Thursday was our last day of formal school mandated orientation. The day started with the dreaded code of ethics approval meeting. This meeting was where the entire class would look over what the group leaders wrote and make edits based on what they like. Everyone was dreading how long it would take for all of the edits, but surprisingly enough it went over really well. Only two points went to edits, and only one of them was changed. We even got through picking a quote in relatively little time. After that, Dr. Duff gave the Blood Borne Pathogens lecture. It is required of all people working in a medical area so that you know how to be cautious so as not to contract blood borne diseases. Usually it's really boring, but Dr. Duff chose to not answer any of the questions he put up and forced all of the students to guess what was the answer. I learned a little about how to prevent transmission, and I think it's interesting that in surgery, unlike in sex, we are all encouraged to double glove it up with the latex. After this lecture was finished, we got the Medical School 101 lecture. Basically, 5 second year students went up front and gave a presentation on studying, staying balanced, what textbooks everyone used and didn't use, and what resources are available. It was very informative and it changed what texts I bought for my first week. After this talk, Dr. Vidauretta (Dr. V) gave a lecture on our career development. It terminated in her giving us all a Myers-Briggs test. I've consistently been an ESTJ, so it'll be neat to see what it turns out to be. We then had lunch with the first year faculty. I got to sit next to Dr. Williams, a forensic anthropologist. I was so tempted to ask her if her life was anything like the TV show "Bones", but I was able to restrain myself. She teaches both of my major first year classes, Anatomy and Histology. We talked about everything from families to working out to class mechanics. She told me that she'll be keeping tabs on me particularly which, I hope, is a good thing. Lunch just made it clear to me that all of our faculty are out there to help us out, and it's great to have that support network, especially since they're also our teachers. The day ended with 4 talks on ways in which we will be able to stay relaxed and stress-free in medical school. Dr. V, our school counselor, talked about 1-on-1 counseling that she provides. Dr. Harman talked about our Student Advocacy group that helps push for student needs through faculty advisors. Dr. Ritz, our Neuroscience professor from Spring semester, started a Mindfulness program which I'm taking. Basically, it involves weekly hour-long sessions of relaxation and meditation, helping us take our mind off of school for at least a few hours. I'm excited to have that scheduled mental break in my life. The last lecture was from Dr. Larry Rooks; he is the dad of my friend Amy Rooks from high school and he works for my mother. He talked about the Staying Whole In Medicine (SWIM) program where there will be faculty leader inviting us to come hang out and just relax to help prevent mental breaks. The talk was absolutely hilarious. It was easily the best talk of all orientation. At the end, he whipped out his banjo and we had a sing-along with a song he wrote about medical school. It was great. At that point, the day was over and I got to pick up my scrubs and lab coat.
After orientation, I went back to my apartment and tried on my scrubs, felt awesome, and then went out for the nights events. The first event was an around the world dinner where we went to 6 different apartments around town where each had food representing a different nation. America was basically pizza and beer which I thought was hilarious. I met a lot of cool people as we walked around, and once we finished at the last house, we all went out to the last event. It was held at 101 Cantina where med students were given an unlimited bar tab on wells and beer til close. It was amazing. I got to mingle a lot, and my friends Martin and Leslie took me around and introduced me to all of the people that they knew that I didn't. By about 1:30am, I started to head out, but Leslie and Martin felt I was too drunk to drive, so I got a ride home from a girl that was in my sister's high school graduating class. In medical school, a DUI results in an instant expulsion from the class (which I definitely do not want). At that point, I went to bed since I had to get up early to pick up my car.
The next morning, I woke up, called Dele (the person that gave me the ride home) and she took me to get my car. Alas, I had a ticket for illegal parking, but I appealed it to them. Hopefully, they won't be too strict on it since the only alternative was drunk driving. After I got my car, I went home, the days events were a Community Service project at 11am and a BBQ at 1pm. After getting back home, I felt terrible, so I basically passed out and slept through the service project. However, I got up in time to head over to Kanapaha Park for the field day. It was pretty fun, but it rained most of the day. That kind of spoiled most of the outdoor fun. We all parted at about 4, and I went to my house to give my parents my laundry (Heh). I chilled with my dad for a bit, and then I headed back out to run some errands. I picked up some groceries and some school supplies, and then I went to my apartment to put my notebooks together for Monday. The medinfo website where all of our stuff is posted was full of printouts that we needed to read. I felt a little overwhelmed and started printing them out and putting them in my notebook. After printing about 100 pages, I took a break from stressing and went over to see my friends Jeremy and Joe. We watched some Battlestar Galactica and had a pretty good time. By 1am I was in bed, and ready for the weekend.
As far as my car goes, Allstate has agreed to pay everything and I am just waiting for the parts to get into the shop. Once they get the parts, I can bring the car in and pick up my rental car. Hopefully that whole ordeal will go a lot easier now that Allstate is on-board. My camera was in Gainesville Wednesday night, but USPS hasn't delivered it yet. I don't know why, but it should be here for the first day of school on Monday. I also ordered my textbooks which, thanks to Amazon Prime, will be getting to my apartment Monday afternoon, woot! My sister came down from her clerkship in Pensacola this weekend to see family and give me some books. I'm really excited to see her. This weekend should be filled with thrills but my main hope is that I can get some nice and easy fun with a little bit of R&R.
