Week 1 and 2

After getting settled into my new home (and picking up a nasty cold in the process), I got through my first week of Medical School here at PNWU.

So far, we've had one OMM quiz, which was on material given to us over the summer. I got a 76%, which was surprising because I felt like I didn't miss anything.. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. Either way, it's just a quiz and I'm still happy because I passed.

The only other "graded" material we've had are a trio of post-tests for Community Doctoring. These are designed to be fairly easy, I think, because we are given the tests in an ungraded form prior to lecture. Retaking them in-class wasn't so bad, and I managed high marks (100%, 90%, 100%).

So all in all, I'm passing and I'm happy.

That said, I am beginning to understand what people say about medical school being tough. It's not that the material is terribly complex or confusing (though epidemiology boggles me right now), but rather that there is just a LOT of material. I was never a spectacular student in undergrad due to my lack of discipline for studying, but at the same time I've never run out of time trying to read. It's a little scary to think that I've been overwhelmed in week one, and hopefully I'll be able to adjust my study strategy accordingly.

The basic sciences are what intimidate me the most, as I had terrible grades in both microbiology and cell biology in undergrad. To exacerbate matters, my base knowledge has been buried in the past three years of working/partying/playing, so I'm more or less starting from scratch.

Anatomy lab was an interesting experience. I had the priviledge of dissecting my first cadaver, and while it was not nearly as straightforward as I imagined, I found it pretty enjoyable. I'm hoping that things will become more clear as we get further into the class.

OMM was a little confusing for me. I had difficulty figuring out whether or not I was feeling the right things, and feel that I'll need quite a bit of additional time in the OMM lab to get a better handle on it. The second-years I've talked to have said that it took them a while to figure it out too.

I've gotten to speak to most of the members of our class of 75 students at least once, and I haven't met one that I haven't liked. I'm sure I'll get to know them pretty well as the weeks go by, but if the first week (and orientation) is any indication, we're a pretty good group. I haven't seen the cut-throat competitiveness that I was worried about. Everyone seems willing to help each other out, which will only make all of our lives easier.

Next week the difficulty and volume for all the classes is going to be ramped up a little bit, so we'll see how that goes.

In non-school related news, I'm finally getting over the last bits of my cold and am going to start exercising again. The forum has a 90-day challenge that I'm probably going to participate in, and I'm going to try to replace StarCraft with exercise in my daily regimen, haha. There is a heavy bag at the local YMCA, and that's probably going to be my spot for free weights and whatnot.

Yumi seems to be adapting pretty well. Her noise hasn't been a problem, and she's been remarkably well behaved, being able to run around the house. Hoping to get her some more outside time to get socialized.

(The stuff I describe in this post actually relates to the second week of school. The first week was just orientation so I didn't go over it much)