Submitted

My AMCAS application is now SUBMITTED!!! Crazy. They still have to do processing stuff before it gets sent off to med schools, but still! I feel like I have reached step 156 of approximately 1,000 to becoming a real live doctor.

And yes, that means I've narrowed my list. Yes, it was difficult. No, I didn't do a great job, because I am ever so slightly above my original estimation (now at 16). But, hey, this is just the primary and I figure I can cut a school or two once secondaries roll around. School shopping was making me drag my feet too much anyway.

So, the primary list is: MCG, Emory, Wake Forest, UVa, Georgetown, George Washington, Boston University, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Baylor, UT Southwestern, Tufts, University of Rochester, Jefferson, University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh.

Yeah. That's a lot. And I know a few are reaches, but I figure I"ll never know if I don't try. And I can honestly say I'm pretty sure I would be happy to end up at any of these schools, and that's got to count for something, right?

This weekend is Free/Family Weekend for the Leadership Team, which means no work and lots of play time. Mary and I (plus a few team members we are adopting) will be hitting the beach as much as possible! Next week the team is going on their staff retreat, so Nurse Lauren is taking herself on a few South GA visits. It's a great point in the summer to NOT have to worry about my AMCAS anymore. :-) At least until the secondaries start to hit....

Until then, love from a happy future doc!

Lauren

Hoe Down

[There is really no significance to this title, except that I have now learned the Hoe Down Throw Down dance. and our camp Hoe Down is tonight.]

Hellooooo from the first week of Elementary camp!! It has been a good first two days - one camper went home sick last night, but came back feeling better today. A few minor injuries, but nothing too bad. Hooray! I forgot how stinkin cute elementary kids are. Seriously, they are just precious. I went to the pool today and got to see five teams come through (I was there for awhile) and I had so much fun playing with the kids and just talking to them. It was a great afternoon!

This weekend was SO wonderful for me - I got to see some great friends and hang out with my family. Let's start from the beginning..

Thursday, my roommate Katie and her fiancé Jonathan came by Epworth and hung out with me in my office for a little while. I got to hear how wedding plans are coming along and catch up on their summers so far. So fun to have a friend from school see my camp life!

Friday, I got to have a surprise visit with my friend Cleveland who was in town for (literally) a day. We went walking on the beach and chatted about life. Secretly, I'm hoping to steal all of his med school application knowledge before the end of the summer.

Saturday, I had breakfast with my two other roommates, Kaitlin and Wendy! It was so so good to see them. We laugh a lot when we are together, and that does my little heart good. :-) I found myself wishing we had much more time to catch up, but hopefully that will happen sometime soon!

From breakfast I headed to Adam and Nicole's Wedding! Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Joyave! :-) It was such a beautiful wedding, and I was so glad I got to go. It was the first wedding of an SAO sister I have gone to, so I got to participate in our wedding tradition for the first time and see some great friends who were bridesmaids. I felt blessed to be part of their big day!

Me with the beautiful bride!!

Saturday night, our family celebrated Mom's birthday with a delicious dinner - salmon on the grill and a homemade red velvet cake for dessert!! Yum. We tried to watch Avatar, but failed miserably and all fell asleep within about thirty minutes. Whoops.

Sunday we headed to church and then had yet another delicious meal to celebrate Father's Day - this time it was steak on the grill and mooooore cake. I loved hanging out with my family this weekend. It is a different dynamic now that we are all "adults" (so to speak) and I am really enjoying it. Looking forward to more family time later in the summer!!

Anyway. Now I am back to the "grind" (ha. ha. not really. I love this job!) for another week!

Love from the island!!

Lauren

Oh my....

Rashes and Barfing and Sprains, oh my!

Strep and Mono and Lost Teeth, oh my!

In short, this week has been CRAZY. I'm glad I had last week to ease me into it all.... and I sure hope this isn't getting me ready for Elementary camp next week!!

