In a little over 12 hours dental school will be in full swing, complete with a packed schedule, lab work, clinical rotations and of course, exams. After thoroughly feeding off the 1st years energy and orientation, it's about time to get back to reality. I've gotten a little back into things with a few preparations and restorations the past couple of days, but today I just took for myself.

Checked out the progress on our new capoeira space on Utica, Solrise Farm and Cultural Arts Center. The place is nothing less than incredible and I'm really excited to see us grow. They've got a ton of tomatoes, corn, plants that looked like mini squash, and a ton of other things. There's a flower we ate that I forget the name but I really need to find out what it was. Bright orange, and had a spicy kick. I'm beyond jealous of Emily and Corazel who live on the upper floor and maintain everything.  The studio floors were just being coated with polyurethane so we had practice at LaSalle Park on the west side overlooking Lake Erie. Had a roda for the entire time and it was great seeing everyone again and catching up.

After some grocery shopping, and general hanging out all day, I decided to treat myself to a "last supper" of sorts - Lobster stuffed salmon (courtesy Wegmans), over a spring greens salad with avocado and tomatoes.

Looking forward I think this year's going to be a little different than last. I've discovered my interests, in and outside of school and where I really want to place my efforts. Coming in first year, I think it was natural to be riding the hype of dental school, and see yourself giving your life to it. Dr. Comfort, the speaker at the white coat ceremony said it best in that dental school isn't who you are, it's just something we do. As dental students we have the opportunities to reach so many people, and really make an impact. At the same time, as dental students in Buffalo, we have limitless opportunities to grow as individuals.

And so it goes.

Back for More- D2

Been back in Buffalo since the 3rd, but tomorrow the pace will definitely start to pick up. Jam packed day of Picasso training, supply distribution, computer updates and more. Looking forward to the Big/Little lunch though, after meeting a good amount of the first years I'm again amazed at the admission committee's ability to select students. While 2015 has it's own dynamic personality and atmosphere to it,  2016 definitely has some interesting flavor. Its awesome feeding off of their excitement also, because this time last year I was ecstatic. This year I'm just looking forward to getting back into the swing. Maybe it's the olympics inspiring me, but I think this year has limitless potential and I want to realize as much of it as possible.

Had a little bit of an organizationfest today. Upcoming events include:

1. Meeting with James Harris Friday 8/10 to discuss moving the Burmese outreach project forward. After getting involved with For Hope International this summer my heart for dental missions and serving the underserved expanded. Before now I never gave much thought to dental careers with non-profits, but so far it seems like an exciting path. I really want to see this happen.

2. Direct Quiz next tuesday 8/14. Haven't opened VitalSource in quite some time...

3. Perio Practical Practice 8/17

4. Toronto Tough Mudder 8/19. THIS IS GOING TO BE EPIC :D

5. Direct Midterm 8/21. Word from the grapevine is that it's going to be tricky. There are a lot of details from the readings and going through everything again is going to take some time. Should be all right in the end.

6. Perio Practical Exam 8/24

I think that's everything, for August at least. Schedule this semester's pretty intense but I really want to keep up with the Capoeira group downtown, especially since we've got our own studio now. Also, started a pretty interesting book - Everything is Marketing: The Ultimate Dental Practice Growth Strategy by Fred Joyal. I was a little reluctant to buy it since it seemed to be just another lame dental business book, but he's got some clinical tidbits here and there that I'd like to integrate into practice.More on that in the future.