The first week of medical school is over, and all I can say is that I'm saturated. I have learned more information in my first week of medical school than I did in my entire last year of chemical engineering. They say it's like trying to drink from a fire hose. I can say that it is exactly like that. Right now I feel like I've got it all down, but I'm at my limits now and I still have about 4 weeks left just in the first Unit of Anatomy (of three). The brachial plexus (a nerve bundle under your clavicle) is an absolute terror. There are like ten things to memorize in each 1cm part of it.
As far as my studying schedule goes, I get about 1-2 hours of free time each day and probably 1 day a week where I'll only have to study 1 hour or so. People say that medical school is hard. WRONG. Medical school is an Ironman competition. You have to be good at a couple things for a long period of time. Being a medical student rarely tests your intelligence, but it constantly tests your will and ability to study and be dedicated. I think in about a week or so when I get used to all of the work, I'll be able to weave a normal life in here somewhere.
Classes have been good, but it has become apparent to me that study-time is much more time-consuming than any lecture. The worst part of lecture is that our classrooms haven't been renovated yet. We will have nice new classrooms in another week or two, but til then we have to trek all over campus. We even had to walk ten minutes over to the Cancer and Genetics Institute (pictured below). It's pretty, but horribly inconvenient.
In life news, my car is in the shop being repaired! Upon doing a little work, they realized that they have to do a lot more work than previously expected. The total dollar amount of damage went from $2000 to $4000. They're also going to have to work on it for 3 weeks. They said, "at best, you'll get your car back around September 4th." My days crawl by right now, so that is forever away. In the meantime, they gave me a baby blue Hyundai as a rental car.
It's kind of cutesy. I hate that it doesn't have power locks, because that means that I basically can't put anything in back without awkwardly climbing around.
The best part about it is that it is equipped with XM radio. I have been listening to XM classical for a while. It's nice to just let my mind soak up the info I just crammed into it as I muse over a delightful piano sonata. I went to the doctor today to check up on my back and neck pain from the car accident. It looks that my back pain has gotten worse, so I'm going to be sent to the physical therapist twice a week for a month to get rid of it. It was interesting telling my doctor about how my pain "originated in my lumbar spine and radiated along my iliocostalis muscle to my serratus posterior inferior." She didn't seem as impressed as I felt about my terminology dropping. Still, I feel like a badass.
For you cat lovers out there, here are some pictures of CC (Chubby Cheeks), my roommates cat:
This photo is kind of bad, but it shows how I have trained her to not enter my room (through some delightful positive/negative conditioning techniques). She just sits at the edge of the carpet and rubs her chin on the door frame instead. She's not a very good photo subject as she always got too close or ran away. I went into the kitchen though and was greeted by this:
I've trained her through positive reinforcement not to bother me while I'm doing something on the counter, but if I'm not working there, she's all up in my face. When I get home from class and need some sort of release, I'll talk to the cat (if my roommate isn't home). I think she knows when I call her a fatty. I guess it's the little things that keep us sane.
