And I can hardly speak, My heart is beating so, And anyone can tell...

*I love Ray Charles... I'm just sorry that I missed watching him perform live...*

This is a beautiful song and so true in so many ways.

My heart stops a little whenever I listen to it, especially from Ray Charles, his voice enters my soul...

I read somewhere that "being in love" means "always feeling insecure".

Y'ah!!

What else is new?!!

*I paid 8€ for this??*

I dare anyone claim they don't feel that way...

In White Coats and Flip- Flops

The temperature's rising high as summer's kicked in already and my fifth year is coming to an end on Friday.

I am to sit an exam for my ICU rotation and I don't really get any of that stuff- if you add the fact that I hate Respiratory then you can imagine how happy I am when I study in the library.

Last Monday (yesterday) was a religious holliday and the school was closed, so we took a long weekend and made it fun by making not one, not two, but three excursions to beaches a bit further away from my city.

I got a tan- yay!!!

I am actually three or four shades darker than my usual but you can't really tell cause I am too white naturally... darn it... but it's still too soon, I've got time! Summer awaits...

Another highlight of the weekend, elections on Sunday proved to be quite interesting and my godparents and my family all gathered around the TV eating baked lamb and salads, humouring each other on the results.

Topping the weekend, last night my eldest cousin and my nephew came to see us, during their annual visit to Greece from the States, and we talked and talked about our lives and life in general eating pieces of ice-cream cake until 3 am in the morning... he has grown to be a very interesting guy (now a freshman at Berkley- my my we are all growing...) and I am very proud to be related to him.

Then our moms kicked us out of the kitchen so that they could discuss their own stuff, and he broadened my knowledge on bands that are not yet famous in Greece...

So after about 20 of those, I said:

"Hmm good one... any others?"

and he was like:

"Ah I don't know- it's THREE in the MORNING!!!"

He was so sleepy poor thing and so was I.

So I made it to school with only 4 hours of sleep AND I 've got the worst of PMS's and despite endless hot flashes followed by chills and cramps, I managed to make it through the day with only ONE outburst, in which -and do take note- I scolded two of my friends about never showing up on rounds and ruining the image of the whole group, the image on which- oh yes- we are to be graded, as a whole group.

One of them tried to humour me, but the other one cought on the fact that I was talking specifically t-o them and he held the other one back.

So I got that out of my system for a while and in a very creative way I like to think...

Other than that I feel miserable.

Why?

Why else?- PMS.

I feel fat.

Even though I am only up by 0.5kg which is a major success since I can add up to 2.5kg during these days...

*make room for Ms Elephant-isa... pomb ba da pomb*

Anyway, sun is shining, life is quite good so far.

Godsister is flying home too soon-

I will be through with the hospital too soon-

Oh and I bought a dress!!!

Oh YES the DRESS!!!

For a wedding!!!

In MYKONOS!!!

My first "princess dress for the ball" it's so beautiful!!!

It's light blue (as in "sky")

It has little flowers on it (as in "colorful spring")

And it's fluffy and airy and silk (as in "I'm a flying ballarina")

It's beautiful...

It's dreamy...

I Should Be So Lucky

Sometimes you can tell a day from the start-

the radio played this song as I drove to the hospital, and I assisted in surgery.

After the first two hours, things went a tat bit wrong, so the interns had to work on another spot, leaving me alone with the surgeon working on a fully open tummy

:-D

"I should be so lucky..."

I had my hands mostly inside the patient.

I soaked my sleeve in blood and he nearly cut my bicep with the needle.

And all I thought was "God I love surgery!"

I do.. oh I do...

And then it got better.

He talked with me about my future plans...

Lucky lucky lucky...

I am a ladylike surgeon, wearing #7 in gloves...

And also-

I'm in love as well !!!

Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours

So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
*
This is our fate, I'm yours

Open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

Ahi me voy otra vez

I sat the Inicial exam today...

I have no idea how I did, because I cannot correct myself in Spanish...

Remembering my English teacher on completing the Reading Comprehention parts of exams, I took my time in absorbing all the information.

But it took more time than I thought. Which meant one thing.

I wrote the composition in about 15 minutes...

Yes I did.

In fact I produced the 40 words in 12' minutes, and the remaining 45 in 3'.

So I guess I shouldn't be too proud about that..

All in all I am quite happy about the whole thing, mostly because I understood what the examiners were talking about.

Yeah I do mean that.

For instance "You should only use pencil on the answer sheet".

Yeah and I got it!!!

Wow for me!

I got it goin on... I am proud of me today.

*there should be a song for such days of shear self admiration*

And to top the experience, my classmates and I went for a cup of coffee afterwards (or a couple of ice cream scoops which I now regret) and I can hardly recall the last time I was able to sit in a cafe mid-day and enjoy the sun while everybody else is working, as I would be doing as well, hadn't I not taken the day off for sitting my Spanish exam.

And then to prove my point, I went window shopping only to realise that summer has definitely arrived, and I am to wear shorts from now on.

