Spring Semester

I begin Spring Semester in exactly 1 week. So, here is a little peak at what my coursework is going to be for the next 5 months:

1) Medical Neuroscience (4 credits)

2) Microbiology/Immunology (5 credits)

3) Clinical Skills (2 credits)

4) Cell Biology/Physiology II (4 credits)

5) Epidemiology/Biostatistics (1 credit)

6) Pathology (2 credits)

7) Integrative Clinical Correlations (1 credit)

8) Mentor Program (1 credit)

9) Longitudinal Patient Experience 

What I am most excited for:  

-Clinical Skills: This semester we get to lean how to use all of our "doctoring" equipment. We will learn how to do physical exams and integrate what we know about doing patient interviewing with these new skills. So, this is obviously an exciting part of our curriculum this semester!

-Neuroscience Lab: I love the brain. It is definitely the most fascinating organ, so I am nerd-ily excited for this lab component on this course. 

-Longitudinal Patient Experience: We are all paired up and assigned a family that we will work with in depth. We will learn a lot about what these patients experience daily with their chronic conditions and begin to understand what it really means to be a patient. I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure its true of most people in medical school, that one of the most appealing parts of our future job is the interaction with people. So, I am excited to get started with this. 

-No more Anatomy: Don't get me wrong, I do love the body and think Anatomy is an absolutely crucial element of my first year medical education, but I am so so so happy to not have the stresses of this class this next semester. Anatomy was by far the hardest course I have taken, because of the sheer magnitude of material there is to know. So, I can say that I am happy that I have completed this class. 

What I am most nervous for: 

-Microbiology/Immunology: Based off of the units alone and the fact that I have never taken micro, immuno, or bacteriology... I feel utterly unprepared or this class. Oh well, I am sure it will be fine! 

-Epidemiology/Biostatistics: At first look, this 1 unit class looks kind of like a joke. However, every second and third year has given lots of warning about this class. We even had a mandatory class meeting where second year students came to talk to us about how hard this class is and how many people fail each year. I also have recently learned that the class is out of 45 points...total. That means, you can only miss 11 points in the entire class to pass. So, yes...I am shaking in my boots. 

Well, thats a little look at what I will be doing... I have loved loved loved break, but I am getting ready to start up on school again! I am excited to go back to Michigan and get started on cramming my head with lots of more knowledge!