Dental school is weird. I spent close to 4 hours in the lab today perfecting and sculpting my plaster mounting of a model of both arches of teeth onto this crazy contraption called an articulator. Don't get me wrong -- I'm loving it so far. It's just bizarre to have a normal, didactic component of school mixed in with...well...learning about teeth. I can now name all 32 teeth and their various surfaces -- cool! I also got a few awesome models that I'm going to use to scare my sister next time we're both back home (think Godfather and waking up with a horse's head in the bed).

I'm really enjoying being back in school and even though I'm still getting used to meticulously planning my non-class time again, this past week has been a blast. I can't believe I've only known my D1 class for 9 days--we're all having so much fun with each other that it seems like it's been years since we met. We call ourselves D.D.s.'s -- not quite Doctors of Dental Surgery yet but rather Dental Dork(s). Got it? Case in point: the big annual dental school kick-off party, lamely titled The Meltdown, was this past Friday and was held at the one of the professional dental frats' house. They keep two old dental chairs in their living room and 4 of the frat members wore their white coats and were administering shots...of alcohol...to intrepid party-goers through syringes. I complained that it was malpractice but gave it the ol' college try anyway. Sooooo science geeky but soooo hilarious. It's been fun.

Well, I guess it's time to start greasing up those squeaky studying joints. I have my first quiz on Wednesday and will be doing some fun stuff in the simulation lab this week. I've got a lot of preparing to do. Yesterday my mom asked if I was getting a doctoral degree in dentistry or in partying. I told her it's a dual-degree program.

Have a wonderful week.

xoxox