So I bought a pair of Zara shorts, the beige safari "I want to look like an archeologist" type with pockets, which yes, makes me look like a guy, but also, yes, are preppy enough to be worn at school too.

Moreover, I bought a black tunic -because I will always be a "black clothes fit me better" girl at heart-mostly because they didn't have the white one in my size, and less but still stronger as an advantage, the black one made my legs look slimmer *no it's not in my head and no my excuses DO NOT remind you of Isla Fischer- OKAY?*

What I thoroughly enjoyed is that for the first time in the last 5 months that have passed, while trying on said clothes and numerous others till I ended up with said two, I actually needed a smaller size.

Yeah baby.

They were too wide on my waist.

*goosebumps of joy*

I feel free...!!!

Me encuentro muy bien!!!

"No puedo (y no tengo!) con V pequena vivr..."

Then I guess Atkins is working?!?! Hmmmm... :-D

I am killing myself with my aerobics though too. About an hour of intense sweating every other day.

And I am also counting my calories *because did you now that there is a website (http://www.fitday.com/) which can count anything in all that you eat??* but without obsessing about it and I am around 1000kcal per day... with no effort...

Had someone told me two weeks ago that I would be eating around 1000 kcal per day, without being hungry, I would have laughed my head off big time.

But here I am and I am 2.4 kg below my weight on last Monday (which is about 5lbs) and I am proud of myself and I feel like this is something I can actually keep on doing because I am not starving or anything.

Aaah... life's nice.

So this is my dilemma. Should I keep on doing Spanish next year?

Or should I brush up my German in case I need to apply for a residency spot there?

I can only do one.

This is so hard... I am having way too much fun in Spanish class.

My conclusion is that it was a great call, starting Spanish this year.

The Shakira song is one of the songs we did in class... you know... to get in touch with the language!!!

I'm no great fan of Shakira, but this one I like.

!Viva mi clase de espanol! We rock.

*wish me luck for my oral exam on Monday morning*

Moi je joue...

I am in my surgery rotation,

I am on Atkins (yes I still eat fruit and vegetables, no I don't even think about sugar, and yes it IS working... so far)

I am happy...

*although not too keen on the fact that I've become one of those ladies who wonders about "carbs" in foods... sounds a little Hollywood-bitchy- "my water is too clear, my cream is too white and my steak is too T-shaped, if you could please take it back and bring me another one"

I've never felt better while on a diet.

I eat as much as I want, regular portions, and in between I just feel good and not that hungry, nor tired.

Not at all tired or weak.

I'm strong and I'm chipper as can be...!

"Moi je joue..."

You'll find us beneath our sombreros...

Yo tengo que hablar espanol, porque no soy bueno en hablar el mismo idioma. (that's shit)

Hoy me levant'e a nueve de la ma'nana, y despues bebi'o un caf'e con mi madre.

Esta la primera dia de Mayo y mia escuela estuve cerrada. (I 'm not sure if cerrada exists)

A diez y medio fuimos con mis padres a nuestra otra casa y despues com'iamos al mismo restaurante que comiabamos por casi todos los domingos cuando yo era pequena.

Despues de comer nos ibamos a casa y v'i Sex and the City al ordenador hasta a las siete, mas o menos.

Ahora yo escribe por mi blog y despues voy a cenar con mi amigo.

(Mi amigo, mi amor.)

Vamos a ver baloncesto a la tele.

Manana voy a comprar cafe y unos libros de escuela mia.

Porgue quiero estar cirujana una dia.

Besos,

Ellisa

*If anybody speaks Spanish, please correct me*

In low spirits...

So I didn't do well in my OB/Gyn examination concerning the rotation.

Actually, I did okay, but the rest of the team screwed up big time and I feel that they dragged me down.

Which is an awful thing to feel, and an awful thing to say.

But the thing is, we get examined in groups of four, were a couple of questions were asked and the grades are given concerning the image of the whole team.

So there you have it.

I did okay, but I didn't go well.

The operation was successful, but the patient sadly died.

I wasn't supposed to be in their team anyway, but I got left behind and had to stick with someone else, so I asked one of my friends if I could go with them, and he said:

"Why would you want to be with us? We suck!"

meaning that they would drag me down.

And that killed me.

More than that, if I were in fact better than them, they would look bad next to me, and they too would look worse.

That's the thing with "casual" oral examinations.

So when the door opened, he nodded at me to follow him in, and I did.

So out of five people, 2 boys said nothing, 1 boy answered half a question, the other girl answered 1.5 questions, and I answered 4 out of 5 questions.

Only ONE of which was directly adressed at me.

I was just so lucky to be in the position of "correcting" and "filling in the gaps" of my fellow friends.

And you know what the professor said???

He said: "I'm giving you a 5 and that too is more than you deserve."

And then my other teacher (who was trying desperately to help us) urged us to get up and leave, and the professor thought it nice to add a little something more as we got up:

"... and don't show up like this on examination day"

...meaning NEXT YEAR.

This is bad.

I can live with the five that I don't deserve, but the comments???