Favorite moment (well, one of many) this week:

A kid walks into my office. Says nothing. Opens his mouth and says "Ahhh" (like you do when the doctor looks at your throat). I say, "Um, hey, what's going on?" and he continues to stand there with his mouth open, not saying anything. Finally I get him to close his mouth and he tells me, "Oh, I have strep throat". I ask him how he knows. He tells me "Because my mom is a doctor". Right....

Fortunately, there were no white spots, and sore throat spray and cough drops seemed to knock it out. Crisis averted.

Despite the craziness, I am loving the kids this week. They have a lot of energy and they are fun! Mid high kids are just easier to talk to and joke around with than elementary. Elementary is so darn cute though.... They'll be here Monday!

I am also SUPER excited about the next few days!! Here are some of the awesome happenings....

My roommate Katie and her fiancé Jonathan are visiting St. Simons this weekend, and I get to see her pretty face TODAY!

Tomorrow I'm driving home and seeing my friend Lindsay for the last time before she moves to Sydney, Australia for a year to take a new job.

Saturday I am having breakfast with Wendy and Kaitlin, which is such a pleasant surprise since I didn't expect to see them until next month!

I am going to Nicole and Adam's wedding on Saturday - Nicole was in my sorority all four years, and I met Adam freshman year when he lived in my dorm! SO excited for the two of them!

PLUS Saturday is my mom's birthday!

Sunday is Father's Day.

Whew. Like I said - crazy.

Cross your fingers for no more serious injuries!

Hope your next few days are as blessed as mine. :-)

Lauren

Step into my office...

Well, we are off to a great start with another Mid High Mania this week! We have many many MANY more campers than last week, so things are definitely staying busy.

I got my missing camera cord!! (Thanks, Mom!) So, here are the first Epworth pictures to tell you how my summer is going...

The theme of camp this year is "Close Encounters"..... so this is the banner I made for my office.

This is Rufus. He spends part of Monday evening in my office in this homemade kennel. Our speaker David uses him in his talk for Monday night worship. A dog in the nurse's office? Sure, why not.

This is me. Wearing a cow suit. For our weekly camp wide Hoe Down. I was pretty excited about it, as you can tell.

This was taken during Capture the Flag on Thursday night. I wish you could see the utter chaos happening on either side of this prayer chapel, and see how gorgeous these Epworth sunsets are in person, but the picture will have to do for now.

That is all for now. Must. Finish. Med School. Application.

Love from the SSI!

Lauren

Nurse Lauren

Yep, that's my new title this week. And I'm loving it.

I must say, the mania of Mid High Mania has been kept to a minimum thus far (knock on wood). It is a super small week for us, so counselors are really getting to know their kids, new counselors are getting eased into the whole camp thing, and (best for me!) there is a significantly lower chance of nursing emergencies. So far I've dispensed a few band-aids, pepto bismals, cough drops and avoided orthodonture disaster. Today was our day at Summer Waves, a water park on Jekyll Island, and everything went super smoothly. Nurse Lauren even avoided getting burned (after an unsuccessful attempt at this at the pool yesterday). It's off to the beach tomorrow... here's hoping it goes just as well!

This week, I've also....

revised my personal statement and experiences section one more time

made a chart of med school info

started narrowing down my med school list

read a LOT of "A Voice in the Wind" (loving it.)

gotten the hint of a tan. just barely.

participated in a Hoe Down

dressed up in a cow mascot suit (pictures coming soon)

entertained a dog in my office. seriously. a real, live dog.

All in a week's work at Epworth!!

Love from Nurse Lauren

[drink more water. make good decisions.]

Decisions

They need to be made.

And they create a little bit of stress in my life.

Not a lot... because, let's face it, I'm on an island for a summer job and I know things will work out like they need to work out.

But, still, there is a hint o' stress. And it is due to....

Med school decisions. I need to decide where I am applying asap so that my applications can be sent off and schools can get to work inviting me to interview there (not really, but I'd like to pretend that is how it will go.)

