Ahhh, the weekend....

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit, things have been extremely hectic. This past week I had an anatomy test on Monday and a Cell and Tissue Biology test on Thursday. Needless to say, it was a week (and the week before) of studying and not sleeping. My anatomy test went alright. It is definitely the most challenging course for me. I don't understand how I can study so hard (harder than my other classes) and still do worse. It is frustrating. One exciting thing is that I am more than half way done anatomy. This rocks! I will be so happy when it is over.

My other exam in Cell & Tissue Biology went extremely well. In fact, I surprised myself how many questions I got right on the exam. I studied, well, no...let me correct my self...I CRAMMED so much for this exam that it is good to get a reward for my hard work and lack of sleep. The night before the test I managed to get between 3 and 4 hours of sleep. This was NOT cool, but it had to be done.

Having had an extremely busy few weeks I am taking three days off of school work. I have already taken two of them, and I should actually do some stuff today, but my birthday present to myself is to not do ANY school work on my birthday. Ha! You know you are in medical school if you give yourself a day off as a present to yourself. :P

Last night I had so much fun. The family medicine club, (plus some other clubs) went around in the neighbourhoods and trick or treated for canned goods for the local food pantry. It was really fun. I was in a group with four other medical students and we went and collected 126 cans in 1.5 hours!! It was awesome. And after, we had hot chocolate (with marshmallows) and cookies- which was much appreciated since we were cold to the bone. We also won first prize for the group who collected the most cans and got a t-shirt and work-out bag for our efforts.

So today it my birthday and I am going to do some fun stuff. I am going shopping this afternoon, then out to dinner, and then out to a Halloween party. One of the guys in my anatomy lab group is hosting a party and invited me. So I have a sweet costume and will have a great time tonight. Talk about being social - going out 2 nights in a row!

Well, I think that is it. I am going to make some coffee and lounge on the couch for a bit before I get going. Ahhh, I love the lazy mornings! :)

My Utmost for His Highest

I have been making my way through this book and am finding it very good. Each page in this book has the day's date, a Bible verse, and then a brief description of things to reflect upon. I really like it because it makes me think and helps me reflect on God's role in my life.

I thought that I'd share a portion of today's reading:

"My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36

You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in overactive energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God's Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes; but if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in God on the unpractical line, you will remain true to Him whatever happens.

715 Pages Later....

715 pages, 77 days, 67 lectures, 6 exams, 1 full year of biochem/genetics, & surviving first year medical school biochemistry....priceless!

I am officially done biochemistry and genetics courses for medical school. I am so happy that it is done. I studied my butt off and learned so much information that it is almost ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome too! Although much of the information may not be clinically relevant, it is good to know. Who knows, maybe one day, something from this course will help me diagnose a patient with a rare metabolic disorder or something. All I know is that I have tried my very best to learn as much as I could stuff into my brain.

The thing that I like about medical school is that I am actually learning. During undergrad, I would simply memorize the material for which I was responsible. I don't really think that it amounted to learning much for the long run. But here, I am making more connections with the material and trying to learn how this might integrate in medicine. Which makes for an extremely rich learning experience.

So now that biochemistry is done, I am going to nap, get groceries, clean, and even paint my nails :)

Bye for now!!!

Challenging Week

This past week or so has been extremely challenging. I had to write my last biochemistry exam (before the cumulative final) and I decided to get the flu right before. I was sick for 24 hours up to (and including) the day of my exam. It was extremely difficult, but I made it through and actually did really well. Go figure!

I have been taking it easy all week. I have been able to get enough sleep and still try to keep up with my studies. I have my cumulative final in biochemistry on Monday (which I am kind of scared for) and then an anatomy exam the following Monday. Needless to say, I am going to be one busy person.

Right now I am in the library and I should be studying anatomy, but I decided to post here to procrastinate and to update because I know it has been a while since my last post. As I look outside the window at the campus' landscape, for some odd reason it makes me homesick. I wish I could just snap my fingers and go home right now. I don't usually get these feelings, but it sucks when they come because it really makes me sad that I am so far away from my family and friends. I know this is really where I want to be and I know that I really want to be doing this, but sometimes being so far away from home is hard and I miss it TONS :(

I think that I might move away from the window now so that I can focus on my anatomy drawings.

Bye for now!

*sighs*

Today we had our first snow! Can you imagine? It's October! I don't think that I've ever seen snow stay on the ground in October, I guess that's what I get for moving here :)

On another note, yesterday and today has been extremely difficult to get myself motivated and study. I have my last biochemistry exam (besides the final) on Monday and still have not even learned one half of the information. Needless to say, I have a late night and very busy day tomorrow.

My lack of motivation has been coupled with a nice little bug that I have acquired from my roommate. Besides general malaise, I have a tight chest, chills, and body aches. This is a perfect combination to get a lot of biochemistry into my brain, right?

Needless to say I am trying my best to plough through the material so as to absorb enough while still letting me get to bed before midnight. If I should accomplish this goal I must stop writing and go and learn some stuff.

Ciao!

P.S. I have officially started a countdown until I can come home. As of today....
45 days (words can't describe how excited I am to see my friends and family....and yes this includes pets too!)

Is it wrong when....

Honestly....is it worrisome that I ate an entire sleeve of crackers while I studied and didn't even realize I had done so until I went to reach for yet another cracker???

Oh man....

1/16th of a Doctor

Yup, I am officially half done my first semester of medical school. Which makes me 1/16th of a doctor. I have to admit, that sounds pretty neat. Although I am still a 'baby' in the field, I feel like I have been in medical school for such a long time. I have written so many exams and learned so much; and it is only the tip of the iceberg.

I've come to the realization that I am not here to simply shove information into my head to get good grades on my exams. But rather, I am here to learn vital information that will ultimately help me make sound clinical decisions. I used to be so focused on learning things for the test, but now what I learn has even greater importance because not only do I have to learn the information to do well, but also for my future patients. In fact, the later is the most important. It is scary to believe that one day I will be treating patients and I will have to make the big decisions. But I can wait for that day to come bc I don't have enough stuff in my head to be able to do that.

And on the quest of learning massive amounts of information....I am going to go to my anatomy lecture :)

Medical School = Business

I feel like I am in finals every single week. For the last three or four weeks I have written an exam; and today was no exception. I wrote my fourth biochemistry exam. I studied a lot and thought that I knew almost all of the concepts but the exam seemed to ephasize grey areas in many concepts which made chosing the correct answer more difficult. But I know I passed and basically that is what matters (although I really do want to do well).

I have to say that learning all about genetics and various medically related diseases / drugs was interesting to learn. I might even go as far as saying that cramming with my roommates until 2AM was slightly fun. I mean, I've gotta get enjoyment out of life some how, right??

I think that one thing that I have to try and figure out is how much I really have to study. There is so much information that I could study 24/7, but that is not humanly possible. I want to find a balance to figure out how much I have to study to learn enough and get grades that I am happy with without burning out. I think that'll take a bit more time than 2 months to figure out. But that is my next goal on my journey here. (that is besides mastering the nerves, arteries, and veins to the superficial and deep face) lol

...well, off to gross anatomy lab now! (Which should be extremely enjoyable on four and half hours sleep) :)))))