I am taking a day off and trying to pretend that I live a normal life. No books today. sadly, i feel guilty as a watch TV or run errands because I have a lil voice in the back of my mind saying 'tuesday's test is coming up fast and you are not nearly as prepared as you need to be.' But, tonight i plan on drinking away that voice so hopefully i can relax. I have my 5 year high school reunion tonight and am very excited to go out and have a good time with old friends! then, we will have our classic reunion at the dive bar in town and i will get to see more old friends. thanksgiving isnt gonna be a great one this year because of school work i need to do and family not being together but its ok because im just counting down until winter break anyways! i cant wait for the feeling of absolute freedom and the complete relaxation of knowing there is NO tests awaiting me.
the last couple weeks have been stressful but i have managed to have lots of fun in between things. we had a powerderpuff football game against the 2nd year medical school girls and as hard as we tried, we still lost. it was a intense game and i walked away with tons of bruises and a hurt knee. now, a week and a half later, my knee is still not back to normal and it is still pretty sore when i am at the gym. im gonna give it another week and if it doesnt get better i guess ill see a doctor....
my OMM finals went well monday and yesterday. we already received our grades online and i know i passed so i am happy and relieved that i dont have to worry about it again until January. now, i am focused on resting up for the next couple days and then getting back to work to improve my MCBM grade. also, my last patient encounter for this semester is coming up and is worth lots of points toward my grade. i will be doing another history and physical. i am looking forward to it because im good at it. and i need a confidence booster at this point. i am burnt out and running on low fuel. hopefully i can recharge and get my ass into gear soon!!
from a friend:
"while everyone's home enjoying the holidays, i will be spending quality time with my 8 professors' 34ppt lectures.. jealous???"
-MM
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
exams exams exams
Life is crazy right now. I have an OMM final practical on Monday and an OMM written final on Tuesday. Then, I will have a couple days off and will enjoy Thanksgiving day. THEEEEEN I will be studying all thanksgiving weekend for our 2nd MCBM exam which will be the Tuesday after thanksgiving. It is gonna be hard.... and I am a lil...scratch that....a LOT scared.
Monday, November 9, 2009
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"tomorrow's exam is going to be interesting....never ever had physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, histology and developmental embryology all combined into one exam before."
-JL
That pretty much sums up my exam this morning!
i studied for countless hours, worked my butt off, and yes i passed. it is very hard to accept that no matter how much i study, i will never remember it all. and of course, that leads me to be scared to death for my first board certification exam which i will take the end of my second year...it is on everything i will learn in medical school. cool. awesome.
i wouldnt say i am doubting my decision to go to medical school, i would say i am doubting wether i can get through it. the test i just took was seriously like a final in undergrad. actually, i feel like i am learning a semesters worth of material in 2 weeks and then taking a final every two weeks after. the amount of material and the very small amount of time to learn it is SUCH a brisk pace. im kinda in a funk and need to keep my confidence up. there are just too many smart people around me and i never feel up to par. but, the moments that do help me keep focused are my patient encounters. i feel like a doctor and i am becoming good at it!
Last week i gave my first two physical examinations on people other than my classmates and family/friends. The patients (actors..) were in a gown and all. The first was on Tuesday and i sweat through the entire thing. I did pretty well but forgot some of the history questions i learned to ask for the last encounters. Then, I had my second standardized patient on Thursday and did much better. Made me feel like a good 'almost' doctor!
its the end of the beginning and i have 6 weeks left of my first half of my first year. im gonna be honest and say i am counting the days until Christmas break. i would say thanksgiving but since i have an exam the tuesday after thanksgiving weekend (and its notoriously the hardest of this block) im not really looking forward to it as much. so yeah...christmas. i get 2 weeks off with no new material to learn. PRICELESS
tomorrow is our foundraising powderpuff football game; first year med student girls against the 2nd years. im pretty excited!! of course i am playing and will hopefully kick ass (with no injuries!!)
-JL
That pretty much sums up my exam this morning!
i studied for countless hours, worked my butt off, and yes i passed. it is very hard to accept that no matter how much i study, i will never remember it all. and of course, that leads me to be scared to death for my first board certification exam which i will take the end of my second year...it is on everything i will learn in medical school. cool. awesome.
i wouldnt say i am doubting my decision to go to medical school, i would say i am doubting wether i can get through it. the test i just took was seriously like a final in undergrad. actually, i feel like i am learning a semesters worth of material in 2 weeks and then taking a final every two weeks after. the amount of material and the very small amount of time to learn it is SUCH a brisk pace. im kinda in a funk and need to keep my confidence up. there are just too many smart people around me and i never feel up to par. but, the moments that do help me keep focused are my patient encounters. i feel like a doctor and i am becoming good at it!
Last week i gave my first two physical examinations on people other than my classmates and family/friends. The patients (actors..) were in a gown and all. The first was on Tuesday and i sweat through the entire thing. I did pretty well but forgot some of the history questions i learned to ask for the last encounters. Then, I had my second standardized patient on Thursday and did much better. Made me feel like a good 'almost' doctor!
its the end of the beginning and i have 6 weeks left of my first half of my first year. im gonna be honest and say i am counting the days until Christmas break. i would say thanksgiving but since i have an exam the tuesday after thanksgiving weekend (and its notoriously the hardest of this block) im not really looking forward to it as much. so yeah...christmas. i get 2 weeks off with no new material to learn. PRICELESS
tomorrow is our foundraising powderpuff football game; first year med student girls against the 2nd years. im pretty excited!! of course i am playing and will hopefully kick ass (with no injuries!!)
Friday, November 6, 2009
i dont need to be creative because my classmates are for me...
"Dude, I have nearly 500 Facebook friends, and the only people on at 9:45 on a Friday night are us med school kids. Haha." -Anonymous Medical Student. Oh, and I just happened to be one of them... Sad.'
