Med school has been pretty good so far. I really had no idea what to expect before I came, so I guess there isn't necessarily anything that failed to meet expectations. My place to stay in the campus apartments is definitely becoming homier, which is a definite plus, especially when I was a bit disappointed by the lack of carpet and small sized kitchen (I got spoiled at UCLA!).
We're currently studying the musculoskeletal system, which is quite more clinically applicable compared to the introductory/review block we had before this called "Genes to Cells". We've also started anatomy lab, dissecting the relevant sections of the body dealing with the musculoskeletal system. I actually feel a lot more disconnected from the whole experience of dissecting a human body than I expected. I mean, I wasn't expecting it to bother me, but still, it is a human body. I guess it's partly because I just see our bodies as temporary vessels. I am, though, very grateful to those who made the decision to donate their bodies to schools for medical education, especially after seeing how thoroughly they end up being dissected! Some friends and I actually discussed about whether or not these people would have still wanted to donate their bodies after seeing an actual cadaver dissection!
There's definitely been a great increase in material to study, especially with the start of anatomy and the many, many bones, muscles, etc. to memorize. It's given me a greater appreciation for a physician's ability to diagnose musculoskeletal problems though, such as pain when moving a specific finger or the inability to feel sensation in a limb. In some instances, maybe it is easy to treat it by just giving the patient some pain medications or something, but in other instances such as if the patient was shot or stabbed or fell in an irregular way, it's critical that the physician understands the anatomy of the limb in question so he can determine if specific nerves or vasculature are damaged. I'm just saying all this because some people seem to think that many physicians get to deal with simple problems with simple treatments without needing to think much but are still paid big bucks, but that's not always true!
Anyways, with the increase in volume, I'm needing to learn (quickly) how to wisely manage my studying schedule. I've never been one to actually plan out my study schedule, but maybe I'll need to start, because there's sometimes so much new material each day that I can't wisely allot time to all the things I need to study. It's also hard to study diligently sometimes, since a lot of the material sometimes still seems useless and not clinically relevant. However, knowing that my God is one who does work and has given us also such the ability to intellectually articulate our thoughts and do productive work, it is a wonder why I am not more excited to do so!
New York City and Brooklyn have been very enjoyable. I've been able to go out to Manhattan on a few occasions, usually after tests or on long weekends, usually to go try out supposedly good restaurants as determined by yelp! I promise to post more about the awesome food here once I get more chances to go out! I think I've been really adequately prepped to cope with being far away from home through my undergraduate experience in LA, so that is definitely a blessing, especially since it would have been a much harder thing to newly deal with now on top of all the academic work!
I've also been really enjoying the on campus Downstate Christian Fellowship (DCF). Although it's not connected to a parent church as was GOC was, it's still a place where I can fellowship with fellow brothers and sisters on campus who are going through similar struggles in the context of medical school! Fellowship is so important, and God has really blessed me with a campus fellowship full of believers who all openly express their desire to follow Christ.
All in all, I am learning how to be encouraging to my brothers and sisters even in contexts where we may differ in some of our beliefs. I'll expand on this in a future post, as I mainly just want to write about my general med school experience thus far.
A few prayer requests of mine would be that I diligently study but also diligently spend time in the word, that I have the faith and strength to introduce the gospel to my nonbelieving friends, and also that I will find a church that I may call my home church in NY soon! Thanks!
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