a box of arms

Well folks.....well.  After running into a friend in the grocery store and surrealistically thinking about our conversation from some distant point in my brain while that conversation was actually occurring, I realized that I might not be fit for public interactions any longer.  I woke up this morning at 5:45 so that I could get ready, gather my learning things and my eating things and get out the door in time to pick up a classmate from her house at 7:00.  We drove the 45 min commute to Biddeford where we have classes twice a week during the summer, and discussed the different layers of the muscles of the arm.  From 8:00-10:00 we had an immunology lecture, from 10:00-11:30 we had neuro and from 11:30-1:00 we had gross anatomy lecture.  During my lunch hour I hid in a nearby empty classroom so that I wouldn't have to hear a single word come out of anyone's mouth unless I had invited it.  I talked briefly with JP only until the point where I knew if I elaborated more about my overwhelmed feelings I would most likely run the risk of bursting into tears that might not ever stop.  From 2:00-5:00 we had gross anatomy lab where we learned the bones, muscles, nerves and arteries of the anterior and posterior upper arm, anterior and posterior of the forearm, the wrist and the hand.  After cramming that incredible amount of information somewhere, a classmate and I spent from 5:00 until 7:00 going from cadaver to cadaver identifying each individual muscle, point of origin and insertion, the nerve that innervates it and the artery that supplies the blood to that muscle.  I got back to Portland at 8:00 and as a break stopped at whole foods where I had a surreal conversation with a friend who must have thought I was insane.  I think this might be my life now.  So much time and yet so very little time.  I have never in my life studied as much as I have and learned such a vast amount of things as I have in just this past week.  I can't even imagine what is to come.  The good news is that everything seems to be coming in waves for me, and after a morning where I was stuck in a wave of despair, I eventually arrived back home on a wave of satisfaction.  I know I can't possibly learn every single tiny detail, but right at this very moment I am totally doing alright and this itty bitty piece of string that I am clinging on to is enough for now.  Haaaaaa.   I know that was probably a random hodge podge of information, but I think that is all I will have the energy to put forth now.  I want to make sure that I have some sort of documentation of this crazy experience, but I barely have time to breathe!  In any case, I think I should give you a random piece of knowledge at the end of every post while I am in school because we are learning so many cool things!  First though, I think you should know that during after hours lab my classmate and I were searching for a good dissection of the forearm to look at and we were directed to a tupperware box that contained eight different arms.  Seriously.  I had to sift through them to find a suitable limb, and it was the weirdest thing that I think I have ever done, ever.  Ok, random knowledge for you:

Did you know that if you are allergic to kiwi you are more likely to be allergic to latex as well? Cause I didn't, and I think that's cool.