Why...?

I didn't even look back as I left his office.

The other girl repeatedly said that she didn't get why I got a 5 too...

I should respect her for it.

I mean I don't get it either.

Talk about a bad day...

I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker...

So I took the Virginia Medical Specialty Aptitude test on choosing a medical specialty...

Cause I think it's safest when internet tests are about aptitude and not skills... you can't really manipulate those, now can you?!

And I kept wishing that it would bring Urology in at least one of the winning positions.

So through the 130 VAGUE questions I started to feel an extreme angst that the questions were in fact WAY too vague to provoke a desired result in any way...

Reaching the ending of the questions, I shivered with the fear that the test wasn't going to at the very least grant me a surgical specialty...!

I was taking this test too seriously.

and you can't really expect an internet test to bring out Urology as a Number 1 option, because let's face it, not many people admire urine.

In fact, I started to feel irritated with myself-

"If all you can really think about at the back of your head, as you answer each question, is that you want it to bring out Uro, then it must mean that you should just DO uro, and you needn't wait for a test's approval!"

And as I pressed the results button,

*oh let it just say surgical!!!*

I swiftly covered the screen with the palms of my hands, leaving only the bottom line of the explorer uncovered, just to be able to see when the page would have fully downloaded...

and when the green bar filled till the end...

I removed my hands to reveal the screen...

only to feel the rush of joy through my head to my stomach...

1. Urology

2. General Surgery

followed by plastic, ortho, ophthalm, OB-Gyn...

I am so happy!!!

Top 6 Surgery,

Winner Uro....!

I printed it out, and photographed it for evidence.

Well done, me...!!! :-D

Well, what do you know?!

I turned out a Uro Girl through and through after all...

*I did not see this coming..*

Elle's Aerobics Class

SO I shall be performing aerobics 2-3 times a week.

Meaning

I shall be jumping up around and about to music carefully selected for about an hour, every Monday, Wednesday and either Friday or Saturday.
*that's because I want to provide myself with a flexible program, professional or what?!*

Now the music is carefully selected because

A. It needs to be "jumpy"

B. It needs to be happy

C. It needs to allow for intervals of excercise for arms, back, abs, and that

large bum that's under my waist and I swear doesn't belong to me!!!

So I chose stuff basically from several movies.

Mostly Sex and the City and Confessions of a Shopaholic,
which both have very nice clothes.

..and skinny girls

You see the important thing is to VISUALISE.

I need to think of sth that will keep me going on when those sweats pile up.

A healthy body?? An investment to the future health? Fitness of the lungs

and heart???-

No-

F*ck that-

I just want to look good in a picture!

So I danced for an hour on Monday, 30 min on Tuesday, and I am about to go for an intense walking 50 min session with my dad along the beach.

Nice, huh?!

You see I always thought that the exaustion I felt every afternoon from the hospital was excercise- but it's actually not.

If you don't sweat, then it's not excercise.

At least for me...

This is my playlist:

1.It's amazing - Jem
2.Labels or Love - Fergie
3.Accessory - Jordyn Taylor
4.Big Spender - Adrienne Bailon
5.Uncontrollable - Adrienne Bailon
6.Calling You - Kat DeLuna
7.Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
8.Disturbia - Rihanna
9.You're my Heart, You're my Soul - Modern Talking
10.The Boy does Nothing - Alesha Dixon
11.A Little Respect - Erasure
12.This Must be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
13.Watch me Shine - Vanessa Carlton
14.Walk this Way feat. Steve Tyler - Run D.M.C
15.All Dressed in Love - Jennifer Hudson
16.Sex and the City Movie theme - The Pfeifer Broz Orchestra
17.You Can't Stop the Beat - The Cast of "Hairspray" the movie

And I should analyse this so I don't forget them myself... :-P

1. Stretching
2. Warm up
3. Leg Warm up
4. Light weights for arms
5. Excercises for leg muscles
6. Jumping around
7. More jumping around
8. Marching
9. Abs
10. Pelvis and hips/ Fast belly dance *watch video of Alesha Dixon for further reference*

11. Marching with armwork reaching up whenever his voice lifts
12. Excercises in Gluteal region and again Light weight lifting in arms
13. Jumping around
14. Shoulders and back with some "Jazz dancing leg work"
15. Dancing
16. Breathing.
17. Dancing

It's easy to see that I was never good in aerobics.

I actually hated it, so I've pretty much tried to mix my excercises with dancing moves. (not that I know that many excercises come to think of it)

*Also, I try to refrain from "rug surfing", in which- and do take notice- you stand on a rug legs hip-width apart, and jump on the side landing on one leg, feeling the rug gently slide towards that side. Then you swiftly repeat the jump towards the other leg, and the rug moves side to side, surfing across the tiles... cool huh?!*

But you do sweat a lot and wake up in excruciating muscle pain, so I guess it works at some level...

"I wanna see you work...
I wanna see you move your body and turn...
I wanna see you shake your hips and learn...
I wanna see you work it out now"