-AH
-AH
Thursday, November 5, 2009
facebook entertainment
status update:
"just realized classes in med school are a lot like kidney stones...hurt like a bitch, but all you gotta do is pass 'em"
-JH
"just realized classes in med school are a lot like kidney stones...hurt like a bitch, but all you gotta do is pass 'em"
-JH
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Another funny
"You can think of spermatozoa as a torpedo. It is very compact in shape and it has just want it needs to deliver its payload to its target. And that’s its objective, to get its nucleus to an oocyte. Of course, compared to a torpedo, spermatozoa are highly inefficient. You empty about 200 million of them and your lucky if one of them hits the target. Thank god the navy doesn’t work under that kind of efficiency."
-One of my professors in developmental histology
-One of my professors in developmental histology
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Apreso, my new buddy
I am writing this blog to capture school moments and am not using it to go into personal things going on im my life. with that said, i had a very hard week and will be glad when Thanksgiving rolls around and my entire family will be under one roof- hoping that Sydney will be here too :/
Now that anatomy is over life is a little bit more convenient. We used to have an anatomy quiz at the beginning of each lecture. During MCBM (the molecular and cellular basis of medicine) we will not be having quizes so i dont have to be at school everyday for lecture. But, before you start shaking your head thinking i am a slacker...let me tell you about my new wonderful best friend Apreso. This is from their website:
Apreso Classroom is an affordable automated lecture capture and Web publishing system that produces online versions of the classroom experience for on-demand student review.
Apreso Classroom can be scheduled to start and stop automatically, removing the need for professors to learn to operate the system or change the way they teach. It automatically captures and synchronizes the professor's voice with visual aids being projected in the classroom, and posts an interactive, indexed Web-based version of the lecture to university websites or course management system.
Basically, i can sit at home in my pajamas with a fresh cup of coffee and my animals around my feet and watch/listen to my lectures. It is a very convenient way to learn (and save gas money). Also, i have found that it is more effective to learn this way because i can start/stop the lecture and even run it at a higher speed. It is very time effective and i can look up anything i dont understand right there or can skip over stuff that i do. Also, its nice to be able to take breaks during the lecture. In class, i have approximately a 20-30min window of peak learning ability. After that it is bye bye concentration and hello facebook, gchat, ebay, etc etc So, instead of wasting my time in lecutre...i am using it more efficiently at home. The downside is that i wont be at school as often so i will be missing lots of fun times with my classmates but we have a long 4 years together so i am sure i will see them at many other times!
This week starts another long one as i have lots of lectures lined up. Biochemistry, developmental histology, physiology, cytology....the list goes on. Also, on Tuesday afternoon I am making up my patient encounter which i missed a couple weeks ago due to my near death illness (for dramatic effect). I will be giving a physical exam and am pretty damn nervous about it so a friend and I will be practicing on each other tomorrow after school. It is not a FULL physical if you know what i mean...that will come during 2nd year. But, it does include all the basics like eyes, ears, heart and breath sounds, reflexes, blah blah and I have to get their full history either before or during and we are given 30 minutes. Sounds like a long time but its not!
Wednesday I will be dropping off Dad at the airport and will be home alone for 3 1/2 weeks. sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Yeah, its gonna be a raging study party at my house next weekend sine we have our first MCBM exam Monday. Caffeine buzzes have replaced alcohol buzzes. i am out of control
Now that anatomy is over life is a little bit more convenient. We used to have an anatomy quiz at the beginning of each lecture. During MCBM (the molecular and cellular basis of medicine) we will not be having quizes so i dont have to be at school everyday for lecture. But, before you start shaking your head thinking i am a slacker...let me tell you about my new wonderful best friend Apreso. This is from their website:
Apreso Classroom is an affordable automated lecture capture and Web publishing system that produces online versions of the classroom experience for on-demand student review.
Apreso Classroom can be scheduled to start and stop automatically, removing the need for professors to learn to operate the system or change the way they teach. It automatically captures and synchronizes the professor's voice with visual aids being projected in the classroom, and posts an interactive, indexed Web-based version of the lecture to university websites or course management system.
Basically, i can sit at home in my pajamas with a fresh cup of coffee and my animals around my feet and watch/listen to my lectures. It is a very convenient way to learn (and save gas money). Also, i have found that it is more effective to learn this way because i can start/stop the lecture and even run it at a higher speed. It is very time effective and i can look up anything i dont understand right there or can skip over stuff that i do. Also, its nice to be able to take breaks during the lecture. In class, i have approximately a 20-30min window of peak learning ability. After that it is bye bye concentration and hello facebook, gchat, ebay, etc etc So, instead of wasting my time in lecutre...i am using it more efficiently at home. The downside is that i wont be at school as often so i will be missing lots of fun times with my classmates but we have a long 4 years together so i am sure i will see them at many other times!
This week starts another long one as i have lots of lectures lined up. Biochemistry, developmental histology, physiology, cytology....the list goes on. Also, on Tuesday afternoon I am making up my patient encounter which i missed a couple weeks ago due to my near death illness (for dramatic effect). I will be giving a physical exam and am pretty damn nervous about it so a friend and I will be practicing on each other tomorrow after school. It is not a FULL physical if you know what i mean...that will come during 2nd year. But, it does include all the basics like eyes, ears, heart and breath sounds, reflexes, blah blah and I have to get their full history either before or during and we are given 30 minutes. Sounds like a long time but its not!
Wednesday I will be dropping off Dad at the airport and will be home alone for 3 1/2 weeks. sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Yeah, its gonna be a raging study party at my house next weekend sine we have our first MCBM exam Monday. Caffeine buzzes have replaced alcohol buzzes. i am out of control
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