There has never been a more enjoyable weekend in over eight months, (and I dare say in over 20 months) than that of the 12th of February 2011. For the first time in that surprisingly long period, I’ve felt normal again. I’ve felt ordinary again. I’ve felt alive again. And it is difficult to encapsulate why it is so.
Maybe it’s the fact that there is no exam on a Monday, which leaves the weekend at your mercy. Maybe it’s because it was the last day of an emotional week that immortalized a certain person in the hearts and minds of Batch 2014 and made us realize simultaneously that life is as wonderful and as unpredictable as waves crashing on the shore. Maybe because the shortest exam to date was held for the first time this school year on a Saturday and most (if not all) students passed.
Perhaps it is all three. Or it might not even be one of them. But whatever the reason is, or whatever it meant, one thing is for certain: the day was a day of far more significance than the two-week sembreak was. The day was of far more significance than any other long weekend of the school year was. Even though what I did was what I usually do (plus or minus some things), the value added by a brief moment of freedom from medical school multiplied its value beyond that of what it began with.
More importantly, this has provided me with a renewed sense of commitment to finish what I started and as well as a restoration of self-trust and self-worth that was bludgeoned to the point that it almost disappeared.
For whatever it meant for the rest of the world, February 12 was a day where med students tasted freedom. And it has never tasted this good.
