After a summer off, the class is back together. It’s a bit strange. I was actually pretty excited about school starting up again. Reminded me a little of the elementary school excitement.

Orientation was interesting. They went over policy again (briefly). I think a lot of the orientation part could have been skipped. One professor decided to use the orientation to talk to us about what we should do the succeed. Another professor gave us a “Survival Guide” for his class and his staff compiled advice from the class above us about how they prepared for the shelf exams and Step 1.

Well my excitement was pretty high on Monday night (the night before the first day). Now, it’s gone down. Anxiety has gone up. They say the year will go by fast and soon I’ll be taking the Step 1 exam. That’s a bit scary. Nine months isn’t that long. I mean, a baby can be formed in that time. And in 10 months, my 3rd year should be starting (God-willing).

Today I had my first Microbiology lab. It was pretty simple and consisted of things I had previously done in undergrad. We streaked (bacteria on agar), and then stained bacteria. Nothing terribly complex. It just took a while to do. They had a video showing the whole process before we were allowed to begin.

As I’ve written before (at least I think I have), the curriculum is designed to accommodate non-science majors. So even the so-called “simple” stuff gets explained in detail. It’s helpful for those of us who weren’t Biology majors.

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On another note, be sure to check out The Differential where I, along with other med students, also blog once a week. A posting of mine, summarizing the lessons of year one, is currently on the front page. If it’s not there anymore, here’s the permalink: Lessons of Year One.

It’s different from what I post here. They get exclusivity. It’s filled with great info from people farther along in training than I am.