The new kid

Yep, that's me again. The new kid. Well, sort of. I'm the new kid along with 203 other incoming M1 students at Medical College of Wisconsin. M-1 is the equivalent of a medical school freshman, in case you were wondering. It's a funny feeling after being away from the academic world for the last 2 years. The different part here is that life is not like it was for any other schooling up until now.

Up until now, every class I've been in has been populated primarily with people more like me. We've all lived closer together (except college maybe), we were all closer in age and generally closer in background. Here we all have some things in common. We all want to be doctors, we all went to college (at least I think so), we all eat and breathe and sleep and study... A LOT. And we're all bored with orientation and ready to hit the books, sort of, I guess. Regardless of what we have in common it all feels a bit different than anything before this. Which is probably a good thing. I mean, no one wants medical school to feel like kindergarten, right? Just imagine what our health care system would look like then. Oof.

Even though it's orientation, we still get a bit of a feel for what it will be like time wise. It's going to be really hard to do a lot more than go to school, eat and sleep, but it's definitely doable. The prospect of minimal free time makes me value my summer that much more. It was awesome. I'm going to miss riding my bike 8+ hours a week.

However, in an effort to stay sane and not squishy I have resolved to take steps to be involved in "non-studious" activities and "good lifekeeping" habits.

1. Eat good food and at home whenever possible. (note: good food)

2. Play.

3. Get involved with classmates outside of the classroom. Because if I don't, my only social interactions will sound something like this...

- What did you think of that last test?

~ It was hard.

- Yeah, I thought so too

~ Do you remember the answer to that one question about that stuff?

- Maybe. Do you mean the one about the thingy that does whatever.

~ Yeah

- Yeah, that was hard

~ Yeah, really hard....

...ad infinitum

Hopefully our conversations will be a little more intelligent than that, given that we are going to be doctors and all, but after our brains have been pulverized it may take a little recovery time.

I figure if I eat well, play anything I can whenever I get the chance and interact with people outside of the classroom, I won't turn into a blob that's just full of smart stuff and maybe it will feel at least a little like a normal life.

A little.

Maybe?

maybe not.

I can pretend, right? :)