Gearing Up For First Year of Dental School

It seems that every few days, a random person will ask me the following question: Are you excited for dental school?

I feel compelled to answer with an emphatic "YES" adorned with all sorts of exclamation marks and excitement. I don't want to disappoint people. Seriously, I should be beyond excited to start dental school soon, right?

It's not that I'm not excited to start dental school. I'm just a little apprehensive about the impending start of my graduate career. After three months of lazing around, living a carefree life free from studying and deadlines, traveling the world, and waking up blissfully in the middle of the afternoon, the stringent high-stress routine of dental school seems rather daunting.

Much to my surprise, I was thrilled to receive our dental school orientation schedule this afternoon. It helps that orientation is generally a stressless affair that helps ease us back into the "school routine".

As per my annual back-to-school tradition, I have been organizing my new school planner. This year, I'm testing out the Filofax as my go-to planner. I've spent the past few days meticulously adorning my new planner with stickers and glitter. 

It reeks of girliness but it's kind of awesome.

Last but not least, collecting teeth for dental school. I've managed to collect a mason jar full of teeth this summer. The requirement is 300 teeth though I'm not entirely sure how many teeth I have in the jar at the moment. Or more importantly, how many usable teeth I have...

It's pretty grotesque looking.

I left the jar downstairs and both my parents freaked out. They don't understand why ANYONE would want to pursue dentistry as a profession.