My First Week in Medical School
Hi there,
How was your week? I hope it was productive and you had enjoyed yours. Lots happened in mine.
It was WEEK 1 of medical school of me. The sheer excitement of the first day of classes, to learning how to endure those long 3 hour lecture classes, the challenges of online learning (YES, Internet connectivity and the strength of the school platform... I am LOOKING at you) and how to adjust and adapt to a good habit of "back-to-studying'. These were all the things that i had to deal with in just the first week.
Let me break it down to you how my week was, in firstly, a screenshot of my planner:
Attached link to checkout the other free planner pads I make below↓↓↓
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TlKNshTfW0xgys_1XxR6PfzKMrh75U4q?usp=sharing
Here is a day by day recollection of Week 1 classes:
Monday:
I would like to consider myself an early riser. I wake up 3 hours before my classes start on the weekdays. It could be the jitters and the sheer excitement this time, but i was up at 7am instead.
Off I go, getting a quick workout in, walk my dog and then grab coffee to go before heading home for a shower. I then chow down my breakfast and these were all done by 9am. Looking at my watch and upon realizing I had heaps of time left, I decided to do a quick preview of my lecture notes for the day, which was Chinese.
After what seemingly seems like an hour had passed, I glanced at my watch again and it was only 30 minutes that had passed. With 1.5 hours left before class, I decided to pace around my room for a bit, chuck in my bluetooth headphones and had music blaring in my ears.
11.50am:
It is the start of Chinese Classes! Off we go with a quick intro from our lecturer. However, there were significant hiccups as a number of students were sounding off in the discussion chat that they were:
1. Unable to see the lecturer
2. Unable to see the slides/ board
3. Had audio issues
4. Connectivity issues
5. Inability to enter the school platform
These were an issue, and I would say would be a significant issue and con for Online-Remote learning. (And probably will be so for the remainder of term...) Mind you, we spent and hour getting everyone settled in, ensuring that the classes can carry on for the remaining two hours with as little issues as possible. Overall the lesson itself was great, my teacher was very patient and taught us in the manner where it was easy to follow, whilst trying her best to engage with everyone with their questions on the discussion board whilst teaching. It must have been truly hectic to be in her shoes, to be able to multi-task, cope and satisfy everyone. After the lesson, I am now able to read, write ( 一， 五， 你， 好，and 八). As for pronunciation... that would be another issue to be fixed upon.
Tuesday:
This was by far the longest day of the week and it will likely be so for our 16 week learning program for this semester. It was Physics and then Chinese. Mind you, I haven't done Physics for a very long time. Its likely I will be pulling out the remnants of information I had of that from the very depths, deep end of my one single brain cell that had still hold on to that sheer information.
Physics.
*sigh* *confused face* *laughs in pain* *sigh* *shakes head in confusion*
What can I say about it. The lecturer, he is a smart guy. You can definitely tell he is actually super interested in his course, given that he must have so much to say about it. However, personally, I felt he wasn't able to deliver the message, concepts and key points of the lecture itself. To say that he rambled a little too much, is a little short of an understatement. He is however the biggest softie, so even despite I will be getting peanuts out of the lecture itself, I do thanked him for putting his slides up for me to pin-point the big concepts and where I can seek help from good ol' KHAN ACADEMY.
Chinese.
After Physics class, my brain was so muddled. I did feel a little frustrated and annoyed at how it was delivered. Having had a good conversation with Yoong (Hey, fellow Aussie-r 😉) from two nights ago about meditation, I knew i had to meditate before Chinese class. This ensures i go into the next class with a clear mindset, and to drop the previous 'challenging' session in the back of my mind. And yes, it worked. I did not let that one bad session linger on me. Did i say how much i love our Chinese teacher? She was super thorough and we learnt a few more new words, and we even added pronunciations in as well.
Wednesday
Maths day. The topic i dread, equally on par with the dread level for Physics actually.
Why so? Let's be real here, I am absolutely SHIT with numbers. I am so bad at it and I have a constant PTSD from my dad yelling at me at the dining table when he taught me back in primary --> Highschool. If you're Asian, you know what PTSD i am talking about.
How did this class go though? I thought it went pretty well. Despite the hour hiccup of trying to get the lecturer accustomed to screen-sharing on his iPad with us as he does the formula and steps, his class was productive and efficient. The con's tho was he posed that there are 'bonus marks' that can be earned in the class and on online. The trick was to answer the questions he puts the fastest, and the correct answers are only considered. And to top it off, the TWO fastest that sends in the answers gets the bonus points.
It turned into a competition. And sure as hell... this wasn't good for my anxiety and my HR. As soon as he started doing that, my HR was a good 100bpm, and my hands were shaking from all the adrenaline. My competitive Asian self; which almost seemed like i was genetically processed, had to join in on this competition too. 😂
Next class, i am pulling out any form of this competition online. The Bonus Points can canned it.
Thursday
It's Biology day!
The one topic i knew from the back of my hand pretty well. I still attended the lecture, but was paying about 75% in class. Not to be cocky or anything like that, but it is because it was just an introduction of what will be covered for the remainder of the term.
Outcome concepts from that lecture were just :
- Difference of DNA and Genes (and their compositions)
- Define the Biology
- Eukaryote vs Prokaryote (No its not just one is big and one is small...)
- Origin of DNA
- Importance of Cell Division
- Feedback Mechanisms (-) vs (+)
- Definition of Inductive, Deductive, Reductionism and Adaptation
Overall, a 3/5 stars lecture. Only cause he read of the slides to deliver the lecture.
Friday
Yes! Final day of the week! And to end it well, it is of course Chinese class!
Today's class was interesting and certainly made me what to RIP my existence. The lecturer told us to EACH record our voices for a pronunciation task and she played it on live stream. Yes, this means EVERYONE can hear how crappy I sound. Confidence and Self-Assurance just took a massive dip. But in all good fun, I didn't do too bad, as I thought I would have. Again shout out to Yoong💗, for helping me with that (oa sounds and how to pronounce 女).
To end my day of on Friday, I watched "The spy who dumped me" and my did I had a good laugh at that.
I think my week went by too quick, but you know what i will be doing over the weekend?
Khan Academy.
Khan Academy is the new netflix binge. Everyone' should get on it and put it as top 10 in their regions.
Don't forget to have fun too!
I am sipping coffee, and plan to put my penny board to use on this fine weather. :)
What are you doing this weekend??? Hope you manage it with equal parts of fun and productivity.
Comments
Post a Comment