Reality Sets In

Orientation is over and today was day 3 of classes and the real mass of the workload is really hitting me.

We have a two inch thick syllabus, and that's just for the first two weeks! Our first test is the tuesday after labor day. Hmm, I seem to remember I've got something else around then. Oh yeah, I'm flying back to Denver for my brother's wedding. Oh boy, this is going to be tough.

Just three days of notes is a lot of content to know, and it doesn't feel like it's sticking. Even though most of the material so far isn't really new, the pace and the amount mean that it's difficult to get the material back to the level of understanding. We're essentially doing a semester's worth of material every two weeks and having that cumulative exam in that time.
Well, it's scary.

Today we were introduced to 2 new classes, Clinical Decision Making, and Microanatomy Lab. Clinical Decision Making is the Integrated (integration is the key word, they said it a lot) curriculum that introduces clinical reasoning and skills paired with the content we're learning in the regular lectures. It's got its own syllabus, which is in addition to the amount we need to know for lecture, but this is the part where we learn what being a doctor is all about, and one of the reasons I chose to apply to this school. Learning to do a differential diagnosis and a physical exam, and to develop bedside manner and communication skills early was important to me. I learn best when learning in context, and learning to be a doctor would have to mean putting the content from lecture into a clinical setting and learning application of that knowledge.

Microanatomy Lab, unfortunately, isn't nearly so exciting. Very poorly designed and organized,the material wasn't the hardest thing about today's class. I can only assume the professors were playing a game titled "how many computers on the network does it take to crash the server?" With 176 computers on the virtual slides site, things took quite some time to load. Having to muddle through the slides trying to find the structures was difficult enough without having to deal with technical difficulties.
Luckily, I had my Macbook Pro, who has now been dubbed Alexander, for both Lyta Alexander of Babylon 5 and Alexander the Great, because I managed to get through the class with the only technical issue being slow loading, while I watched people (with PCs) around me get frustrated with all sorts of problems trying to access the site, copy the slides, zoom, etc.
I really don't understand why they couldn't put the slides on a powerpoint with the structures labelled. How are we expected to find things when we have no idea what we're looking for?

Into my fourth week of living in Ohio, second week of UTCOM,and first week of classes, I'm looking back and feeling nostalgic about all the good things from Undergrad and this pat year in Denver

Top 10 Things I Miss About Brandeis
1. Late night trips to the c-store for ice cream
2. Classes started only as early as I wanted them to
3. Pad Thai in Waltham
4. Going Places- Brookline, Boston, Joann's for knitting and arts supplies, and the treacherous trek down the hill at East to get to the car
5. Surprise parties for everyone’s birthdays
6. Dinner with everyone, followed by Sherman shopping
7. The 'only at Brandeis' stories, like Bonnie's trip back from Newton-Wellesley, and tales of BranVan drivers gone crazy
8. Thursday night TV with Adi – Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy just aren’t the same anymore
9. Episodes of “Bonnie’s World” are much better in person
10. Having all my friends just down the hall from me

Top 10 Things I Miss About Denver
1. “Guess what I learned in Jewish Home today?”
2. Living a mile high - the lack of oxygen, the extra blood cells, all of it
3. The mountains always mean west
4. Missing out on the Museum’s genetics of taste and smell study (at least I got to find out I'm a Taster!)
5. It’s been HOME for my entire life
6. The weather – 300 days of sunshine!
7. Free room and board
8. Alana’s baking
9. Mom’s cooking
10. My family