My name is Al and I am a Physical Therapy Graduate Student at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in NYC. I hope you are enjoying my experiences with my classmates. PT School is truly an adventure. Please spread the word to all of your friends and family to check back for new posts and more fun!

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

It's been a wild and crazy ride! (so far...)

Greetings to all! I know it has been a long time since my last post. I was slightly overwhelmed with school and not very motivated when not studying or sleeping to spend my only free time (a whopping 30 minutes) to put up a new post. I apologize to my classmates and all of you for not being as current as I should. In any event, here is a breakdown of what went on while I was away....

As best as I can remember, I left all of you with a few pictures of Thanksgiving and my weird episode of 48 hour insomnia. PT school was not what I expected it to be, not in any way at all. This is a good thing, because I love a good challenge and love to help others, so this is where I grit my teeth and get to work for the next few years. As much as I love to learn new information, the same "scenery" can get quite boring after a while.



This was the standard view for the two weeks leading up to final exams. I lived on hot chocolate and lemon iced cake at Starbucks. I think I should invest in Starbucks, it may help pay off some of my debt when I graduate. I was at a particular Starbucks so much that they would have my order ready by the time I got to the counter. I also learned that too much studying, into the wee hours of the morning will lead to silly things. Courtney, Karen and I were studying very late one night, and in an effort to "relax" we went to the local watering hole and enjoyed some of the finer beverages. It was a nice and relaxing time, we had a few laughs and a bunch of drinks. Oh, and Courtney looks a little sloppy already and we did not even start drinking yet!! Lightweight!! Needless to say we all slept VERY WELL that night.



During the course of studying for final exams, I did invite as many friends as possible to visit me and provide me with much needed "sanity breaks". My neighbor across from me in Bard Hall (Beth) is a first-year student at Hogwarts. She and I went to a great Indian restaurant in the East Village for dinner and a fun time. I know it's not in the picture, but the ceilings were only 6-feet high. Ouch!



The food was AWESOME and the company was...... pretty good. :-) Another friend was in town the weekend before finals and twisted my arm and made me take her somewhere for a burger. Amy and I found Blue 9 Burgers downtown, near the NYU campus. The food was slightly overpriced, but it was like getting a burger off the grill at a summer picnic. Just right and plenty juicy.



Eventually the craziness of finals week hit us all and Karen and Courtney and I went out for some food and some fun. It snowed while we were out (as you can see in the picture) and it was the first time Karen had ever seen snow. She ran around trying to catch snow on her tongue and ran over a street vendor. I think she needs warning lights or something when she goes outside.... very dangerous girl. To make the trip even more interesting, Courtney decided to stuff an entire ice cream cone in her mouth at once. Why? I am really not sure, but if you were a stranger looking on you would have thought we were all nuts! finally, while on our way back from our "outing in the city", Karen and Courtney decided to join a group of church goers singing carols on the subway train. They were out of tune and off tempo, but it was nice to see that some people still embrace the spirit of Christmas.





During my studying days for finals, I would frequent the subway to get to my Study Starbucks near NYU. It is only a $2 trip each way, and gives me a chance to clear my head before beginning to study again. Looking back I realize that there are some really WEIRD things in this city that most people may not recognize. the next picture is from the 14th Street L train platform. If you look closely at the right side of the subway tracks you will see something...... See it? It's a ladder! Someone put a ladder next to the tracks in case someone falls in while waiting for the train? It seems a bit strange and almost scary that there would be a ladder waiting for someone to get out of the way before a train comes into the station. I found it quite entertaining, and made a mental note in the event I ever fall onto the tracks.



Wow! It certainly was an interesting time during final exams. Check the other posts for Christmas pictures and other fun things. I wish I had more pictures of my classmates, but they were all hiding from me. They must be trying to tell me something..... maybe it was because we were all overwhelmed and rather exhausted.

Until next post!

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