Like last semester, this one has been flying by. But whilst the first semester held the promise of Christmas, semester 2 brings an onslaught of assignments and the dread of exams. It’s hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks more of classes (plus the mysterious ISS week) before our teaching for this year is over. Since January we’ve submitted 3 patient clerkings, for which we take the history from a patient on the wards and perform respiratory, cardiovascular and now abdominal examinations; and 2 case discussions, one scientific and the other on professionalism, both also based on patient clerkings. Next week we have to submit a reflective essay and the biggest of them all – our SSC reports, the culmination of the literary reviews we’ve been carrying out since the end of last semester.  I’m jumping between wondering how I’ll get it all done, relief at the thought that all the deadlines will be past us at the end of next week, and terror that the next big thing is the exams. Taking one thing at a time was never my forte, although it would certainly make life easier!

On the bright side, after a long, wet winter, Spring is nearly upon us.  We’ve gained about 2 hours of daylight in the evenings, I only get up in the dark now when I’m being either super efficient or heading off for a day’s singing elsewhere in Scotland, and there are daffodils and crocuses everywhere! My garden is also showing the promise of food to come, with the garlic and onions making excellent progress, and the potatoes chitting (developing shoots) happily away on my windowsill, waiting to be planted.