I have so much to say and so little time to say it. I can't believe how cool medical school is, and how much I am enjoying it. For the first time, I atually feel like I belong. Like I was meant to be here, and not some imposter pretending to be an expert. I did enjoy my career as a journalist, but I have to admit I was never this enthusiastic about it. In any event, I want to share what my first few days have been like, and in the essence of saving time, I am editing an email I sent last night to family anf friends to a blog-appropriate format.
So far, all is well here in sunny LA. I'm sure some of you have been filled in on the apartment (it's great) and my car situation (it sucks!) ... but I am surviving - even if it's on cereal, bagels and pasta.
Med school so far is way cool, and the entire university administration is very helpful, warm and engaging, and will to do just about anything for the students.
The students are awesome, too -- and I'm not even close to being the oldest. The average age, I was told, is 30. Oddly enough, I seem to have bonded with some military folks -- go figure. There are three of them I have been hanging with and formed a study group with. They are currently trying to convince me to join the Military Club here at school. These days, the only way I would follow our Commander in Chief onto a battlefield would be, of course, if he wooed me with the promise of donuts and coffee. But I digress.
A small secret most of you don't know -- I was oh-so-close to signing away 4 yrs of my life to the Coast Guard Academy 16 yrs ago when SOMEONE convinced me otherwise. ;) This was after I was rejected by the Air Force ROTC at UConn for my bum knee and pre- my intense fear of flying. Despite my strong left-wing leanings, I do come from a military family, don't forget, and have deep respect for that commitment to service (no, I am not in favor of the war!). More so after seeing the excellent care my grandfather received at the VA hospital for 10 yrs.
Classes so far have been excellent -- we are learning about medical ethics, ethical reasoning, and professionalism. Tomorrow we begin to learn how to take patient histories and give physical exams (I have some very cool and expensive medical equipment I need to learn to use, so prepare to become a guinea pig if you should come for a visit). The hard science stuff begins this Friday -- we get our own cadavers and a "bone box" for gross anatomy. Enmeshed with that will be biochemistry, histology, microbiology and pathology. Cooooooool.....
Needless to say, there have been lots of student parties and trips to the beach this week before things get really crazy - being the old coot that I am, I have opted out of the partying, but plan to hit Malibu beach this weekend and attempt to surf... or enviously watch the surfers while making up valid excuses as to why I should NOT attempt it my first few weeks of school. I did spend 2 hours this afternoon with a personal trainer at the gym, and he kicked my gluteus maximus -- hard. He is a dead ringer for Leonardo DiCaprio. So, more often than not I wanted to smack him upside his Hollywood wannabe head. I seriously thought I was going to die -- but the school mandates we stay, or in my case GET, into good physical shape, pronto, so as to not be hypocrites after taking the Hippocratic oath. So I pressed on. (The school has a HEAVY military influence, which my father thinks is just what I need. Ahem. Apparently my emotional scarring from plaid Catholic school uniforms and ill-fitting saddle shoes didn't do enough damage.) Speaking of, next week I will be studying and possibly even working out with two of my new buds, an Air Force dude who claims to have jumped out of planes all over Europe, and a Navy seaman, who has been around the world on a ship twice and managed to not get a single tattoo. They are both amazing guys.
As such, I fully expect to drop dead from an MI after 15 minutes in the gym with them.
Hoo-rah!
Posted by LA at August 11, 2005 10:33 PM