DS1 Semester 2 Update

It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun! The spring semester here at Colorado is going well. My entire month of January was spent entertaining guest and being entertained, both here in Denver and away, and honestly things got a little too hectic for me. Let's see, one weekend my friend from Delaware came out to do some skiing, another weekend my Uncle came out for 4 days to ski, and yet another weekend I flew out to Philadelphia to hang with one of my good friends at Penn Dental. Also, every Monday I WAS in Denver I threw a "Rock & Roll Sushi" party where I basically invited my whole dental class and some others to my little apartment to eat self-rolled sushi and play Rock Band! It was all fun, but I'm glad Ritsuko and Masa are back from Japan (they got back on Feb. 9th) and I can be done with the bachelor life until the next time they travel to Japan.

Currently, Ritsuko and I are looking for a different apartment or house to rent. Masashi starts school (Kindergarten) in July, and we would like to find a slightly bigger place before he starts. Our place now is nice, just a little too small for the three of us. We're actually going to look at a nice 1200 sft townhouse nearby that has its own little sauna in the master bedroom! The only downside to moving before our lease is up in July is having to pay a month's rent penalty. So, it really has to be worth it to move, but like I said, we think it's important to get settled before Masa starts school.

As for school life, spring semester has been pretty relaxed. We have had a lot of days with only one or two classes up until now, and none of the classes are too difficult or require ungodly amounts of studying. I looks like things will change some after Spring Break, though. On top of a tighter schedule, we will also need to begin studying for Part I of the boards. We take Part I in July, but are scheduled in classes all through the summer, so we won't have any time allotted just for preparing for the boards. While it will be nice to get done with Part I after our first year, the hectic rush to get all of the information taught that we need to know before July 14th makes things a little nerve-wracking. Oh well, I guess that's dental school, right?

Well, in just over a week Ritsuko, Masa, and I will be heading for a fun Spring Break in Moab, Utah! Until then, enjoy some pictures of colorful Colorado.

<-On a frozen Echo Lake up near Mt. Evans.

Masa helping me prep a plastic tooth in the simulation clinic ->






<-Ritsuko and I testing the "smile detector" on our new camera








Rob (from Delaware) and I at A-Basin skiing/snowboarding ->








<-Mike (Penn Dental) and I in Times Square, NYC