Surviving a perceived Nuclear Holocaust

If you want to know what medical school is like.  I tell you this.  Imagine dancing in the garden of eden half of the time and the other half of the time trying to survive a perceived nuclear holocaust.  Test taking time in medical school was the most troubling of experiences that one might imagine.  It begins about three weeks before the examinations begin and ends with hopefully a pitcher of beer at your favorite cantina or bar. 
The problem is this. 
Many people know that their entire existence on the campus is resting on their accomplishment of a passing grade on their examinations.  That is a very scary thing.  Imagine your first semester.  Everyone studied.  You know that.  There are examinations and you anticipate they are not a cakewalk or even a roll in the barn stable.  It is a very rigid examination process.  You have never taken a medical school examination ever before.  You have to take this examination and if you did not meet passing, your entire time at that school may in fact either conclude shortly or otherwise be threatened for the entire time you are a student.  In fact, at all times as a student, there is a slight feeling that you may not be afforded a graduate degree until it is finally handed to you.  That is the trouble with being a student. 
In college, you are quite confident that if you study and attend classes, you will graduate.  Its pretty much ensured. 
Not so in medical school.
Medical school is not really a place to weed people out of the work force and force them into a lesser place in the academic structure.  It is really just a place where we hone the mind to produce skilled medical practicioners.  Perhaps there are minds that are not yet ready for such a honing process.
That said, if you are in medical school, remember this. 
Academic Student days are a challenge to your mind and your mind only.   There is no concern about the pocket book and that is never your aim to even consider.
The consideration is that you are going to be honed and that you must allow this process to occur.
Is there a time for happiness in the halls of a medical school during the times of exams?
I say that you might read this writing and consider that its not a shot in your soul.  Its a shot in your fibula.
Be careful and be warned.  If you are going to want to express suicidal thoughts of a frenzy of fervor or a frency of glee, medical school during exam time is not the place for you.
It is a good place for the mourning soul to realize that he or she is not the doctor today and that he or she must indeed be tested in a large room with a pencil in your hand and a few hours to answer many multiple choice questions.  If you lose sleep over that, that is fine.  That may even be good.  Perhaps you stayed up all night long before the examination and studied.  Perhaps you did.  Do you think that is to destroy your head or hurt your mind?  Its to hone you.  The honing will take place and thats what medical school examinations are for.