Graduation Recap - Dental Dad Dinner

I have this thing where I always want the different groups of people I love best to meet and love each other as well. Makes hanging out a lot easier when all my friends just become a mega-group of friends. I never was one for group hopping. Mega-group is where it's at. 

As such I was really excited when my Dad suggested a dinner to meet some of my Boston friends. So excited I uncharacteristically took the initiative and started planning (planning is for fools!) for the night about two months in advanced. I wanted to make sure that we found a time that would work for everyone.

Lucinda likes to tease me sometimes (and if I'm being honest my entire group does as well). About a month before the actual dinner she came to clinic and told me that the Barry's (even though they had already told me they were coming) would not be making it. Apparently, the immediate sadness that overtook my entire face was hysterical. She quickly told me she was just messing with me, having not expected such an immediate reaction of that nature. 

What can I say? I'm a sentimental girl sometimes.

And I knew that graduation was going to be a weird time for us. 

Because as much as we had made it through dental school together, and wanted to celebrate together, the reality is that most of us would be spending most of our time with the family and friends who came from far and wide. 

I wanted to have a solid group shot of some of my favourite people. People that were part of the reason that I made it through my dental school career. Each one of the people who came to this dinner impacted my life. And I will treasure their friendships. It sounds overly dramatic but I just wanted one moment where we could be together. 

Oh... and I wanted them to meet my family.

We went to Fire and Ice and it was awesome. 

I guilted Ben and Jesse (who had been in Palmyra, New York earlier) into arriving in time to come to this dinner. I wanted my friends to meet my brothers. To see how hilarious they are and hopefully shed a little understanding for why I am the way I am sometimes. I just love my brothers and cousin-brothers. 

Ben and Jesse arrived at 7pm - which, cutting it close allowed us to arrive about fifteen minutes late to the dinner (which my friends laughed and commented on the mormon standard time of it all - family ruining my rep for being prompt and on time :)

Too be fair, Ben and Jesse desperately needed to shower. 

Lindsay made me a freaking crazy ton of candy necklaces for myself and my friends, which I more than happily distributed out. They thought it was pretty awesome and couldn't believe all the work that went into them. And it was a fun little thing.

Alisun and The Barry's

Sabrina and Aaron

Derrick and Mel

John and Tamsen

The Brothers

Dee and Myself

The food at fire and ice was pretty great. Of course I was no Dee. She had this masterful way of combining meat, vegetables and sauce into the most delicious thing ever. I actually had to have her walk me through it cause I couldn't replicate the mastery she used. And it was great because everyone got to eat as much as they wanted and whatever they wanted.

And for those hungry boys, it was perfection. 

This was my family in Boston. 

And I already miss them dearly, in particular Dee, Lucinda and Alisun.

But I'm so happy for all the wonderful memories we have - and the more yet to be made!

My favourite moment happened at the end of the night. It was just Dee, Lucinda and Dan and my family outside chatting. And for once in my life I wasn't the token Canadian. There was some serious American mocking and it felt pretty great to be on the other side! Especially since for the last four years I was always outnumbered. 

I just like us. I really do.

This Happened.

I graduated.

Its still so weird to me.

I'm no longer a student.

No matter how many times I say that, it doesn't stop feeling surreal.

I'm not gonna lie, I could have done without convocation.

It was crazy boring, and by the time they called my name (and pronounced Lowry wrong no less), I was over it. I wanted that diploma in hand and to get the hell out of there.

It was torture listening to the final names and the final speeches.

Graduation has been strange.

First off, there wasn't really a goodbye of sorts between my friends and I. No sort of finality. We all just kind of left without a word. One minute we're together and now we're not.

Which I suppose is the only way it could be. 

But its weird.

Second, I had a lot of people come to support me. 

They helped me pack (which was disastrous) and helped me celebrate and explore Boston one last time.

 This picture is awesome because we ordered ourselves in amount of education we have received. 

Poor little Joshie.

It was really nice of everyone to come though.

Ben and Jesse drove across the country to come.

Julie came from Virginia.

My Aunt Shelly came from Louisiana. 

My Uncle Todd and Tyson came from Western Mass.

My parents and Josh flew.

It was nice having people there. 

I'm graduated.

I'm not sure it'll ever feel normal.

Today

I got up just early enough to catch the last Clinical faculty I needed to sign me out so I could do my last three academic sign outs.

The sign out of treatment planning was very quick.

It maybe took all of three minutes. 

But my locker sign out wasn't till 9am so I had to wait around the school.

