Evening:)
Hope everyone had a good weekend! Tonight I am writing this from the classroom where I have been studying. Its been raining on and off outside so I figured it would be better to be inside. Today was the first day of classes! First day of Med 2. It gave me a nice representation of what the next few months will be like. Class for me this semester starts at 930, which is a big improvement form the 8am starts I had last semester.. This first class of the morning was Biochem. For the next week we actually have a former student from UMHS who is waiting to start her residency teaching us for a few lectures! I think its a pretty neat experience for both sides. We were told that she currently holds the highest USMLE score that the school has produced! So thats pretty neat. Its also good because she will be around for the next little while to answer any question students have about the process during or after SK. This means I have yet to meet our actual prof, but for now its pretty good. Biochem will be heavy, but doable I think. Like Cell bio, there will be some interesting parts and some stuff you just need to get through.. After Biochem I had a 1 hour lunch break then was back at school for Physiology. Now this course I am super excited about. Some of the topics we will be learning over the next few months are ones that I find super interesting and cant wait to learn! Going to be great. Ill talk a bit more about the classes when I get into them a bit more. Right after Physiology I had a genetics class. Not my favourite material, but I think focusing on the medical aspects will keep it more interesting. Much better then Undergrad anyways.. I finished the day off with Epidemiology right after Genetics. I said this was a good representation because it is one of my longest days. Monday Thursday and Friday I have class staring from 930am until 6pm with a 1 hour lunch break.. The only things that changes from day to day is that genetics and immunology alternate each day and I have a Physiology lab on Friday evenings instead of Epidemiology. For the first block we just have class in this time slot, but for block 2 and 3 we will actually have the lab. Ill talk more about that when we start, but It will be exciting form what I can tell so far.
So this semester will be quite lecture heavy. Some courses I'm not super excited about, but It will all be okay. The Med 2 schedule is quite intense so I hope by the end of this block I will get into a good routine with everything. Today was just like any other day, me finishing class at 6 and studying until I go to bed. I'm currently the only one in this classroom, so I assume most people are easing their way into things. All I know is that I can't afford to fall behind with the amount of class I have each day, so studying I shall do.
This weekend was a nice transition into island life again after the break. I was talking about going on a catamaran trip on Saturday, but I ended up passing it up and going to the beach with a few friends. I spent the afternoon there and headed home. I spent the rest of the night catching up with some people and chilling at the house. I decided not to go out to the strip again as I had to get up early the next morning to go SCUBA diving! It was my first time diving in tropical waters as all my other dives have been cold water dives. It was a super cool experience. UMHS gets local rates with one of the dive shops on the island, so it was more affordable then It would have been otherwise. The experience as great. It was just me and one other person who were diving that morning. We got to see a bunch of things like eels, sharks, stingrays, underwater vents, etc. I even got to see some Lionfish spearing. It was awesome and you can bet ill be back diving as soon as I get the opportunity!
Thats it for now. Once I get into the swing of things a bit more, ill give you another update!
Things I've learned the past few days
-The weather right now is perfect! Im not sure if it will stay like this, but I hope so. Not too hot, just perfect temperature. It is winter here after all.
-Its hard to believe the energy level at the start of the semester compared to a few months in:P The full lecture halls I was in today will start to become far less full in a few days
-There are sharks in the area that I snorkel at school.. COOL!
Hope everyone had a good weekend! Tonight I am writing this from the classroom where I have been studying. Its been raining on and off outside so I figured it would be better to be inside. Today was the first day of classes! First day of Med 2. It gave me a nice representation of what the next few months will be like. Class for me this semester starts at 930, which is a big improvement form the 8am starts I had last semester.. This first class of the morning was Biochem. For the next week we actually have a former student from UMHS who is waiting to start her residency teaching us for a few lectures! I think its a pretty neat experience for both sides. We were told that she currently holds the highest USMLE score that the school has produced! So thats pretty neat. Its also good because she will be around for the next little while to answer any question students have about the process during or after SK. This means I have yet to meet our actual prof, but for now its pretty good. Biochem will be heavy, but doable I think. Like Cell bio, there will be some interesting parts and some stuff you just need to get through.. After Biochem I had a 1 hour lunch break then was back at school for Physiology. Now this course I am super excited about. Some of the topics we will be learning over the next few months are ones that I find super interesting and cant wait to learn! Going to be great. Ill talk a bit more about the classes when I get into them a bit more. Right after Physiology I had a genetics class. Not my favourite material, but I think focusing on the medical aspects will keep it more interesting. Much better then Undergrad anyways.. I finished the day off with Epidemiology right after Genetics. I said this was a good representation because it is one of my longest days. Monday Thursday and Friday I have class staring from 930am until 6pm with a 1 hour lunch break.. The only things that changes from day to day is that genetics and immunology alternate each day and I have a Physiology lab on Friday evenings instead of Epidemiology. For the first block we just have class in this time slot, but for block 2 and 3 we will actually have the lab. Ill talk more about that when we start, but It will be exciting form what I can tell so far.
So this semester will be quite lecture heavy. Some courses I'm not super excited about, but It will all be okay. The Med 2 schedule is quite intense so I hope by the end of this block I will get into a good routine with everything. Today was just like any other day, me finishing class at 6 and studying until I go to bed. I'm currently the only one in this classroom, so I assume most people are easing their way into things. All I know is that I can't afford to fall behind with the amount of class I have each day, so studying I shall do.
This weekend was a nice transition into island life again after the break. I was talking about going on a catamaran trip on Saturday, but I ended up passing it up and going to the beach with a few friends. I spent the afternoon there and headed home. I spent the rest of the night catching up with some people and chilling at the house. I decided not to go out to the strip again as I had to get up early the next morning to go SCUBA diving! It was my first time diving in tropical waters as all my other dives have been cold water dives. It was a super cool experience. UMHS gets local rates with one of the dive shops on the island, so it was more affordable then It would have been otherwise. The experience as great. It was just me and one other person who were diving that morning. We got to see a bunch of things like eels, sharks, stingrays, underwater vents, etc. I even got to see some Lionfish spearing. It was awesome and you can bet ill be back diving as soon as I get the opportunity!
Thats it for now. Once I get into the swing of things a bit more, ill give you another update!
Things I've learned the past few days
-The weather right now is perfect! Im not sure if it will stay like this, but I hope so. Not too hot, just perfect temperature. It is winter here after all.
-Its hard to believe the energy level at the start of the semester compared to a few months in:P The full lecture halls I was in today will start to become far less full in a few days
-There are sharks in the area that I snorkel at school.. COOL!