Well… as I predicted, our last summer break absolutely flew by! I can hardly believe it’s already time to start back up and begin our second year courses. The break may have been quick, but it was definitely eventful! Starting tomorrow, I’ll have some fun second-year events to write about in my blog posts – but for now I’ll recap the events from this summer.
In my last post, I talked about various events I was able to take part in throughout the first half of the break – including an elementary school career fair, SCO’s graduation ceremony, and the Solutions in Sight event. These events, along with my full-time position at O’Brien Vision Center, kept me busy up until the big trip to Philadelphia for Optometry’s Meeting! Ben and I actually drove to Philly and made an eventful road trip out of it. Our trip included everything from a classmate’s wedding in beautiful North Carolina (congratulations again, Caroline!) to visiting my oldest brother in Washington, DC. We even squeezed an incredible day trip to New York City into the week! The conference itself was awesome. Students had the opportunity to attend all Continuing Education courses free of charge, so that was something that I definitely took advantage of. I spent my time at the convention center listing to brilliant ODs at CE lectures, volunteering at SCO’s exhibit hall booth, and learning a lot about what’s going on in the world of optometry. Some of my favorite parts of the trip included the Student Bowl (which was a blast) and being able to do some awesome sight-seeing in Philadelphia. Of course I had to try a Philly Cheesesteak – I would definitely recommend Jim’s Steaks. :-)
A few days after I returned home from my eventful road trip, my sister and her boyfriend came to Memphis to visit and to spend the 4th of July with Ben and me. We had fun doing some sight-seeing in Memphis with them and watching the fireworks from Beale Street. Once they left to head back to Texas, it was already time to get ready for the Student Ambassador Summer Retreat! The retreat was this weekend and it was a blast. We did some fun team-building activities and spent the whole weekend on a beautiful lake in Arkansas. Getting to know each other better and becoming closer as a group was the perfect way to spend our last “free” weekend. Unfortunately, we had to pack up this morning and head back to Memphis – and now it’s time to start preparing for the summer mini-term which starts tomorrow!
I’ve heard that second year flies by even faster than first year did – so I’ll probably be “recapping” second year before I know it! Wish the Class of 2017 luck as we take on a new semester. :-)
