Getting Oriented

Med school is officially under way! After a fantastic vacation in Mexico (see pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/BeckyEllen28/PuertoVallartaMexico), a trip to Vermont to relax and visit family, and a week or so of moving in and getting settled, I am ready to go.

Last week was orientation, with many presentations about the curriculum, the websites for the school and courses, student health services, how to succeed in medical school, etc. It seems that there aren't any huge secrets as to how to survive and succeed; everyone keeps emphasizing the need to manage your time and balance your life, which is what I certainly hope to do. Of course, our anatomy professor also told us that he once counted the number of body parts/structures that we need to learn, and they numbered over 2000. We also need to know where things are located in relation to one another. He readily admits that it really is impossible to learn all of this in one semester. Fantastic! To that end, I have already started studying on my own.

My other two courses are biochemistry and Foundations of Medicine, which combines a number of topics such as taking a history and physical, medical ethics, and professionalism. Tomorrow we will spend the entire day doing Basic Life Support (CPR-type stuff), and then the real fun begins on Wednesday with our first anatomy lab [cadaver dissection]. I am nervous and excited about that one!

There have also been a number of social activities during the past week, and, despite my only-child shyness, I have attended nearly all of them, trying to meet as many of my classmates as possible. I have actually become quite good at approaching total strangers to introduce myself and initiate conversation. The class seems to be full of very friendly, interesting people, and I've been able to remain calm and remind myself that making friends takes time.

As for the rest of my life - those elements that I will try hard to balance with my studying:
Tay is very happy in his new job with a large ophthalmology practice, which is very close to our apartment. (At the moment, he's actually in Ireland, visiting/working with a physician he met when he lived in Boston.)

I'm making a huge effort to continue working out, because I know it helps keep me sane. I've been shopping around for gyms, trying a running route on campus, and even attempting yoga. (I think anything that is calming and relaxing will be good to have in my bag of tricks for later.)

And finally, I've been seeing my parents about twice a week, which is so much fun! I ditched a house party on Saturday night to spend time with them, and it was so wonderful to not feel as though we had to make the most of every single second of a too-short visit. When Tay and I first moved in together, we wondered: how did we ever survive being so far apart and seeing each other so infrequently? Now I have the same feeling about being close to home; it feels so natural to see my mom and dad on a regular basis, to just stop by to pick something up or say hi. Even Bijou is getting used to seeing me so often; when I arrived on Saturday she came to the door, got excited for a few seconds, and then went back in the house as if to say, "Oh, you again? No big deal."

So here I go.... I hope to provide updates and funny stories every now and then. (They won't all be this long, I promise!)

In closing, here's an interesting fact I learned today: The tuberculosis virus can survive in the air for 8 days. (People ahead of me in med school: apologies if this is completely untrue. It's what they taught us in infectious disease training today.)