A Few Exciting Things (and a couple pictures)

So, I totally neglected to share a few exciting pieces of mail I received since moving to Boston! Mail time is my favorite part of the day, although I rarely find something in the mailbox for me. Somehow, just the excitement of getting the mail and the possibility of there being something for me inside makes me happy. Usually, there is nothing for me, but then I can see who did receive something in the mail and I can be excited for them because who doesn't like to receive real mail? Right...nobody...EVERYONE likes to receive some real mail, even if it's just a letter from the dentist's office. Okay, it's not so personal, but at least they take the time to mail a pre-printed, pre-signed happy birthday card. Growing up, some days I would race my dad to the mailbox to be able to get the mail first. Then, even if he won, I would still have to look through the mail myself after he told me I didn't get anything or giving me what was addressed to me. Then, there were those days that he would beat me to the mailbox and still let me take the mail out. What a great dad! I said there were those days, but they still occur. :) When I was home for Nathan and Erin's wedding, my dad made a special point to ask me if I wanted to get the mail one day and I said OF COURSE! Then I went and got the mail because he told me it had arrived. :)

Okay...back to my story. I have received a few wonderful letters and appreciate them so much. Thank you to those who have sent me mail-I absolutely love it and it pretty much makes my day!!! :) When I got back to my place after coming back to Boston from the wedding last month, there was a note on my bedroom door that said that I have a package downstairs, to the laundry. A bit confused, I opened the door that goes downstairs to go to the laundry in the basement, and what do I see?! A HUMUNGOUS box addressed to ME!!!! I was SO excited and a bit confused too. I later found out that my downstairs neighbor brought the box in and put it in the stairwell to get it off the front porch, which was really nice of him. When I brought it up to my room, I looked at it and saw that my sister had sent it to me. Then, I was a little confused as to what was inside. It was such a big box and I had no idea what she had sent me. I opened it and to my surprise, it was the most amazing care package I have ever received. There was a huge card that said Welcome to Boston along with all kinds of goodies and trinkets and things to decorate and play with! :) THANK YOU CARI!!!! That was the ultimate home-coming and Boston-welcoming gift! I was so excited and still can't help but smile and get excited when I think about it or look at anything that came in it. :)

I was so excited! Such a large card and a large basket with so many goodies!!!

All the contents in the care package. It's so much!!! :)

Then, maybe it was the next week or sometime later, I received another box in the mail, but this time it was from my mom and dad! It was significantly smaller than the previous box, but just as exciting nonetheless. :) I opened it and this time, I found all my spices and a few snacks and food items! Spices are expensive to buy, so I was just going to wait until later to bring them from home because I didn't want to buy new ones when I already had some at home and could bring later. So, now we can use the spices when we cook, which is actually not as often as we should or want to. But, we have them available when we want to use them! Thank you mom!!! and dad too!!! :)

SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ ABOUT MY CADAVER LAB.

Some of you know about what I missed in the cadaver lab by going to Nathan and Erin's wedding. For those of you who don't know...our class is broken into two groups for dissecting. That Thursday I left for California, my normal group was going second. In order to make sure I had plenty of time to get to the airport and checked in so I wouldn't be late for my plane, I switched with a girl in the first group that day and went to lab early. Thursday night, right before I boarded my plane, I found out that the second group (my normal group) cut one of the legs off the cadaver that afternoon. If I didn't have to go to the airport to catch a plane, I would have been there. Keep in mind that my group had primarily done skinning and getting through all the fat of our body while the other group cut through the ribs and took out the rib cage and took out the organs (they did leave the heart for us to take out, which was nice). So, I felt like I was missing out on the "exciting" stuff, but really, skinning is pretty exciting because we find so many cutaneous nerves, arteries, veins, and other neat things as we dissect. Anyway, I had the opportunity to cut the clavicles out last week, which I was thankful for the opportunity to do so. It allowed me to have a more complete dissection lab experience. It wasn't anything like the leg, but it was something. And, we started dissecting the face and to look at the tempomandibular joint (TMJ) we chiseled through the mandible a bit. Dad...we definitely use tools in lab, but for a very different reason than you ever have.

And now, here are a couple pictures to go with the last post:

Shirin and I in our white coats after the white coat ceremony.

Neil, Kristina, and Erin in front of one of the tall ships that came through Boston Harbor.