My Brain is Tired

Somehow today seemed like a very long day, and I think a big part of that is because it was just so full. It's amazing how packed the days are when you're in medical school. I'm guessing that this is the case at every medical school, though, not just here.

I started my day by wrestling with the printers at school so that I could print out my assignments for tomorrow. We're doing a biostatistics seminar, and we were assigned two articles to read. One has a bunch of questions with it, and I don't even understand all of the questions let alone know how to answer them. I just finished reading the two articles, and I get the impression that one is supposed to be a "good" example in terms of the statistics, and the other is supposed to be "bad." I even have an idea of which is which. But best of all, I think that this is the soonest that I've ever been done with any day's assigned reading. I might even be ambitious enough to start working on Wednesday's reading after I finish posting this while I'm on such a roll.

We had another PSS today, and this time we tried working as one big group. There are definitely pros and cons to each method. It's good on one hand to be present for the entire conversation instead of only half of it like when we divide into subgroups. But on the other hand, I definitely feel that I learned a very little about everything instead of a lot about the things that I worked on, and the reverse was true for the smaller groups. The rest of the group seems pretty divided between liking splitting up and liking working as one big group. We decided to continue trying to work as a big group, but we are going to spend more time discussing the big picture and how the questions for that day match the objectives we have for that day. Learning this way is harder than learning from a lecture, but it's a lot more gratifying, too. As hard as it is, I'm still glad that I came here, and I feel like the struggle is going to be worth it in the long run.

In the lab this afternoon, I did some more reading and some studying. So far, I still haven't really done any lab work, but it looks like I'll be getting to start by next week for sure. There is a grad student who I'm supposed to start working with next week. That's about it for today, except that I am also getting my Case white coat embroidered. It was only $10, and it's a fundraiser for the Case AMSA (American Medical Student Association). I am not sure that I'll ever wear my Case coat (I don't know how common it is for CCLCM students rotate through the University Hospital), but all the UP students were doing it, so I figured that I would too.

Speaking of CCLCM students rotating, today was the first day of rotations for the M3s here. They were all at school bright and early, dressed up and ready to go. I was talking to a few of them, and they were excited and nervous at the same time because they weren't sure what to expect. I was trying to imagine myself in their place two years from now with my beeper and my white coat and stethoscope and everything else, and it still feels like that day is far off and not something that really applies to me. I guess it will come though soon enough!