It was bound to happen eventually. I have graduated for the last time. This was my ‘Return of the Jedi,’ my ‘Last Crusade,’ my ‘Die Hard: with a Vengeance,’ my…well I think you get the point.
Now in this brief window of opportunity prior to continued graduation festivities, I can take a second to capture the moment within this dusty old blog that I have managed to stay at least somewhat active with over the last 4+ years. I don’t know what is more amazing to me, the fact that I am finally done with school or the fact that I have had a ‘blog’ for this long.
Yes indeed, I have graduated. The big fat DDS can now be plastered at the end of my name. Much like all graduations, the experience is surreal. However, this one is particularly strange to me. It has not sunk in yet, but I will probably not see many of these people ever again. These people who I have endured with, stressed with, laughed with, shook my fists in the air with, I could go on forever. I spent four years with the same 60some faces. We all went through the same experiences, the same classes, the same everything. This is what defers Dental School from college, or from high school. A small group of people are in it together for four straight years.
It really is a bittersweet moment. The faces I never really was friends or talked with much, I will miss them all. Even the people that would annoy the ever living crap out of me nine times out of then, I will miss them as well. We all go down different paths now. I hope to keep in touch with my closest friends but am realistic that even those relationships will no longer be the same.
Life goes on, as it always does. And I’m sure some of you may be wondering - where does this blog go from here? I have done my best to maintain it and I know my initial intentions got muddled along the way. However, I hope that I have provided inspiration, insight, along with an edge of light-heartedness that we all need every once and while. I know I haven’t always kept up with email queries, but I have tried!
So does this blog end? I really haven’t decided yet. I can’t imagine myself throwing in the towel yet, but I can’t make promises of regular posts either (not like I do that now anyways).
I’m off to a one year general practice residency that starts July 1st, but before that, I plan to take some vacation, relax and just appreciate life for what it is.
I would like to do one final post on dental school in the near future, a final D-4 experience of course, but with a kind of summary of everything.
I’m sure it won’t end, but it will be different. I mean, I can no longer be the whiney bitching student I have been for the last three years can I?
As an aside, I have to say, despite all that bitching, I am genuinely satisfied with the education I received here at UIC, ESPECIALLY from a clinical standpoint. I feel extremely competent with meat and potatoes dentistry and hope one more year of essentially free CE, will push me into a great realm of practical confidence regarding what kind of general practioner I plan to be.
I appreciate all the positive feedback (and even some of the negative) I have gotten over the years. It has really kept this blog alive.
Good luck to everyone applying to school, in school, graduating, or just living life in a world unrelated to dentistry.
Adieu
