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| Ellison Park, Rochester NY |
Is he traveling again?
No, I’m not, such a surprise. In fact, this is the
longest I’ve been in one place for years, so I really have no right to even put
this in a travel blog, but I thought that it was as good a medium as any to
talk about school and to resurface after the past few months which have been
very intense studying. So, here begins the med school chronicle, which if I manage to keep up will recount the next grand phase of the adventure.
To recap a bit of my life from summer, I was doing research
in Haifa and finally returned to the US at the beginning of August to begin my
four years of school. I flew back on August 1 and spent a week in Washington DC
before driving up to Rochester. It was pretty fast-paced actually, I arrived
and had a ton of chores and orientation stuff to do, in addition to moving in
and taking all of my old Rochester things out of Catherine’s basement where
they’d been for the past year and a half. The whole first week of medical
school was just orientation, a mix of get-to-know-you games, information
sessions on the coursework and what felt like every little activity the medical
center offered, and then some discussion groups to talk about medical ethics,
all of which together essentially functioned to get us used to the schedule and to each other.
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| Letchworth State Park, NY |
The semesters here are unusual in that they’re comprised
of block classes, so generally one or two classes at the same time which go on
for several months, and then are replaced. Each class is broken into conceptual
blocks (for example, a block for each body system in anatomy and physiology)
which are then tested. It will essentially go on for two years in the
classroom, with the first year generally being the basic “normal” body states,
and the second year being pathology or diseases that we would see as doctors.
Then, for years three and four, we rotate through all major specialties in a
bunch of hospitals, and choose several optional specialties or subspecialties
as elective classes. At the end of the four years, you match to a residency
program, graduate with your MD, and begin actually working as doctor.
I won’t go into incredible depth on this first class of
school, which began in mid-August and ended yesterday afternoon. Honestly,
there’s too much to say and unpacking the intensity of the experience will take
time. I learned more than I ever thought was possible in a shorter amount of
time than I could have imagined, and despite the stress and burdens and workload,
I managed to enjoy it and more importantly to come out of it unscathed. I
frequently complained last year that I didn’t feel like I was using my brain
enough, just running around and seeing beautiful places. Well, I’ll suffice the
last months by saying, I feel like I made use of my brain.
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| Wickham Farms, Penfield NY |
I managed to keep
up several interests outside of class, which required serious time management
for what felt like the first time in my life. I prioritized cooking and
climbing above all others. For cooking I generally made meals every other night
and managed to actually grow a lot in that regard, I’ve never actually cooked
with such frequency before and I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve taken a lot of
advice from my housemates and have overall been really pleased, and not totally
tired of the food I make which I think is an achievement after several months.
I haven’t really had time to explore restaurants in Rochester (which is probably
good for my wallet, anyway), so it’s more been exploring the aisles at Wegman’s
for all the glamour that brings. As far as climbing, I’ve consistently gone 2-3
times per week which has been wonderful, and while I don’t feel like I’m making
gains quite as quickly as I did in France, I definitely have accomplished
things and enjoyed being back at the Red Barn which I realize I’d sorely
missed. With all of the time constraints that I’ve had this semester, I’ve
pushed the social hour into the athletics hour so I’ve really hung out with
people mostly through climbing or running, which has actually worked out
surprisingly well.
The biggest hits have been to exploring – unfortunately I’ve
barely been able to even leave Rochester, the way the first semester was
designed we never really had enough time for free weekends. Nevertheless, I was
happy to have done some Rochester things that I’d always wanted to – I finally
hiked a bit in Letchworth and in Ellison Park with some lovely other students,
and I went apple-picking in October with other classmates and their SOs which was
pleasant. And now that the semester has let up a little bit with the end of our
first class, I’m hoping to go to Toronto in a couple of weeks, and New Orleans
several weeks after. I can definitely be trusted to take every opportunity to adventure,
even if those opportunities are a little less frequent this year. But most important is that I'm loving what I'm doing, and despite the intensity and exertion of mind I wake up every morning to a subject I love, classes that captivate me, and experiences that push me farther than I would have thought possible.
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| Red Barn, Rochester NY |
Rochester NY, USA
26 November 2019
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