you that there are some lingering requirements that I have yet to fill.  For now, I shall just cross my fingers...

The first year of medical school...

The first week of summer, I went straight to lab.  This summer I will be working in the Immunology Department looking at the immune system under different models of autoimmune diseases, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis.   These are many of the topics I enjoy, so I was excited to find a lab working on this area of research - so I joined the McGeachy Lab for the summer!  I'm learning a lot and in the very first week was able to try my hand at some new techniques.  Its going to be a fun summer.

Roomie Reunion at CMX - can you see the runway from here? Basically.

Da' Yooper Looper!

I only had one week in the lab however until it was off to the airport to fly home for my summer break!  The week went fast and shortly after I landed in the Houghton/Hancock airport!  Whooot!  My luggage was brought into the small one room airport and the guy that took it off the plane was the same one who handed it to me through a make shift garage door.  I loved that when we touched down, the people one plane said, "well, if this isn't your final destination - you've done something WRONG!" Hahah!  We all got a good laugh out of that!

The stormy kromers

We made out way into Houghton and stopped at the general store where we found Stormy Kromer hats for cheap!  Three matching ones at that... can't be beat.  So we impulse purchased them, per ush.  We then took a stop to see the Keweenaw Brewery and gave Kate the local tour of the boys' hangouts in college - now the new hangouts for the Eva Crew!

Thought this captured the mood of a Stormy Kromer perfectly...

We had a great time catching up quickly and seeing the city but after a while we slowly retreated to camp and shared many laughs over some country music.  We lit up the citronella candies to ward off the skeetos and shot the breeze.  It was heavenly.

Uncle Curty and Lyssa!  Too much fun at the Keweenaw!

Lyssa, Kate, and I on the deck... great view for some country music!

Curty likes my American Flag scarf!  You're My Friend!!  Priceless shirt!