First week of Medical School

Whew! I finally have some time to breathe! It's been a long week, but it has also been a good experience! We didn't start classes until Tuesday but the profs have laid it on HARD! I have heard from some upper classmates that they hate the island because there is nothing to do. Problem that I have in understanding their arguments is that, I haven't had any time to do anything anyway! So far this week class goes from 8-12:15 and then from 1:00-3:00 (or 3:15-:500 depending on which Anatomy lab we are in). After class is over, I came back to my dorm and took a 30 minute break to relax and either nap or catch up on world events. SIDENOTE: We got our internet hooked up in our dorm a few days ago and it was amazing! I don't feel like I'm in a 3rd world country anymore! Anyway, after the R&R time, its time to study. We are given at least 200 PowerPoint slides every day and depending on the prof, you have to do more studying to understand the material. Dinner break for about 30 mins then back at the books til bedtime. I don't have time to go out and do anything anyway, so it's nice not having anything that could possibly distract me!

Now, I mentioned about the study time depends on the prof... There is one prof in particular here that I have some problems with. His lectures are sooo spaced out and confusing. He does not spend much time at all actually teaching you, but rather reading his powerpoint slide and moving on. Today, we went through 140 slides in 1 hour and 45 minutes. It is so overwhelming when he is flying through the material and you haven't been able to even grab at the major points. When I get back to the dorm that evening and start going through the material, I have found that I can easily understand the material when it is presented in a better way. There are several profs here that are great! They explain it and ask for questions to make you understand it (not rush through and intimidate you by their interaction with the students). I have been told by several upperclassmen that this one professor lightens up in his student interactions by the end of the semester, but he is trying to scare us right now... and it's working!

This week, we went through an intro to the nervous system, embryology from Gametogenesis to the end of the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, cell strucures and cytoskeleton, and spinal cord osteology and neurology. A lot of material and a lot of studying! Our first block of tests are a week from this coming Monday. Anatomy Lab block is on Monday and then the Histo and Anatomy theory blocks are on Tuesday.

But its the weekend!! Tonight at 5:00 is the white coat ceremony and then the Welcome Back Party at Saba Groove! Gonna be fun to not be studying tonight! I'll put up some pics later from the ceremony!

Gonna be a fun-filled weekend of studying too! Gotta get this weeks material down before next week comes up with a TON of new stuff! I'm ready to get the first block behind me so I can begin to figure out how they test and what to study!

Well, time to get ready for the White Coat Ceremony!