It hit me today that I'm almost half way done my first semester in SK! Time really is going by fast and I think its only going to get faster. Block 2 is only just a short two weeks away and it feels like I only just wrote my first exams a week ago.
I find that at this point people have either accepted the island or have started getting more homesick. This past weekend a few of the Puerto Rican students flew home to get a break. While it would be nice, it's not really an option for us Canadians.. All I can say is prepare yourself before coming down here. I have said it before, but its really important to tell yourself over and over again that it is an adventure that you should be excited to embark on. I realise that you can only call studying an adventure for so long, but all I have to do to give me that spark is to look around. Every day I leave the lab, I take a deep breath and look out across the sea. Every morning I wake up to attend my 8am class and the first thing I do is stare at the ocean for 15 seconds before I head to school. It makes everything better.
On the school front, it has been another regular week. Nothing too exciting really. We worked on the abdomen all this week in the lab but nothing too neat to report. Just a lot of crawling through bowels to find arteries and nerves. As much as I hate studying certain things, when I remember that one day it will be helpful in real life it makes it better. An example is learning vascular anastomoses. Essentially when you learn a vessel pathway you then have to learn all the associated anastomoses or collateral blood flow. So if you have a blockage in a vessel you know if there is an alternative pathway for the blood to get around or if someone has a ruptured aneurysm you know if you can simply clamp off the vessel without damaging structures further down the line. I hate learning them but when I think of the practical application it becomes a little bit more "fun". All in all the week was good. I was a little bummed however that I was too late to register for both the Catheter lab and blood typing lab.. There are a few clinical skills that they offer to students outside of classes. They are first come first serve for the most part, so if your not quick you miss out on them.. I hope they will offer them again this semester but I doubt it. I will have to make sure Im ready next semester if not..
One thing I wanted to comment on has to do with your previous backgrounds before coming here. I have been realizing over the course of the last few weeks that my knowledge from undergrad has been helping me a lot. I'm not sure about you guys, but I took some classes in first year that I completely forgot about as soon as I wrote the exam. Im finding any material in med school that I even remotely talked about in university is much easier to retain and learn. The difference between hearing things that are 100% new vs hearing something for a second time, even if you were taught it 5 years ago in one 2 hour class, makes a huge difference. When you come here you will almost always be taking things a few steps further, but having previous exposure to it is very helpful.
As for life outside of classes, things have been rather dull. There was however a real awesome event that happened last Thursday night. It was the celebration of Navratri, a hindu festival of nine nights. It was put on by the HSA (Hindu students association). It was a few hours of music, amazing food, and dancing. It was a really good time and made me want to travel to India even more. The dancing was very interesting. They offered to teach me but I will save that for next year maybe;P There is another festival next week being put on by HAMSA, the hispanic student association. Im not quite sure what its about yet but I will let yo know how it goes.
I find that at this point people have either accepted the island or have started getting more homesick. This past weekend a few of the Puerto Rican students flew home to get a break. While it would be nice, it's not really an option for us Canadians.. All I can say is prepare yourself before coming down here. I have said it before, but its really important to tell yourself over and over again that it is an adventure that you should be excited to embark on. I realise that you can only call studying an adventure for so long, but all I have to do to give me that spark is to look around. Every day I leave the lab, I take a deep breath and look out across the sea. Every morning I wake up to attend my 8am class and the first thing I do is stare at the ocean for 15 seconds before I head to school. It makes everything better.
On the school front, it has been another regular week. Nothing too exciting really. We worked on the abdomen all this week in the lab but nothing too neat to report. Just a lot of crawling through bowels to find arteries and nerves. As much as I hate studying certain things, when I remember that one day it will be helpful in real life it makes it better. An example is learning vascular anastomoses. Essentially when you learn a vessel pathway you then have to learn all the associated anastomoses or collateral blood flow. So if you have a blockage in a vessel you know if there is an alternative pathway for the blood to get around or if someone has a ruptured aneurysm you know if you can simply clamp off the vessel without damaging structures further down the line. I hate learning them but when I think of the practical application it becomes a little bit more "fun". All in all the week was good. I was a little bummed however that I was too late to register for both the Catheter lab and blood typing lab.. There are a few clinical skills that they offer to students outside of classes. They are first come first serve for the most part, so if your not quick you miss out on them.. I hope they will offer them again this semester but I doubt it. I will have to make sure Im ready next semester if not..
One thing I wanted to comment on has to do with your previous backgrounds before coming here. I have been realizing over the course of the last few weeks that my knowledge from undergrad has been helping me a lot. I'm not sure about you guys, but I took some classes in first year that I completely forgot about as soon as I wrote the exam. Im finding any material in med school that I even remotely talked about in university is much easier to retain and learn. The difference between hearing things that are 100% new vs hearing something for a second time, even if you were taught it 5 years ago in one 2 hour class, makes a huge difference. When you come here you will almost always be taking things a few steps further, but having previous exposure to it is very helpful.
As for life outside of classes, things have been rather dull. There was however a real awesome event that happened last Thursday night. It was the celebration of Navratri, a hindu festival of nine nights. It was put on by the HSA (Hindu students association). It was a few hours of music, amazing food, and dancing. It was a really good time and made me want to travel to India even more. The dancing was very interesting. They offered to teach me but I will save that for next year maybe;P There is another festival next week being put on by HAMSA, the hispanic student association. Im not quite sure what its about yet but I will let yo know how it goes.
As for the past weekend, I didn't get up to a while lot. Friday evening I spend some time in frigate bay with some people but the rest of the weekend was spent studying. I wasn't as productive this weekend as I hoped, but I think I will be okay. I got the important stuff done:) Next week will start to pick up as we approach block 2. Giddy up!
Things I learned this week
-Bubble tea isn't too bad
-I should do all my grocery shopping at night. Forget this shopping in the scorching heat business
-I once again am not going to be talking about food this blog. Im alright with it
-No matter how fast Amazon says they will get things to the island, its anyones guess as too how long it takes for the island to give you your things.
-Dont ship a new computer to the island if you can avoid it. It will cost you a lot of money in duty.
-My least favourite thing about doing laundry isn't folding it any more. I've realized hanging clothes on a clothesline is worse
-Unless you want to spend a lot of money, getting taxis past 1am takes a fair bit of effort. Don't try to do it alone and be prepared to walk.
-Things I try to stick on my wall fall down within a day. Always.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Mike
Things I learned this week
-Bubble tea isn't too bad
-I should do all my grocery shopping at night. Forget this shopping in the scorching heat business
-I once again am not going to be talking about food this blog. Im alright with it
-No matter how fast Amazon says they will get things to the island, its anyones guess as too how long it takes for the island to give you your things.
-Dont ship a new computer to the island if you can avoid it. It will cost you a lot of money in duty.
-My least favourite thing about doing laundry isn't folding it any more. I've realized hanging clothes on a clothesline is worse
-Unless you want to spend a lot of money, getting taxis past 1am takes a fair bit of effort. Don't try to do it alone and be prepared to walk.
-Things I try to stick on my wall fall down within a day. Always.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Mike