Last full weekend in Floripa, Brasil. I've redirected all my emotions about not wanting to leave into what I will do with myself when I get back to the US. So I've registered for a pre-dental seminar and registered to take a practice DAT exam. All USC requires of a prospective dental student: 3.0-4.0 GPA, Acaedemic average of 18-22, and approximately $300K. Which sounds kind of steep, well hella HELLA steep for tuition, but the average salary of an oral surgeon in Los Angeles, CA is about $250k/year so it's not like I would be paying that much for school and then not being able to get a job in that field that would allow my to pay off such debt. And that's the only reason why I bring up the money situation. 'Cause you must honestly take salary and money into consideration if you're planning on droppin' that much. I don't necessarily need that much money to be happy, like, blah blah blah..."money doesn't buy happiness", but I do also know that you do NEED some in order to do certain things that you want to do. And I wouldn't think to spend that much money of school if I just wanted to be a teacher or something, ya know? Are you pickin' up what I'm droppin' down? Haha, I like how I can so easily entertain myself. Its one of my strongest traits :) So back to USC in Los Angeles, CA....I recently started talking again with a childhood friend, Whitney, that I've known since kindergarten!!! It's crazy because all of the "friend" groups in Tennessee have all grown up with each other, then there's me...who just popped into the picture out of the blue. But I've known that girl for forever!!! We'll go a year or so without talking then contact each other and its like nothing changed....well, ALOTS changed but we still can pick right back up...I went through her friends list on facebook and saw a ton of names of people that I went to grade and elementary school with...so weird...it was trippin' me out SOOOOOO bad...I haven't thought about that part of my life in SOOOOOO long. When I'm in Memphis and people ask where I'm from or whatever, I mean I say from out west, but that phrase has sort of dulled out over the years. Especially when so much of my life right now is in Memphis. So when I saw all the people that I grew up with "from out west" it hit a little...a little, soft spot...in my heart....hahaha...so Memphis, I'm sorry...but you loose!!!!!! I don't hate Memphis, by any means though...probably wouldn't have gotten paid to go to Brasil had it not been for Memphis. And my parents are there of coarse. They are going to need someone to take of them in a few years...and by "someone" I mean me...so, yeah...dental school...
It definately feels different...going from Medicine to Dental...with medicine its like you don't think about what you are currently doing as a pathway to obtaining something, its more like a lifestyle that you adopt and become...but I feel with dental its like...ok, go back to CBU, finish required biology courses, take the DAT hopefully just once, apply to school, get into school of choice, graduate dental school, and start making money. There's an end in sight. And THAT'S the main difference between the two disciplines...
I also think that my reasons for wanting to become a doctor and my reasons for becoming a dentist are completely and utterly contradictory of one another, its like the devil vs. the angel, the devil being the latter...Let me just tell you about those reasons...the "devil" in me says to go to Dental school and just get school done and start making a ton of money so that you can live your life however you want to, as selfishly as you want to, and endulge and love every minute of it, you know, the whole life is short senario...the "angel" in me says to go to medical school, somewhere where global medicine is a main focal point, where you would use your expertise to do humanitarian work...it would be devoting your life to something other than yourself, to try and "save the world" one person or one community at a time, for a lifetime...if you don't like my devil vs. angel analogy, you can get ovvvveeerr yourself.
I told someone last night at a bar...don't really know why that particular detail is necessary but whatev...who asked me what I was going to do after I get my B.S. degree, and I said Dental school. He's the first person I've told my new plans to. To be perfectly honest, it didn't feel as "right" as when I told people about becoming a doctor in order to advocate for global medicine...something St. George's Medical School is known for...shit, hahaha
So I'm going to keep doing what I do for now.
...just gotta have faith.
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