I know I will be applying to: MCG (Medical College of Georgia), Emory, University of Virginia, Jefferson, Baylor, UT Southwestern, Wake Forest and Georgetown.

Ready for my list of maybes? Because here it is. Please remember it is a very inclusive list at this point. As in it is less "maybes" and more "I've vaguely considered applying to this school".

University of Rochester, Vanderbilt, University of Pennsylvania, UNC Chapel Hill, NYU, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Washington University, Tufts, Harvard, Boston University, Northwestern, University of Chicago, George Washington, Yale, UC San Francisco, Stanford, UAB (Alabama Birmingham), Brown.

So, that is 8 definites and 20 maybes. And it needs to be 15ish definites in the very, very near future.

Like I said. Slight stress.

Also, endless possibilities.

Here's to getting excited about the unknown!

Lauren

Reunited...

....and it feels so good!!

Hello, SSI, how I have missed you!

I must say, it has been quite a successful two days. Since yesterday, I have: caught up with my friends Jack and Teresa in Richmond Hill, played some Mario Kart at said catching up, moved into Mary's apartment, attended two LT worship services, eaten a Bubba Garcia's and Epworth dinner, seen a few skits, traveled to Savannah, tried on a bridesmaid dress, organized the nurse's office and made a Sonic and Wal-Mart run. Only the LT could fit this much into two days. So glad I'm along for the ride. :-)

Summer goals besides being an awesome camp nurse:

1. Finish my AMCAS (aka med school) application. To be done by the end of June at the latest. This includes more personal statement revisions, experience section revisions, and finalizing a list of schools to which I will be applying. Thus far, I have: MCG, Emory, University of Virginia, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Baylor, UT Southwestern, and Jefferson. Will probably add at least 7 more. Off a list of probably 20. Uggghh.

2. Read. A lot. As much as possible. I brought an entirely unreasonable number of books with me in the hopes that carting them around will motivate me to burn through a few of them.

3. Play more guitar. I never have time during the year, so I want to work up those calluses again.

4. Read more in the Bible. I was really in a great habit of reading through books last semester, and in the craziness of graduation and traveling I fell off the bandwagon. So, I'll be jumping back on.

5. Love on the LT as much as I can. Not sure how exactly, but I'll do my best to get creative.

Ambitious? Yes.

Doable? I sure hope so.

Good times? Guaranteed.

Here's to summer!!

Lauren

Epworth by the Sea

....it's a great place to be!

And I'll be there tomorrow!!!

Epworth is a Methodist campground on St. Simons Island (yeah, can't complain about location!). I've worked on the Leadership Team there for the past three summers which makes me an old timer! (LT '07, '08, and '09. whoop whoop!) I was a counselor for two years and last year I was girl's head counselor. This summer I'll be returning to take on job #3, camp nurse! I. Can't. Wait.

Reasons I looooove Epworth (in no particular order):

1. It is gorgeous. It's like God shows off during the sunset every night.

2. Working there has challenged me and pushed me in ways I didn't expect. I've experienced a lot of personal growth there. (case in point: standing up on and jumping off of the pamper pole)

yep, that's me. waaaay up there.

3. God moves there. Obviously, that happens everywhere, but I can say without a doubt that it happens there. For me, for the rest of the LT, and for our campers. (no picture for this one. Just trust me.)

4. You get to be crazy and ridiculous and just have fun. Epworth brought me out of my shell in a big way.

5. I've tried a lot of new things that I may not have done otherwise.

6. I have made some really amazing friends there. There is not enough space to add pictures of them all. But they are around way after camp is over. I love my LT!!

So I am driving south tomorrow to join LT X! Many, many stories, updates and pictures to come.

Yesterday I went to a Memorial Day cookout/swim with some old friends from high school. It was so fun to see everyone and catch up!! This morning I got up bright and early and got a new driver's license at the DMV (what a glorious place that is.) Today I'm getting some errands done and making a cake for dad's birthday. Busy busy!!

Love from one happy camper!! :-)

Lauren