"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards." –Vernon Sanders Law

I was talking with a friend a little while back that my expectations for med school were just too high. "'How high?" he asked. "Did you think you'd be married by now?" I have to say that yes, I kind of did. That was unrealistic from the beginning, but it sort of speaks to the height that I was to fall over four years. And my friend did relay a simple truth. "I'm not sure why you thought med school would fix your problems. Med school's just an event. It doesn't change who you are."

But the real problem is that instead of making med school different from college, I sort of turned it into a repeat of the previous four years. It had the same crappy ups and downs, similar challenges, and similar results. And of course, similar regrets. Regrets like chasing after the wrong girl, like not studying harder, like making a boatload of friends but only trusting my high school ones, stuff like that.

There's a fantastic quote said by Franklin P Jones: "Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again." So at least I'm walking away from med school with experience. I can say that much. And hopefully, next time I meet a girl that's my type and the world seems convinced I should try to go out with, I won't be a moron and chase after another girl for a year or two and fuck everything up in the process.