Looking Back and Looking Forward

Is reminiscing counter-productive?There will always be people in your life that you think about once and awhile because something you hear or learn something that reminds you of them. Lately I have realized that dwelling on the past and reminiscing can be counter-productive. My peers and I always discuss how being in medical school (and especially living on this island) is a surreal experience; you rarely think about the outside world because you insulate yourself into your 12 hour days and your intellectually-driven life.
Once you set foot into your new life--your life as a future doc--you step into a metaphorical bubble. You find yourself discussing gastrointestinal disorders (both personal and clinical), reproductive anomalies and other "taboo" topics at lunch or in passing. Nothing phases you. You find yourself eating dinner while intently studying pathological slides and detailed photos of dissected body parts. If you are lucky, you love it.
When I look back on my week, if I have time for that kind of reflection, I find that I really do love it. I love being "in the bubble". I live for discussing weird disorders as casually as people in the "real world" discuss the stock-market, TV shows or sports.
I guess you kinda have to in order to get through each day/week/semester.

However, I have been thinking about whether or not it is detrimental to let yourself become nostalgic about your former life. We spend so much time thinking about the present and about the future. For me the break down is about 60% present, 30% future and 10% past. Is this healthy?

I personally that find dwelling on past friendships, relationships, and memories puts a frown on my face rather than giving me the warm, fuzzies. I often wonder about what I am missing out on and what I will miss out on in the future, for the next 4-5 years. I also wonder about "what could have been", which is honestly the worst.

I wish I could analyze this topic further...but unfortunately I have to resume watching a lecture on...well I will spare you the details. *takes out dinner*

;)

So much Work! So little Time! a.k.a I want my Weekend Back!

How it that our weekends are consumed so quickly by the amount of work we have? I don't have new material, just need to study and review and 2 days is definately NOT enough to do that and still stay sane with the occasional study break.

How are we expected to Not burn out when we don't have Time to do the things that keep us from burning out?!

Ack! Med school is ridiculous. I just hope I make it through the next year alive. Sanity is already compromised at this point so I have given up on that.

I want my weekend back!

Save me!

Rainy Days

We are in the throws of rainy season here on the island of Dominica. Not only has the weather changed but the generally feel of things have shifted somehow. The clouds and periodic down pour have eliminated the need for sun block (although sunglasses are still need to combat the intense UV rays). I'm conflicted about the weather change.
Rainy weather on the island means several things...

1. I now have to brush/rinse my mouth with filtered, bottled water from the Ross water fountains... in the beginning of the season I had some G.I. issues which I attribute to rinsing my mouth with tap water. (In the dry-er season this is okay I guess because I have never found this correlation to be true.)

2. Dressing up in my "doctor clothes"--skirt/suit, White coat and heels--presents a problem for climbing up the steep, gravel hill that I live at the bottom of in the mornings. Rain + mud + gravel=disaster. So far *knock on wood* I have not fallen but there have been clothes calls in proper shoes.

3. Cooler days...makes swimming in the ocean, walking to campus so much nicer. Of course the increased humidity does make you sweat more. But at this point we have all given up the idea of being dry and perspiration-free here. The idea is a joke.

4. Power outages--luckily the generator in my building has proven sufficient so far, but no real storm has hit yet either. My first semester here was filled with constant outages, damaged electrical wires and a broken generator. Oh yes and no Internet. I'm glad I live in a different apartment complex to say the least.

To review, this is the order of disciplines that we have covered so far in 2nd semester:
1. Neuroscience
2. Endocrine
3. Gastrointestinal Physiology/Histology
Next is Reproductive Phys/Anat/etc. I can't believe we are already "done" with G.I. It went by so fast! It has only been 2 weeks since my 1st Mini exam and those week have been hellish. I have had two patient interviews, a visit to the homeless shelter in Roseau to conduct interviews not to mention the hours upon hours of back to back histology/physiology tag-team lectures, PBL and of cours anatomy lab dissections.

On the up side I am almost completely comfortable in my professional clothes and somewhat comfortable with wearing my White Coat--stuffed with exam equipment.

Two more semesters left then I get to feel somewhat like a real Doctor-in-training and am granted the Go card back to the States. Oh the States, the land of queso, tacos, Fresh Milk, good coffee...oh yes and family and friends.

On another note I think I may be going insane. I also have taken to increasing the "zoom" on my web browser to 140%...I think med school may be taking a toll on my eyes.

More to come soon!