Orientation, Day 1

What a long day! The morning began with a standing/socializing breakfast at 8am, and the official orientation events began at 9:30. The Dean gave the first speech, welcoming us to medical school, telling us that he hopes we love UCSF, and asking us to challenge ourselves outside the classroom (in our communities, globally, etc.). It was a very warm welcome.

Next we had a series of talks from the rest of the "Dean Team" -- they also welcomed us to school, told us about a lot of resources, and told us statistics about our class. (Want to hear some of them? Well, the average age is 24, and 70% of us have taken time to do other things since college. Seems like I'm floating somewhere in the middle!) The talk about international medicine and travel was exciting, as was the discussion of the electives available for us to take.

They spent a lot of time this morning talking about professionalism and what that means for physicians. It brought me back to my freshman year course in Medical Sociology at Yale when we watched all sorts of television shows and movies that showed the doctor-patient relationship and had to write a paper about what it means to be "professional."

Next we had a meeting about financial aid and budgeting through medical school. Turns out that if you buy a $3 latte on loan money today, you will actually be purchasing that latte for about $5. Weird. Moral of the story: education is expensive. So are espresso-based drinks.

How about some fine details? The vegetarian lunch option was an avocado-swiss-tomato-sprout sandwich with the condiments on the side (how thoughtful -- I didn't have to scrape off the mayo!), a side of an orzo salad, tomato-basil potato chips, a freshly baked cookie, and an Andes chocolate mint. Did you really want all those details?! The lunch was great and the weather was perfect. My whole class ate in the courtyard, and we even had some entertainment. A shirtless man sprinted across the courtyard, chased by a man in slacks and a button-down, and soon after a policeman wearing blue latex gloves came sprinting after. I'm not sure what that was all about, but it was bizarre and somewhat entertaining.

Next came the "Introduction to Academics." I have to be honest -- at that point in the day, with lunch settling in my stomach, it was hard to concentrate. I counted at least three people who were completely asleep during the entire presentation. After this talk, I got my photo-ID badge picture taken. Thankfully, I took a halfway decent picture. I have to wear the badge in plain view for the next four years and I was worried I'd have the typical terrible ID photo. They took the pictures against a blue background instead of a white background, which definitely is more flattering, but I still look incredibly pale.

Oh! I forgot to mention the white coats....

We received our white coats today. Shhhhhh...yes, there is a ceremony on Friday when we "officially" get them, but they had to make sure they fit us. It was sort of frustrating. I had been warned by a third-year student that the women's coats are made of a much flimsier and less professional-looking material than the men's coats, but I was still surprised by the difference. The men's coats are definitely nicer, but they don't fit me very well. I exchanged my flimsy women's coat for a men's coat, but the coat kind of looks like it's trying to swallow me. Maybe after a wash in hot water it will fit a little better.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out registration information and paying fees. We had an hour and a half session from the information technology office telling us about all of the things that are available to us online. It was overwhelming -- SO much of our curriculum is online, and we have amazing resources to draw from.

Lastly, we headed to the Medical Alumni Association BBQ, where they fed us, gave us UCSF sweatshirts, and raffled off 12 bottles of champagne. Festive, fun, and very kind of the alumni.

All in all, a good and long day. Things are kicking into gear now. Tomorrow we have our introduction to gross anatomy -- good thing I'm reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. It's a good read if you are interested in reading about cadavers....

read me!

by the way, At Dusk's new album, Heights, got a kick-ass review that you can read at:

Heights

the other blog...

as unoriginal as it is, my medical school blog is located at mdmd2008.blogspot.com

i hope you'll visit it:)

one of the dudes who lives next door already thinks he's close enough to me to refer to me as "mer." weird.

it's hot here.

there is also a yappy dog who has been yapping a lot today. maybe he's hot.

early Saturday morning

I'm getting ready to hop in my car and head to a supermarket parking lot to meet and spend the weekend with a bunch of my new classmates. We are going on an overnight camping trip, and we completely lucked out with the weather -- it is supposed to be a gorgeous, warm weekend here in the Bay Area. I'm excited about this weekend, but definitely a little nervous. This is the first official event for me as a medical student -- exciting, and a little scary.

The news is on the the background right now, and I'm horrified to hear more and more about the hostage disaster in Russia. It's a really hard situation to understand.

Anyway, I'm about to grab breakfast and head off. I'm hoping (hopping?) to start my new med school blog soon, so hold on to your seats. I know you are very excited.

:)

the day at the dealership

this morning, caroline found out that her beloved first car, now almost ten years old, needed repairs costing a lot more than the value of her car. time to say goodbye to Little Nee and get a new car. our journey brought us to a ford dealership, where the people who were selling caroline her new car (!!!) probably shared about 6 brain cells. it was a long afternoon sitting at a table in the middle of the showroom with a salesman who tried to take advantage of us, but we totally didn't let him. it was nice to be able to have a friend go online while we were in the dealership and make sure the deal on the table was a good one (it was not), and help us leave the dealership with a MUCH better deal than they wanted to give us. ah, the information age.

it was appropriate that i was car shopping today because last night i read about how cadavers are used in crash tests. it freaked me out a little, and probably contributed to my restlessness. it's hard to settle into the idea of a cadaver of an 80 year old man dressed in a blue leotard sitting in a car that is crashed into a wall. weird, right?

