April! That's spring right?

Hi!
Tell me something. When is spring this year? Because I seem to recall even March being considered the start of spring... no such luck this year.

The six weeks of classes before Easter went extremely fast. I've really been enjoying the curriculum too, cardio-respiratory physiology is really interesting! Now, though, we have turned to the digestive system, and this really isn't my favorite topic (ask those around me as well, I mean who wants conversation about gastric secretions at the dinner table???) Most of the anatomy of this semester I have already done last year and so I get time to focus a lot on the physiology and pathology which is all new. This week is Easter break, and my goal is to have finished reviewing the cardio module so that everything does not pile up on me in June.

Since spring has been taking its time this year, I feel it's been giving me a false sense of security-- I mean, it's winter right? So no exams to worry about? Great. Good. But no, once again (as always in the life of any medical student), exams are approaching waaaay too fast. Only 8 weeks of classes left!! How is it possible that my year in Lausanne is actually so much closer to the end now? I guess I'll have to start planning a post reviewing my experiences etc soon?? I don't even want to think about it.

So I just came back from a very nice long weekend with my family-- we went skiing in Zermatt, which is about as close to the epitome of Switzerland-in-a-nutshell as humanly possible. The mountains, the snow, the small chalets... and of course the Toblerone mountain-- the Matterhorn..
The weather was not great the first two days, but snow conditions were good so it didn't matter too much. We got two days of beautiful sunny weather as well, and even though we had a few kinks in the plan (people hurting themselves, losing some skis, feeling sick, etc), I think we managed to enjoy our time together. It was good to see my sisters since I hadn't seen them since January-- but I feel like this term we're seeing each other often enough that we don't have too much time to miss each other :)






I went on a hopeful mid-study walk in the woods today, certain that since the weather outside is so nice (10 degrees!!), there must be some flowers or leaves or life in the forest for me to take some pictures of. Again though, no such luck, spring has NOT ARRIVED. Here are some of the small signs of life I have found in the past few weeks though, telling me that all hope is not yet lost...
















I hope everyone has had a really nice Easter, I'm excited to plan some weekend trips and maybe some small hikes for the weekends to come-- taking advantage of the nice warm weather I have ordered :P

It'll be lots of school here again from next week onward, plenty of material to cover before summer.. otherwise trying to get fit again after a very reluctant-to-leave cold, and looking forward to a visit from my sister in a months time!
xx Therese