Locker sign out was also quick.

Thats the thing about signing out. 

None of it takes very long.

And yet it is the most drawn out process ever.

Just a small stop at my lockers and they congratulated me and I went to my next stop. 

Of course, this being dental school, that involved more waiting.

The person signing us out of the Academic Office wasn't even at school at 9am.

So I waited till she arrived.

Signing out took all of thirty seconds.

After which I went to my final destination.

When I arrived, he told me that my name wasn't on his list of 

people who could sign out, and asked if I could come back

in an hour to give time for the system to update.

One thing you need to know about dental school is that it has ruined my patience.

The reason I am done a week early is because I developed a "don't take no" and "this is happening on MY time schedule" attitude. And when I want something done, it better damn well get done.

Persistent, is the polite way faculty and staff refer to me.

But basically it's a constant barrage of me harassing them until they do what I want, when I want it.

But waiting an hour to get signed out of my LAST sign out. No. That would not do.

So I told him that if it was a computer problem with the system not updating, that he better call IT. Because this was getting done now and nothing he could say would dissuade me from that.

So he sent me out to wait while he phoned. 

And I heard him tell the IT guy that I wasn't interested in any excuses and wanted it done now.

But while he was on the phone, the system updated and my name showed up.

I dropped off my ID.

And he signed me out.

My final sign out of dental school.

Its been very anti-climatic this whole sign out process.

I'd love to say that it feels so good and that I'm happy as can be.

But mostly I feel like who even cares.

Ya, its nice that I no longer need to stalk people and bully them into doing what I want, when I want it done. Thats nice. But now I'm left in this odd place. I know that this moment should be a grand thing. But its very underwhelming. Like really, this is it? The moment I've been working to for the last four years? It pretty much feels like every other moment.

My graduation is confirmed. I'll actually be getting my diploma when I walk across that stage (which a lot of my classmates can't say). And while its nice and I'm glad for it, it's not the end. There's getting a license. There's packing. There's moving. There's always more.

The discussion that I've been having with my also signed out friends, is that now that we are done with school we're trying to switch out of the school mode. Because one thing I know for sure, is that dental school has brought out the worst in me. But part of that is why I'm done a week early. Because I was bossy and demanding and wouldn't take no for an answer. And everything was hyper-analyzed and done on my time schedule. And the way I wanted it done. 

But this version isn't at all who I want to be. I hear myself talk and I hate it. I hate how I sound. But it has become so ingrained that I know this transition is going to be a difficult one. 

I'm done with dental school and on to something new.

But it's just another thing that is happening. Not a great thing. Just a thing.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

It just is.

Last Dental School Patient Ever

Rosemarie was a perfect patient.

A perfect patient, I say.

A&A

Awesome:
- Being a Nasseripour-orphan. My mentor went completely MIA this semester. Like vanished from the school and isn't coming back. As such, I walk up to anyone I please and ask them to approve things for me. Their first question is always "Who's your mentor?" And the second I say Nasseripour, they go "Oh, you poor dear, of course I'll approve that." Ha. Excellent. I'm pretty sure Nasseripour disappearing worked out a lot smoother than if she'd stayed. Cause she was hard to find even when she was around. And now I have my pick of people to approve things.
- Only having 1 requirement still to do! Booya. I have all my patient notes signed and after tomorrow will have all my patients off my patient list. There is nothing better than an empty patient list {school mentality? That should probably change}
- Matty calling me and deciding that hashtags are silly and he would rather work the {brackening}. Matty, I think this could really take off! {Love you}
- I made cinnamon honey roasted chickpeas again. Seriously. Best.Decision.Ever. Why do I ever put delicious things off. Especially when they're so little effort. And I did a better job of stirring periodically, so I feel like they turned out even better. Win.
- My use of hashtags #foolish #LoveThemAnyways #yup

