Sit on top of the mountain...

I helped host a beer hour on Friday afternoon in my department. It was the usual host of suspects: faculty, grad students, post-docs, lots of beer and pizza, and inhibitions dissolved.

I'll keep this brief, for once.

I can't help but think, as an MD/PhD student, people think of me in a vastly different way than they do about graduate students. I'm not sure why, exactly, but:

1. They think we're really crazy. No, really crazy, obsessed, ambitious, etc.
2. They say things like, "When you're done with getting both degrees, you'll need to sit on a mountain top for a year and smoke lots of pot."

I couldn't "take a year off" (what does "taking a year off" mean anyway?).


How about just a weekend?


P.S. Really working hard in grad school is similar to studying for boards. Research can easily become your life. And according to people who do science PhDs, it almost should become your life. Just saying.