Day 5: Back at it again

Today’s inane image of the day:

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…