Awkward:
- Going down to bring a package inside, signing for it and turning around to head back in only to realize I didn't bring any keys and can't get back in. Oh hai, UPS guy, is it cool if I pretend I don't actually need to get back in my apartment and follow you out? Mmk, great. Oh, I also don't have a phone. No worries, I don't know any numbers even if I used someone else's phone.
- I need to do a Portfolio presentation. But I'm on rotation for the next two weeks. I have literally been stalking Carole Green to find out when the next week opens up. Carole, should I come back tomorrow, and the next day and the next day? You're not tired of me asking everyday, multiple times a day if the schedule has been sent out yet? Ok great.
- Remember that time where I went to crossfit two days in a row and both workouts featured burpees heavily and burpees are my absolute workout nemesis? Ug. I'm still crazy sore and its been a whole day of doing nothing. Crossfit hurts so good.
- Lets talk about how sometimes I misspell words and make up words. Dear computer, stop autocorrecting me. Its freaking annoying. {Its supposed to be brackening not bracketing}
- As of today I am now down to 1 requirement (which I finish tomorrow), 1 presentation and a two week rotation. As such, this week I pretty much have run out of things to do, by at the latest 11am, most days. I seriously don't know what to do with myself. This therefore has left me with the feeling that I must be overlooking something.
- That time where I emailed a faculty member to get a sign-out of his discipline appointment and he sent me an email saying we could have a pre-sign-out meeting next week. Um, pretty sure I already mentioned I'm on rotation and also, a pre-sign-out meeting? That sounds like a super waste of time. No thanks, I'll take just the sign-out appointment.
- I'm starting to feel all sorts of anxiety about the "road trip" that is in the works to come get me and move me home. I get car sick and now its not even people coming out that I know I really click with. And a little bit I feel like people keep getting added that could care less that I'm graduating. And just wanna be there for the ride. Um, my graduation is a big deal, and kinda not a side bar for someone's road trip. I pretty much only want people there that get that. Ug. It might have been a terrible decision to agree to drive home from Boston #whatwasIthinking
- The huge pile of scrubs in the corner of my room. #nuffsaid

Another One Bites The Dust

Sure it would have been nice to do all of my endo requirements on real patients. But at this point, I'm just happy to have another discipline that I can sign-out of as I continue to check requirements off my list.

And let me tell you... It feels real good.

Only two more requirements to go!

Clinic Happens

I had a great day in clinic yesterday and today. And its not that the days weren't stressful. I mean, I literally spent the entire day racing to and fro trying to accomplish things. And its not until I leave school, that I realize I didn't even have a moment to eat lunch. Or even contemplate my lack of lunch. And don't even get me started on how many times I go between the two clinic floors - often taking the stairs two at a time to expedite the process. Despite what I'm sure seems like my constant complaining, I know that I've had some pretty spectacular luck when it comes to clinic.

1. I have not had to pay for any of my patients' dental work. There are a lot of my classmates who have not been so fortunate. I had a moment where I thought I might need to, which was definitely a pride point I had to get over, but then things just sort of fell into place. My patients came prepared to pay and get the work I need for my requirements done.

2. My externship site was amazing. Sure, Dr. B was crazy and the office was way too full of drama for my tastes. And Dr. B kind of hated Adam and I for no reason. And yelled at us for ridiculous reasons - like the fact that we had "too many" cases (which we had zero control over getting because she assigned them to us). But I got a lot of my graduation requirements done on externship. And any requirements done away from the school are a hundred times easier than requirements achieved in school. Externship saved me. Without a doubt.

3. I only had to minimally interact with the Remo Lab lady. And for the most part she was quite nice and accommodating for me. Yes, she still would rudely mimic my speech if I said "like" and I still had to wait in her horrendous line. But with my partial denture requirements done on externship and only one team denture at school (and being the B team for said denture), I really didn't have much interaction with her.

4. Lets talk about being the B team for my team denture. At our school, since there are not enough dentures to go around, if a patient needs both an upper and lower denture and is edentulous (aka they don't have any teeth in their mouth), two students can do a Team denture. Team dentures are the best. Each student does each step and creates their own denture. But you share the responsibility of booking the patient and can help each other with the steps. But only the A team gets the real denture teeth when you're setting the teeth and their denture gets processed (while the B team destroys theirs at the end). As the B student, people seemed a lot more lenient on my work not being completely perfect. But since I still did all the steps, I still get all the credit.

5. Also, my denture patient was a dream. Literally, the sweetest woman ever. I had my doubts when we first met her - she had been a little flaky about the appointment and said she didn't know if she could afford the denture. But since that first appointment she has been the perfect patient. Some of the steps are uncomfortable. And she had to do them all twice. But she didn't bat an eye. And she never ceased to praise us for all our hard work. It was very rewarding that of any denture experience at school I could have had (and I did have another team denture patient that was less than great to put it mildly), I got an ideal patient, with an ideal mouth. It literally couldn't have gone better.

6. Except for a few minor hiccups (cough lastfinalimpressionsummative cough), I have completed all of my summatives (aka the testing of my dental skills on specific procedures) on the first go around, without a hitch and usually with some praise. I have five requirements left. And they all have appointments. That is all that stands between me and graduation. Five summatives. (And of course the sign out process which is an entire other beast).