caroline ended up getting a navy blue Ford Escape, which did well in crash and rollover tests. thank you to all the people who donated their bodies to science so we can be a little safer on the road. wow, that sounded a little lame, but i mean it.

still no other ideas for my med school blog name? bernie is really the only one out there offering a suggestion? come on guys! or maybe no one is reading this, and it's just little old me writing into the great abyss...

off to sleep, hopefully...

sleepless

it's about 4:30am right now and i can't sleep. very frustrating, but at least Ferris Bueller is on tv for the millionth time. being asleep right now would be a lot better than being awake, but i feel like it's a little out of my hands right now...maybe it's my new mattress, which i've been debating about since it was delivered last friday...now, i am determined to exchange it for a different one -- one that doesn't feel like i'm trying to get rest on a two by four.

my new computer finally arrived!! i'm using it right now. i like it a whole lot more than cary liked his apple when he first got it, though there were some frustrating moments when i was setting up the airport express base station. for some reason, the 50th time i tried the same thing, it just started to work. go figure.

i'm getting more used to my new apartment. i have a few bruises on my legs from bumping into random things, but i'm getting the hang of it here. my new couch (!) comes on thursday, which i'm very excited about. what i'm getting more and more nervous about is starting school soon. i can't believe that it's now wednesday, and on saturday i have my first orientation event (an overnight camping trip with 100 of my new classmates). exciting, and kinda scary. one day soon i'll actually be using that reflex hammer on someone other than myself (maybe the bruises i have on my knees are from testing my own reflexes), and i'll finally see what it looks like up someone's nose.

do you think that i can't sleep because i'm reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers before bed? Cary told me last night that cadavers are totally unscary, and that zombies are the things to be afraid of.

any more ideas out there for naming the med school blog?

here in San Francisco...

I ordered my new computer (!) almost three weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. I haven't had the patience to blog on my dial-up connection, but I was advised last night to stop being so lazy and post something already. So here I am...

In case you didn't know, I am now in San Francisco, where I will be for the next four years. Here are some weird things about my new apartment:

-There are mirrors everywhere. It's kind of uncomfortable to think about what the previous people who lived here did. I have already put up a curtain over the mirror that spans the entire 13-foot wall.

-There is a window in my shower that you can pretty much see through. People walking by my apartment can actually see the outline of the person showering (namely, me). Cary suggested last night that i put up a little shower curtain in front of the mirror, which I am going to try to get done today.

-Did I mention the mirrors?

-In the coat closet, the bar to hang clothes on is really close to the sliding door. What I mean by that is when I hang anything in the closet, I can't close the closet doors. Who designs a closet like that?

I'm sure that more weird things about my apartment will emerge as I live here longer. For now, I'll enjoy the view (on non-foggy days) of the GG Bridge:)

It's really hard to believe that school is going to start soon. It feels very unreal right now, but the butterflies in my stomach definitely feel real...

speedbump

Greetings from Portland! It's great to be back, but odd to be here without the guys. Man, it's beautiful here in the summer. The weather is perfect and all the colors are so bright. :)

Ethan and Sonya picked me up at the airport late last night. It was really wonderful to see them, even though I was somewhat delirious from the day of traveling. I've traveled a LOT this summer. From Portland to LA, LA to Denver (to Monument, CO), to Neward, to Oslo, all over Norway (including Alesund, Lom, Spiterstulen, and Voss, to name a few places), back to Newark, to Denver, to Monument, to San Francisco, to Connecticut, to New York, back to Connecticut, and now to Portland, and then in a couple of days to LA. Phew. I'm tired just writing all of that. It's been a fabulous summer, despite the rain that follows me EVERYWHERE (though not yet here in Portland). I got my pictures developed from Norway today and they really made me smile. I can't wait to see the photos that Timo took...

So, for all 6 or so of you who actually read this, I have a question: I'm going to keep a blog through medical school, and I want to name it well. Melvin Konnor already took the clever "Becoming a Doctor" title, so I'm forced to think of something else. Any ideas? Please?!

Chris -- can't wait to see you!

the olympics are neato

i was pleased to see a comment from Amy on my last entry. hi Amy! before you posted that, i was convinced that no one besides Cary, Greg, and Will ever looked at this!

this weekend was good, though it was sad to have those three guys gone...i was getting used to having them around. we ate some good food (yummy Sally's pizza, sandwiches from Booktrader, and delicious Italian at Pasta Cosi), kayaked on the Sound, watched movies, and slept to the sound of the ocean...not bad at all.

on saturday morning I went with David (my stepdad, for those of you who don't know) to buy my first set of medical insturments. i now have the tools to take your blood pressure, listen to your heart, look at the wax in your ears, shine a bright light in your eyes, bang your knees with a hammer, and stick a tuning fork near your ear. maybe one day i'll actually be able to use these tools instead of just thinking they are neat! going to the store to buy these insturments really made me feel closer to starting medical school. i'm so excited to take this next step, but the excitement is tempered by some nerves and some sadness about being away from the great life i had and shared with many of you in Portland. that's not to say anything bad about my amazing friends in the Bay Area -- i can't believe it's already time to come back to the bay, and i am really looking forward to the time we will have together.

if any of you have a diary from when you were 7 or 8, or even from when you were 9, 10, 11, or 12, i suggest you open it up and reread them. you might find your self laughing to tears, running to your parents to share something with them, or just reading the whole thing out loud to friends who can't stop laughing.

oh yeah -- the olympics are neato.