My classes

This week we have our second exam. I never thought I would have so many details of Molecular and Cellular Mechanics smashed into my brain at once. We are taking EVERYTHING I learned in my undergrad and organizing it into concepts instead of having a string of facts that are not connected. In my mind it is a much better way to learn and to deal with data.

The other 2 classes I have, Principles in Clinical Medicine and Osteopathic Principles are my sanctuary from the massive amounts of biological data. In PCM we are learning how to take comprehensive histories on patients, it is a lot of great information. Much of it is something I would like to teach the EMTs on my department, because I know the way we were taught to take a history in EMT school was kind of disjointed. Our OPP has been a lesson in learning how to use our hands. I feel that am lucky to have been working with my hands for most of my life, finding some sort of dysfunction in muscle is very similar to determining if your cantaloupe is ripe or adjusting the pressure in a hose when you don't have any gauges.

Now it is going.

It appears that it's possible to find a rhythm in medical school. I wake up early (or rather the cat wakes me up early), have some tea and breakfast. Then I head to school, stay there for the majority of the day and then I come home. At this point I try to work out, but the recent weather patterns of large thunderstorms in the afternoon have been thwarting my efforts. The evening consists of dinner, studying, and maybe a movie. We have a quiz this week and an exam the next week, it seems we are settling into a schedule of testing.
I am finding there is not a whole lot going on in Parker. They have a small farmer's market on Sundays and there are some good restaurants around. It seems that many of the second year students moved up north where there was more going on, but they generally have the whole routine down better than me.
The flat tires on my bike finally got fixed and I have been riding my bike to and from school which is a great way to wake up, but not so great when you have a lot of stuff. On Tuesday we were given a box of flash cards and a Kaplan USMLE review book, which is much appreciated, but I ended up having to use a carabiner to hold my backpack shut. I felt ridiculous riding my mountain bike along E-470 with a loaded backpack in a skirt, such is life.

Week One...done!

Now I sit in the library on a Friday afternoon, planning my studies for the evening. I have survived the first week of medical school and even had fun. I think the administrators scheduled it so that the first week was not too overwhelming, we had 3-4 hours of lecture each morning followed by labs or more lecture in the afternoon. One mode of study that seems to be working out well for me are when they schedule in time for what are called DSA (designated student assignments), which are hours blocked off on the schedule where we have specific reading assignments. By far my favorite part so far is that each lecture or DSA comes with objectives so it is easier to understand what needs to be gleaned from a 40 page reading assignment, which is easy for me because my books all arrived at my apartment this morning (or so amazon.com says). So reading up to this point hasn't been a possibility.
We are on a block schedule where we will go through one major system at a time, this was a huge relief to the gal from the quarter system. I wasn't terribly excited about having to remember 18 weeks of information from 6 classes for a final exam. We have other classes that run through the semester called Principles of Clinical Medicine and Osteopathic Principles, both of these involve lectures and labs. It should be exciting!
Outside of school I am slowly exploring the Town of Parker, it is still pretty slow because I rode my bike through a bramble patch and currently have 2 flat tires on my bike. The tubes to replace them sit at my apartment, but I have been too focused on studying for my first quiz to do so. Parker is an old town, incorporated in the late 1800's (I am not sure of the exact date). There are 2 distinct areas, one is the old town district with nice brick buildings, parks and sidewalks. The other area is where the big-box stores reside. You can get anything you could possibly want, there is a Target next to a Wal-Mart next to a Lowes next to a Home Depot with other smaller chain stores interspersed around the parking lots.
There is a nice bike path that runs south from my apartment and as far as I can tell I may be able to make it almost to Castlewood Canyon State Park. On Monday, I attempted to go North because I found a sign that said Cherry Creek State Park was only 5 miles up the path, unfortunately the path ends abruptly into a drainage where I found myself wondering why there were no warning signs. I am sure I can make it to Cherry Creek, but it may be more complex, I will investigate!