I have worked hard to graduate on time. And the goal feels quite attainable right now.

I had a first year assisting me during my second session yesterday. And while she assisted, I tried to talk to her about what I was doing. To inform and when appropriate, let her try. I felt competent. And I had the sudden realization that I have indeed learned a lot of dentistry. I have more knowledge than when I was in first year. And being able to see the contrast in front of me, made me feel quite proud of my accomplishments. Explaining what I was doing on a very simple filling made me think that someday I might be interested in teaching at a school. Because while I may not be the best student ever, I think that clinically I am quite competent, and with practise I could be an excellent dentist. And its not everyday you get a realization like that. Especially when school has drained most of my desire to be a dentist out of me. It was nice. Even if it was short-lived.

Clinic is not perfect. School is not perfect. But I can see the end. And I'm in quite a good position right now for an on-time graduation. And that is not too shabby.

The Bangs

I went to clinic one day. I had an easy appointment. It was going to be quick. In and out. The best kind of clinic appointment. 

But immediately it was kind of a strange day.

I'm not sure what it was about my appearance this day but I had some weird experiences surrounding it.

One

I got onto the elevator to head up to the clinic floor and say hello to Adar (one of my classmates). She says hello but gives me a strange look. And then she says "I love your hair Melissa. Your bangs look so perfect they look fake. Are they fake?"

To which I laugh.

Yes, my bangs are real. Thank you for the compliment. 

Hilarious that she thought my hair was fake.

Nope it's just straight and half pinned up. 

I actually watched this video. Its brilliant. Seriously, easiest hairstyle ever and it looks amazing. 

Two

I'm in my bay. And not in a convenient bay to get to... nope its one of the corner bays with a view. The out of the way bays. So I'm working on my patient and out of the corner of my eye I can see two people standing outside my door. So I stop to turn and see. Oh whats that? Oh just a faculty member who brought a resident to my bay to point me out so they could discuss how he thought I looked like someone on another floor. That's right folks, he took a resident on a field trip to see me. What? That is straight up crazy face. 

Three

So I'm looking for the faculty I'm working with and can't find him (a sadly common occurrence in clinic). I see Dr. Sadooghi (another faculty) and stop to ask if he's seen my faculty.

Me: Have you seen Dr. Pelligrino?

Dr. Sadooghi: (weirdly stares at me) Do I know you?

Me: Yes.

Sadooghi: (still staring) You look... so... different. You look like that famous person... 

Me: Ha (awkward laugh). Ya.. I get that a lot. I got bangs. 

Sadooghi: (mesmerized tone) You look so extra beautiful...

Me: Ha (extra awkward laugh), its the bangs, they make me look different.

(Dr. Sadooghi still awkwardly staring)

...

...

...

Me: So have you seen Dr. Pelligrino? Mmk, I'm gonna keep looking for him.

Dr. Sadooghi is the faculty I did my first restoration with. And kinda a strange man (but for the most part nice). I thought it was hilarious that he couldn't recognize me past the bangs... Just so awkward. And so funny.

I immediately told Lucinda about how hilariously awkward Sadooghi was. My bangs must have been super great this day... because they were causing a ruckus. A ruckus I say. But I felt like they were just normal bangs. Apparently they were doing some major spell casting... people were entranced. Lucinda mocked me and said it must of been a combination of the bangs and my bubble gum pink scrubs. 

I had agreed to help Lucinda in the afternoon with a procedure she was doing. I was going to be her assistant. Her faculty? Dr. Sadooghi.

He came into the bay to check on something for Lucinda and spent a solid five minutes talking about how extra beautiful I looked and debating the causes of my increase in beauty. And instead of working, for a bit of time he just stared at me. It was awkward. But on the plus side, he was very attentive to Lucinda, as long as he could take short breaks to look up, stare at me and smile.

Dee, Lucinda and I were going to a girl's night at Lucinda's sisters' house and as we picked up Dee, she got in the car and said "Melissa, I donno what it is, but you look extra beautiful today."

"HA! I'm guessing Lucinda told you about clinic today?"

Weird day. But really funny. 

Somedays my bangs are awesome.

What can I say? I'm just lucky that way.

Poptun Clinic

Every morning, Dr. Fred, Trisha, Dan, Lucinda, Dee, Kevin, myself (and possibly a translator from the Finca Ixobel where we stayed) would travel in two really old cars, that were functioning as taxis to go to the clinic on the outskirts of Poptun.

