Today was my second day of class as a medical student. I can't believe it's only been two days. I already feel like I've been here forever.
Firstly, HOLY POMELO SO MUCH STUFF TO LEARN. We're on our first anatomy block, which also includes some embryology, which so far has been a pile of mumbo jumbo to me. On the plus side, however, these lecture classes are reminiscent of that organismal diversity I took at Duke where they literally threw mountains of information at you, and you had to memorize as much as possible. I got an A in that class without much stress, so hopefully the studying tricks I had for that class translate here.
We had our first anatomy lab today, so my hands have been reeking of formaldehyde all afternoon. I'd seen cadavers before today, but not gonna lie, I was still a little worried about how I'd feel about actually cutting the body. It really wasn't that bad. I wish I got to do more, but my lab group only had one scalpel.
On the social front, I'm still sort of flailing around. I've made friends here and there, but I haven't really grouped up or joined a clique yet -- which is probably a good thing in the long-run, but still stress-inducing when you walk in somewhere and don't know where to sit.
Also, I have a confession to make -- some recent conversations with multiple people made me very self-conscious of the fact that my friend-groups in high school and college haven't been very... shall we say, diverse? Unfortunately, that little detail has permeated my brain.
All in all, too early to give really any interesting or juicy updates. I'll probably be too busy to write much anymore. But you know me -- I like being kept busy, so hopefully I'll still be this upbeat a few weeks down the line when I have my first exam. Womp womp.
2 comments:
I've always been curious about the, how to put this PC-ly, homogeneity of your social groups. I don't think there's anything wrong with the outward appearance of uniformity so long as the individual members of your circle satisfy your emotional needs, but I always wondered if it was something you actively sought or a sense of comfort and familiarity you defaulted to. You were probably aware that I didn't relate well to many of the not-diverse-from-myself (that's not a good descriptor but you know what I mean, right?) groups in high school and so actively avoided socializing with AA groups in college, but I'm curious about the rationale, if any, on your part to migrate the other way.
Sorry for the comment dump, I've been trying to catch up on your writing.
I've done a lot of soul-searching about this since I've gone back to school and had to make new friends all over again. I don't think the "homogeneity" so to speak was something I consciously sought, but I can't deny that there's a certain comfort in being around people who just "get" the influence of your cultural quirks.
I have to confess that this has been on my mind a lot as I've been navigating my new friendships. My friends here are more diverse, though it might be attributed to the fact that our class size is around 180. You don't have much of a choice in friends here if you limit yourself in that regard.
Keep the comments coming! I'd love to catch up with you sometime, Astrid :)
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