siestas? half days? three-day work weeks??

Wrapping up the year with 11 weeks of General Practice (i.e. Family Practice medicine) is truly a God-send. My Public Health rotation finished in a bit of blur, with cramming for the test (unnecessary in hindsight) and spending most of my what would have been a relaxing weekend writing a 2,500 word study design instead.

Yesterday was my first day at the General Practice I've been assigned to, located way out on the Peninsula about a half an hour's drive along the harbour. Golly miss molly the drive out there is BEAUTIFUL. I was a bit skeptical initially, given the petrol that would be involved and the fact that the drive out there is quite tortuous. The narrow road twists and turns and follows right along the water with a speed limit of 70km/hr -- a scary drive for a relatively novice driver. However all woes were forgotten as soon as I headed out, with the view of the harbour ahead, the sun glistening off the water, glowing on to the majestic green hills so quintessentially New Zealand. Starting your work day with half an hour to yourself, surrounded by this surreal and gorgeous view, really does put things into glorious perspective.

The medicine itself is pretty fun: the nature of GP keeps you on your toes, with a diverse range of clinical problems and scenarios and people. The doctor I'm with is LOVELY, calm and articulate, laid back and kind. It's a tiny practice, rural in feel, servicing a small, close-knit community. They have one receptionist who leaves at 5pm on the dot regardless of whether there are patients left in the waiting room or not, and one part-time nurse. My doctor comes in at 10am, works till noon-ish, goes home for lunch, then back by 3pm for another couple of hours. And this "full day" is only on Mondays and Fridays: he works just the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and has Wednesdays off! What a life, huh? I'm looking forward to heading back for more sessions throughout the next few weeks, I really am. I didn't think I'd enjoy GP this much. Not that I could ever be a GP, but as a rotation for med school it's pretty sweet going.

Plus, relatively more free time! Most evenings, it looks like, I'll have off for slow but steady exam study. And today I even had a chunk of time around lunch to go for a hefty run, yay! It was unusually warm -- that pre-rain warm breeze -- which made for a particularly enjoyable hour. :) Feel refreshed, tired, and sleepy. I'm in for a good solid sleep tonight!

All in all, I feel like things are starting to look up a bit, after a semester and three weeks of craziness and a certain degree of breaking-of-my-spirit. Things are looking up, kid! Things are looking up...