I'm not sure what I expected the dental work would be like in Guatemala. I know that what it was wasn't what I expected though. I guess because the trip had been a long standing trip (having happened every year for the last six years), I thought it would be better organized. Turns out I'm a little OCD and like things to be planned out. Mostly I don't like feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. I hate feeling out of sorts. So getting to Poptun and discovering that no one knew we were coming (Hospital and patients alike) was kind of disheartening. 

But we went Monday morning - talked with the director of the Hospital and asked if we could use one of their rooms and thanked him for his hospitality and we set up. Monday was a slow day, since no one knew we were coming. They have a dentist in Poptun that comes and works every morning in the Hospital in a room. We used that room. It had two chairs. We had a portable hand piece unit so we could do fillings that we hooked up to one of the chairs. We organized as best we could.

We used bottled water for the hand pieces and to give patients to take any ibuprofen we prescribed.

Lucinda's husband, Dan, had zero dental background, but you would have never known it.

He honestly was amazing. He disinfected instruments, assisted, organized, took pictures. You name it, and Dan had it under control. He was awesome.

The End of Day One at the Clinic

Working in Guatemala was very different from working in America. For starters, we didn't have access to some pretty crucial instruments (like a dental explorer - yup, we used a probe which is not the same at all in case you don't know) and did a lot of back street dentistry where we just had to get by with what we had. Our burs were dull, we didn't have a ton of oral surgery equipment. We didn't have suction. And a lot of the materials we were working with were old. But I think we got it working pretty smoothly. Lucinda, Dee and I rotated off taking patients at first. And we'd all help assist if we didn't have a patient. Lucinda's husband Dan was Dycal Dan and pretty much a rockstar. He helped us clean instruments, took our pictures as we worked on cases, assisted while we worked. He did everything pretty much. 

It was really different not speaking the language hardly at all. Everyone laughed at the very little amount of spanish I knew. Because turns out, even simple small phrases took me awhile to get my mouth to work the right way. But we were very lucky. We had several people from the community and from Finca Ixobel (where we stayed), that came and gave us entire days to help translate for us. They organized the mass of patients and would help us find out what was wrong with people. We were very lucky (and grateful!) to have their help and support. And the little bit of Spanish I knew allowed me to get by in a pinch. I often wished I knew more words so that I could explain something or just ease the fears of an uneasy patient. Learning Spanish is definitely on my list of post-dental school activities.

We started with two chairs - one for fillings and one for extractions. But we ended up jerry rigging the second chair so it could also do fillings and adding a plastic chair that we did extractions out of so we could try to get more patients through. 

The people were amazing though. Most of them (once they figured out we were there and it became busy), would wait in the waiting room. Some people waited for hours only to have us tell them to come back. And they did it cheerfully. They came in and often thought they needed a filling, when really they needed an extraction. And they didn't question, they just got right on board. It was heart breaking some of it. They were grateful for every little thing we could give them. Some of the dental need was crazy. So many people just had all this decay in their mouth. And I couldn't help but wonder how it could get so bad. But a lot of people didn't even have the basic knowledge of how to take care of their teeth. I felt the worst when young people would come in with horribly decayed front teeth, and I'd have to tell them that in all likelihood they would lose those teeth. Or the beautiful children (and some of those kids were probably the most beautiful kids I've ever seen), that would come in and we'd need to extract so many of their teeth because they've been drinking coffee everyday with tons of sugar and all their teeth were bad.

The appointments themselves were a little ghetto. I will never undervalue suctions or assistants again. Because we would work on people, give them a little paper cup and anytime their mouths filled up with spit or water, I would have to stop to let them spit. The spit cups were probably the grossest thing I've ever seen.

Most of the patient were amazing though.

One lady came in and I extracted all her upper teeth one day and the next day I extracted all her lower teeth, and then I extracted a couple teeth on her son. And she gave me multiple hugs and even though I didn't understand her words, I could feel her gratitude. She was so sweet. It was patients like that that made me feel really great about this trip.

Its hard coming on a trip like this, because I felt how entitled I can be sometimes and how selfish. And how I can complain when things aren't ideal for me. I kept having to take a good hard look at myself, and found that I didn't love the person I saw. And I realized that the self-absorbed, arrogant, pompous, twenty-something with the bright future isn't really who I want to be. I want to not try to buy my happiness. And be happy with my circumstances because I have so much to be grateful for. I still think, that while I may not struggle with poverty, I still have valid challenges - because Third World problems aren't the only important problems in the world - But I think I could use a little Third World gratitude and patience. Thats what impressed me the most. We worked till 7pm on a couple days, and some people waited all day for us to see them, and then we had to send them away and they didn't bat an eye. They just said they'd be back tomorrow. 

