two zero one two

Once again, I'm behind. It's been two whole weeks since I've written (I would apologize for taking so long, but I've been having way too much fun), meaning I have lots to catch you up on. And yesterday, I started internship #3 of 4! So, here goes:

Winter Break, Week 1: Though I was still pretty concussed, I went shopping with mom on Wednesday in Maple Grove, and enjoyed myself thoroughly at the Sawatzke Christmas party that night playing Mafia and Loaded Questions. I devoured some plantain nachos at Chino with my Ole hockey girls the next night. Then came Fantastic Friday #1 (AKA the ultimate Christmasy day): Clay and I went skating (shocker, he can skate! ;), visited his cousins and work (less Christmasy, but still entertaining), ate dinner in Maple Grove (I highly recommend Claddagh's massive onion rings), drove around looking at Christmas lights, decorated his cabin for Christmas Eve, attempted to make a gingerbread house, sipped hot chocolate with mint liqueur, listened to Michael Buble's latest Christmas CD, exchanged Christmas gifts (he gave me a North Stars sweatshirt and I gave him a Wild sweatshirt...I like where this relationship is going...) and watched Elf! 

Christmas Weekend: Christmas Eve was delightful as usual- Grandpa juice and Grandma's mouth-watering dinner spread (especially the candied apples and kranzekake!) were highlights. Christmas morning, we opened presents (highlights: iPod hookup for my car, Sevens, beer stein from our fav town in Germany, Anthropologie gift card, a care package coupon courtesy of Jack for when I'm in Washington, and a football for the fam...which we proceeded to use because it was a balmy, snow-less 45 degree day). I gave Jack a Batman shirt, which I expect him to wear at least 3 days each week. Mom prepared a wonderful brunch, and that night I headed up to Monti for games and a white elephant gift exchange (with 2 shower gels, nailpolish, and lip gloss-- compared to other "gifts" such as shoe polish-- I came out on top, though I am jealous of Kristy's Disney princess band-aids). (Yes, I drive a lot, and have learned the freeway from VH to Monti well. To pass the time, I 1) see how many billboards I can memorize in order from south to north, 2) try to find catchy song lyrics to tweet, or 3) practice mastering my turn signal shortcut for passing, which turns off automatically after 3 blinks if you tap it just the right way.) 

Winter Break, Week 2: Brunch at the Downtowner (where I spotted 2 Wild players...I have an eye for these things) on Monday, then Wild game that night. We lost (and I don't wanna talk about it), but Clay and I did make it on the fan cam for six long, slightly awkward seconds. Tuesday, I officially started applying to sports med PT residencies for next year! Wednesday, I spent the afternoon with Kristy's high school girlfriends playing games (in particular, something involving a hot dog, a mousetrap, a string, and reaction time). I then watched the Monti Magic girls bball team win themselves a spot in the championship game of their tourney (way to go Laura!). Thursday, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to tackle my to-do list and get everything ready for United on Monday. Then, Fantastic Friday #2: After stops at Caribou (for caffeine, duh) and Von Hanson's (for spicy beef sticks), I headed up to the cabin with Ben and Clay to join the fam (plus my uncle's Parisian foreign exchange student and Izzy, Jack's college friend from Philly). We spent the day shoveling the lake (with intermittent snow fights...because yes, there was snow!), playing pickup hockey, throwing the football around on the ice (risky), enjoying a cold beer in a very hot sauna (heavenly), and trying not to eat too much of grandpa's BBQ chicken and grandma's homemade cherry pie. 

New Year's 2012: Headed back to MN with Jack, Rizzo, Ben and Clay on Saturday. Dinner at Chianti, checked into our hotel, and headed to Whisky Park (with our gigantic group of 22 people) at 8:30. The music selection improved significantly as the night went on, we drank champagne meant for midnight at 11:57 because it had almost completely spilled as we danced, and had an overall great night ringing in the new year with my favorite people. (Props to Clay for giving up his shoes and walking downtown in his socks in the snow because my feet were in pain. Gold star!) New Year's Day, I made some pretty snazzy cupcakes with Kristy, finally got my hands on some of Kim's white chicken chili, and even tried a little lobstah at our annual New Years fam dinner. 

Day 1 at United: Yesterday marked my third first day! I'll be spending the next 8 weeks in downtown St. Paul (I think I'm going to love working "downtown" for now, especially across the street from Cossetta's and the X) doing acute rehab (post-surgery, lymphadema, oncology) and outpatient neurorehab (stroke, TBI, multiple sclerosis). Just like ortho, I think I'll like the environment- big gym, real patient conversations (i.e. the conversations I had with babies in peds were awfully one-sided), and the variety of diagnoses. Just like peds, though, I think the pace will be a bit slow for my liking. And unlike either, I anticipate coming across much more complex cases (neurological diagnoses = brain involvement = slower processing time, speech impediments, emotional difficulties, balance and coordination impairments, or very likely some combination of the bunch). My CI, Kate, is awesome (I worked with her on a previous school project), and she traveled on the first ever U of M trip to Niger, so she plans on spending the whole second half of the internship helping me prepare for what I'll see in Africa! All in all, day one was fine and dandy- except that yesterday was a national holiday so no one else had to work, and I missed the Winter Classic (not surprising that my bf's promise of that recorded on DVR, along with some spicy Hawaiian pizza, lured me to Monti last night). 

Speaking of Africa-- tickets are officially purchased as of this afternoon. Just in case Niger itself won't be cool enough, we're extending our layover in Paris on the way home from 5 hours to 5 days, and I get to sit next to Kaitlin on the plane. WOO! 

More about United soon, but this entry is already longer than it should be. Time to go study up on my French! A bientot!