Today’s inane image of the day:
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| This time around, I decided to select my own resources to learn from [and tried to save some money by purchasing an older edition]. |
We just wrapped up our first week back at OUWB. Everything feels essentially like a continuation of where we left off, but not quite. This time around, there are more students [shiny, new M1s!], a different classroom [yeah, thanks a lot M1s for demoting us to the smaller classroom…] and some new facilities at Beaumont [more study space is always welcome]. Half of our building on the Oakland University campus is under construction [in order to get from the study rooms to the classrooms, we have to go down a flight of stairs, over, and then back up a flight]. Oh, and we also now have an attendance policy [I’ve updated my FAQs to reflect this recent change].
A couple weeks back, I was dreading my return to school. Honestly, I don’t necessarily feel much better now that we’ve started. I still love medicine and find everything we learn to be fascinating, but these things do not absolve the frustration of a perpetual state of exhaustion and stress. Plus, this year scares the living daylights out of me because Step 1 feels way too close for comfort.
As I went through my Google Reader [thank you dedicated, subscribed readers of this blog!], I noticed that Ali Binazir’s post, “Why you should not go to medical school – a gleefully biased rant” resurfaced in the blogosphere. I decided to revisit it [I read it maybe 4-5 years ago when someone brought it up on Student Doctor Network] briefly, and couldn’t help but nod in agreement at many of his sentiments.
Lately, I’ve been feeling extraordinarily young and naive. Although I am those things, it’s hard to come to terms with the thought that there’s so much left to learn and experience. Like many, I spent much of my childhood striving for adulthood, but now that I’m in a sort of transitional period, I can’t help but feel more like a child than ever before.
Anyway, reflective writing won’t help me understand the kidney…
Keep going Amanda! It’s only been the first week of class and we, the M1s, are feeling the pressure too so we’ll struggle together! Btw, really enjoyed your poster presentation last week 😀
Sean
Think of it this way, no matter how naive you feel, there are 1st years who feel much more so. I just finished week 1 and it was definitely a whirlwind.
Thanks, Sean! You guys will get through it [plus, I’m a bit jealous that you guys get the crash course in Anatomy since I came in with absolutely no prior knowledge and feel like it’s still one of my weakest subjects].
True – however, I was referring to an overall naïvety… the more I talk with my peers, the more I realize how limited my experiences have been thus far. Either way, I should enjoy my youth since the further we get into training, the more responsibility we hold!
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good luck this year!
Do you think the attendance policy is a good idea? At my med school, year 1 + 2 lectures were all video streamed so it was your choice to attend or not. Everyone has different learning styles.
Thanks for your offer – please email me at amanda@amandaxi.com with more details.
Thank you!
I go back and forth on the attendance policy – maybe I’ll muse further on it on a future entry.
Overall though, I think that for our particular situation that we needed *some* kind of reason for more people to attend class – with only 50 people, it’s hard not to notice when 20 people, or 40% of the class is missing…