Monday, January 03, 2005

Welcome to BFE

After a much needed two week break from the world of learning, during which time I entered the world of drinking alcohol in order to kill off a few extra brain cells, and spending many hours staring at my extra large television to further numb the few brain cells that remained, I now find myself back in the full swing of things.
For the next 8 weeks, I will be on my surgery clerkship, which, in my mind, is just a little preview of Hell.
In order to dodge the excessive competitiveness of the surgery rotation at the KU Hospital in Kansas City, I decided to take a 4 week detour to BFE.
For the next 26 days, I will be in McPherson, Kansas.
McPherson, Kansas?
Yes, McPherson, Kansas.
If you want to know where McPherson is, just pull up a map of Kansas and try to put your finger in the dead center of the state.
I arrived at the hospital about an hour ago, unloaded my bags (yes, I brought way too many), unpacked my clothes (yes, I wondered why I thought I would need 43 t-shirts), and sat on the bed in my 6x10 piece of heaven here in McPherson, wondering what I should do first.
Should I try to get ahead on my studying?
Should I take a walk over to the hospital fitness center and get in a little work out?
Should I make sure I have everything I need ready to go for when I get up in the morning?
While all of those things might have been a good idea, I decided instead to begin chronicling my time here, and let everyone know where I am and why I will be difficult to reach for the next 4 weeks.
The only thing I really have to chronicle up to this point is my 4 hour drive out here to the middle of Kansas.
You may or may not know that I have no CD player or even tape deck in my car.Just a good old radio. So, the biggest part of my drive was spent trying to find a radio station that did not play Christian rock, Jesus babble, or country music.
I made exactly three pit stops.
The first was somwhere past Topeka off of I-70, at a questionable gas station. I went pee and got a bottle of water. I also filled my gas tank.
The second stop was in Salina. I has just driven past what is quite possibly the nation's largest trailer park, and hence ought to be taken out any summer now by a tornado, and I realized I was getting quite sleepy, and had to pee again.
I stopped at a brightly lit gas station just off the highway. I peed. Then I got a cup of FrenchVanilla cappucino.
My third stop was just after I entered the town of McPherson. In order to get acquainted with the place, I went right to its cultural center: WalMart. I had forgotten a couple of items, and wanted to make sure I got them while my time was still under my control. From the outside, it looked like any other WalMart Supercenter, but when I walked it it became apparent that this town has the most awesome WalMart ever.
It is the biggest WalMart I have ever been in, and I almost became overwhelmed with awe.
I found the items I needed, resisting the temptation to wander and find things that I need, but just don't know it yet.
So, that has been my day so far.
I have to go now because the other student who is staying this month just arrived and I should probably help her get her things.
I hope to be able to write a little bit at least once a week. I am sure there will be some kind opf amusing tales involving me, a surgery, and my clumsiness.
Post me questions or messages!




3 comments:

abby said...

woo woo! i can hardly wait to hear all about it. yay, rural kansas! yay, smemily smiegel! do you get to see tess and tom at all during the rotation?

Emily Riegel said...

Hi Abby,
Yes, I think I will be able to get back to KC to see Tommy and Tess nexy weekend. The surgeon I am with is on call this weekend, which means I am on call, too, because, if anything major happens, they just couldn't handle it without me...

abby said...

please hand me the scalpel.
thank you.

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