The joy of summer recesses

A new emotion came over me as I drove into the parking lot this morning.  The parking lot was mostly empty, and I realized that it would remain like this for three more months.  Ahh, summer vacation for the medical students.  No longer will they be hogging the lot and parking as if they had just learned to drive.  Summer has arrived, and I love absolutely every second of it at school.

Not only is the parking arrangement so much easier, I also have no classes during the summer.  Essentially, I don't have to waste four hours of my life each week listening to lectures.  Instead, I get to perform cool experiments (and more of them!) and explore my creativity, which has admittedly wained during this last semester. Also, I can finally pick up that "extra" project I've had in my back pocket for the last year.  That one that I'm obligated to finish since we received a bunch of money for it.  Oof.  Yeah, I guess I'm glad I have so much extra time...

Even better:  fewer lab meetings.  My lab has a ridiculous number of lab meetings per week (three, to be exact) that really eat up time in the middle of the day.  Summer vacation means fewer lab meetings - now only one! - and, on top of that, there are fewer seminars and invited speakers.

Best: the weather is fantastic.  I'm looking forward to the days of sitting by the lake, reading a book, and just enjoying the summer heat.  Walking out of work when the sun is still shining is an added bonus.  Winter really can get my mood down, especially when I don't see the sun at all (no windows in the lab) during the day.  So it's finally nice to have a bright, blue, wonderful sky to greet me at the end of the day.  It's an added bonus that I can have my sunroof down as I drive into work and enjoy the cool morning air.

I've recently begun running outside after a lot of treadmill running.  Since I've never run in the summer, I'm not sure how I'll be able to handle it, but I think that some careful experimentation with when and how long I run will allow me to not collapse from heat exhaustion.  That and lots of water...