Working-wise, what I struggled the most with was treating children. Children are irrational. Some of them cry. Lots of them scream. They jerk their heads around. They don't understand what you're trying to do. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly comfortable with children. I love my nieces and nephew, but the second children cry, they are going back to their parents. I do much better with older kids who understand reason and who I don't need to force to do things. Forcing people to do things makes me physically uncomfortable. 

So when people in SoAB suggest I become a pediatric dentist I want to laugh in their faces. 

That is the last thing I would ever want to do.

One of the days in the clinic it felt like all I saw were kids. They had huge infections around teeth that needed to come out. Infection means my anesthetic isn't going to work as well. That means that I'm going to have to give more than one shot and that it might not be the most comfortable experience ever. And truthfully, the pressure from extracting a tooth is often uncomfortable and often mistaken for pain.

Pretty much every child who came my way screamed.

This little girl is probably the prettiest little girl I've ever seen and the niece of one of our translators - and I made her cry two days in a row because she had teeth that were infected and needed to be extracted :(

I felt awful. Some of them cried so much. And sometimes I just had to keep going because the tooth was almost out. But I felt terrible. Its terribly disheartening to have children crying at your touch. Even if you're trying to help them. Dee, Lucinda and Kevin kept telling me to not take it so personally. And that they don't know how I'm gonna make it in the dental field if I take things so personally. Sometimes kids cry. And while I can understand that, I also felt a small nagging that maybe it was me. Maybe I'm a bad dentist.

Not every kid was that way. There were a few that were so wonderful I sighed in relief. 

This little stud walked right in, smiling the most darling smile and told one of our translators this:

"Those three girls should come to my house after and teach my brother and I English"

Even as a five year old he was terribly charismatic. And I wished we could go teach him and his brother English. The entire time I worked on him he had his arm lounged behind his head. 

He was adorable and one of my very favorite patients. 

Plus, who can resist that head tilt and his arm around my shoulders?

I got to do and see so much on this trip. 

Kevin (Dr. Acone, who graduated five years ago from BU and was our legit saving grace so many times on this trip) walked me through doing my very first sutures on a patient.

I extracted so many teeth.

I did pulp caps and fillings.

And in so many ways, I got a glimpse of post-dental school life and felt how nice it is to feel like a competent dentist.

(A feeling that is often lacking from the school).

We worked with poor lighting (often using flashlights or our headlamps) and poor instruments.

But I feel like we did some good. 

It wasn't a lot.

And I wish we could have done more because so much more could have been done.

But it was exhausting.

We left everyday completely drained.

And it was not unusual for us to be in bed, under our mosquito nets by 9:30pm.

On our last day it was crazy to see the waiting room go from insanely packed to completely empty.

BEGINNING OF THE DAY

END OF THE DAY

I was so happy to have had the opportunity to go with Lucinda and Dee.

I honestly couldn't have picked two better people to go with.

And I told Kevin several times over the week how grateful I was that he came.

He let us have free reign, but as soon as we needed help he was there.

I felt like he, as an educator, was perfect. He would instruct us, but wasn't overbearing and would teach us things so that we could do learn how to do it by ourselves. 

Plus, Dr. Acone was hilarious.

A few of my favorite sayings of his from the trip:

I was told that there would BE no math.

Boremonism (aka a boring mormon)

You know what they say here in Guatemala - Safety Fifth!

Sassachusettes

Got Guat?

Its called Melanin Melissa, Get some.

Casa de estrogen.

Grumplestiltskin.

Guat blow out.

Rookasaurus Rex.

Whormonism.

The only rule in the Guat: There are no rules.

[Kevin: Do any of you know how to suture bullet holes?

Dee, Lucinda and I: Um, I guess we probably could do it. Why?

Kevin: Because if I have to listen to Adele much longer I'm going to shoot myself in the face]

I laughed so much with Kevin around. 

I taught everyone how to play Rook while we were in Poptun at the clinic. Which lead to much hilarity.

Kevin was hating on me for an entire clinic day though because of Rook from the night before and me saying that Lucinda was the best partner ever, even though he and I had been partners for like three rounds.

It was fun though. Kevin added such a great dynamic to our trip and I was so glad he was around.