One week down

Hello everyone!

Okay, so the first week of classes is officially over and for once, I'm not feeling overwhelmed, amazing. I think that honestly it's because I'm able to study every night for a few hours, review what I learned, then read ahead, so that by the time I have a class I have read the material three times (pre-read, lecture and review lecture). Then I review all the information on the weekend and then I will do so again before the first mini exam in three weeks. One doctor'd philosophy is that you have to read material at least 5 times before you can fully remember it - I'm trying it.

Yesterday I had my white coat ceremony, which was actually very nice and very insiring. We had the chief of surgery from a hospital in Cape Cod (Dr. Brooks) come down to speak and his insight were interesting. He works with a lot of Ross students and he mentioned that in his experience they tend to work harder than other med students because for some reason we feel we need to prove ourselves to everyone who went to school in the states, but it allows us to become great doctors because we focus on feedback more, etc. That was a new way of looking at it. He also mentioned that his biggest lesson throughout his career was that yes, you must know the information, but more importantly, learn how to be kind and how to listen. He told us a story of a guy who came in for surgery and in recovery the Dr, Brooks checked on him, checked his vitals, etc. Then when his daughter was allowed to come back in, he said she didn't ask her father if Dr. Brooks had changed his bandages or took all of the vital signs and didn't miss anything, no, her only question to him was "Was he nice to you? " That kind of stuck with me.

I also learned about the history of medicine and how it is actually very much related to the art of hairdressing. Apparently in the old days, hairdressers used to not only cut hair, shave beards and other typical hair dresser jobs we think of, but they also pulled teeth, did minor surgeries and wore lab coats as well. So interesting. Not until 1993 did schools start doing white coat ceremonies and today about 90% of them in the US do, so some don't at all - I think it's a shame because it gets you pumped up and it makes you feel good that you've made it at least THIS far. And the white coat came from the discipline of science of course because doctors believed that because medicine's roots are science, they should wear lab coats just like scientists did. However, traditionally science lab coats were beige so shortly after the idea was adopted, they changed the color of white to represent cleanliness and sterility - things a doctor should elude when dealing with the human body. I had no idea, now I know and apparently so do you :) Oh, and that when graduate in 2013, the graduation ceremony is held in Madison Square Garden in NYC - HOW TOTALLY COOL??!!!!

Other than that, nothing too exciting on this side. Im sitting in the "barn" which is just a large study space that's in the shape of a barn and I'm getting ready to get back to studying and reviewing. Tomorrow is river tubing so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Enjoy the weekend!
Barbara

Three days into class

me in the waterfall :)

So it's now the end of the third day of class, aka, Wednesday. I have now learned more in the last 3 days than I did in 2 quarters at OSU - funny isn't it :) So far it's okay because I'm not involved (yet) so I study every single day for 5-6 hours after class, re-reading my notes, making flashcards, etc. Im usually in the library until 11 or so and then I head back to shower and usually make my flashcards as I watch like 30 minutes of TV. Im in bed usually by around midnight, although last night it was more like 2 am - hehe.

My trip on Sunday was AMAZING, very eye-opening and beautiful. I saw 2 waterfalls in one day, a boiling hot spring, a lake in the mountains where the temperature was like 30 degrees cooler than Portsmouth/Picard which are the two towns that Ross University takes up and everything in between during the car ride. It was beautiful, so please take a look at my faceook profile to see pictures from that, I can't post them all here. Driving here is crazy, because everything is on a hillside, and you could easily fall to your death wthin seconds, and the crazy thing is that they don't really use the break that often, they just drive by each other and SOMEHOW, they don't hit each other, i'ts amazing really. The car crash rate here is FAR lower than the US by ratio and we have rules.

This Sunday I'm going river tubing, which will actually propel me down the river, not me having to push myself like many times you do on rivers in the US. It's a 4 hour trip and Im really looking forward to it. After that, it's all study, I'm not going anywhere until nxt Semeser cause it's all just too much wth everything I have to study.

I have three exams every semester, called minis, and then a final cumulative exam. My first one is in October, covering aproximately the first 4 weeks - they are always on a Monday. I also start Anatomy lab next week where I will actually get to DISSECT the bodies, rather than in undergrad where you could just play with the already dissected ones. They have some pretty cool technology here - my favorite. So far, the doctor-patient relationship class is my favorite because it deals with communicaton rather than science as well as heathcare policie and reform, that interests me MUCHO! and gives me a break from the every day :) My least favorite is anatomy lecture because when I ask what specifics I need to know (in lab its very specific in lecture its less specific), he tells me that I need to know all of it, so just go step by step. I undersand this, but I would like to know what I need to know to pass this particular semester, not the entire 4 years of medical school - that part is obvious, EVERYTHING!!!

Oh well, that's what the weekend are for, studying your butt off :)

And classes here are not a M-W-F type thing. They change daily and from week to week. So today I could have 3 hours of Biochem, followed by Doctor-Patient Relationship for an hour and then an hour of anatomy. Tomorrow I'll have 2 hours of Physiology, 2 hours of Histology and 4 hours of lab. Then Next week on the same days, it's completely different.

Ive been going to the gym daily, which gives me a nice break from the rest of the day of studying and I think I'm pretty much settled in :)

Off to study now.

Barbara