The First Week is Over...I Survived

It is Monday evening and I literally just woke up from a much needed power nap before I start reviewing today's lecture material, which is on neural tissues and reading histological slides (yay). I have now realized what studying in med school is really like and I could not be more thankful for the program that I am in. I have now realized that my study habits that I have so precisely mastered in my undergraduate degree, does not necessarily transfer over as easily at this level. This is what my typical day looked like last week:

Wake-up: 6:00am
Lecture: 7:30-11:30am
Lunch: 11:30-12:00pm
Academic Success lecture: 12:00-1:00pm
Usually anatomy lecture/Meeting/Reviewing questions: 2:00-3:00pm
Study: 4:00pm-9:00pm
Sleep: 10pm-6:00am

After leaving campus, I take about an hour off and study from 4:00pm-9:00pm reviewing important concepts that I learned that day, and re-writing a bulk of my notes and highlighting terms I am not familiar with. I have realized this past week that it is WAY too time consuming. I did well on my quiz today (we have an individual and group quizzes every Monday, and today we had another anatomy lecture after an intellectually stimulating morning, it was an extremely long and exhausting day..but it is definitely practice for the island in May), but I felt that I "over-studied" if that makes any sense. I learned almost too much of everything, and not each subject really well. I literally memorized entire chapters, where I needed to know only the pathway. This week I have made the decision to re-read and review the textbooks while highlighting important terms, and only then will I write out pathways and diagrams on my white-board. This will save me time and will help me memorize the material in a more "active" studying type way. I will see how it goes!

I am slowly realizing the fact that I am in this for the long haul...four more years and potentially four more years on top of that of residency for my future Physiatry program. The weird part is...I am actually excited about it. We are such complex human beings and learning about how our bodies fight off pathogens without the use of vaccines is absolutely amazing or more specifically how B cell and T cells undergo somatic recombination to create specific antibody receptors for certain antigens in our body..all without us knowing. This process is happening all the time. I also love collaborating in groups, and trying to come up with the "best" answer in a clinical scenario, and helping others succeed and understand complex material along the way.

I am definitely tired, but I think that was my own fault of my time-management this past week. I am not used to having all this free time in the late afternoon/evenings so I filled it with studying instead. I also want to point out that yes, it is definitely a lot busier than undergrad, but for future MERP students out there it is definitely doable. I know I am only one quiz in, but if you study properly and set aside some time for yourself each week, you will do fine. You can do anything you put your mind to, and I honestly believe that we are always learning, so why not challenge that learning?

Off to make some dinner! Steve and I are having chicken (for Steve), Veggie patty (for me), and big bowl of ceasar salad (for both...no bacon bits though :)). Yum.

Keep me in your thoughts this week and know that even though I don't have time to post every week, I am thinking about it 24/7!

Bye for now,

E xo

I just love this. It was too funny not to post.

Working out: my outlet.

G-Protein Coupled Receptor! Have not taken pharmacology, but taught it to myself :)

I love my agenda

Arrowtown! Because I am missing NZ way too much.

Lake Mistletoe! How fitting for this time of year :)

The Time Has Come

Hello my fellow readers, the time has officially come for me to start school this week! I have check-in this Thursday, in which I get my laptop configured to the system and meet my classmates, and Friday I get my picture taken for my student card and get access codes, a key fob, etc. I have come to realize that I may not be able to blog once a week like I had hoped. The reason for this is that current and past students are saying a day in the life of a MERP students looks like this:

8:00am-12:00pm: Lectures (Two 2-hour class lectures, one from 8-10, another from 10-12)
12:00-2:00pm: Lunch Break/Study Time
2:00-3:00pm: Academic Success Meeting OR Anatomy Lab

I am pretty much gone all day, and after I get back home, workout for an hour, eat dinner, and look over my lecture notes from that morning, it is already 10:00pm and I need to go to bed to get up and do it all over again. Yay. I know my scheduling is highly determined by time management skills, and thankfully, that is the one thing I know for sure I can do properly. From organizing my life in undergrad to the point where I would actually schedule "sleep" in my agenda, I know I can figure out my days here in Toronto. I am definitely excited to get started!

I will try my best to blog every Sunday or Monday (Ok..I know today is Tuesday...I am already not staying true to my word!), but by the sounds of it, I will be a lot busier than I thought I would be. I will know more in the next couple days as they will officially give us a schedule, outlining our days more in-depth. I also wanted to mention in this blog post of how grateful I am for my supporters. People have said some amazing and motivational statements and have messaged me some tear-jerking messages. From people who I know and love, to people who I would never think would read my blog, it is truly amazing to feel the love and support from all of you. Since moving up November 1st to North York, a month early before my school semester commencing, I really had some days where I questioned if I am doing the right thing. From a massive loan, to leaving my family, missing weddings, engagements, and birthday parties, I know I would be sacrificing a lot in the next couple years. A pleasant email from a fellow high school friend (yea Sydenham! lol) sent me the nicest message, which was facilitated by her reading my last blog post to encourage an act of kindness: "call or message someone who you haven't in many years, just to see how they are doing." She mentioned to me that: "If you aren't moving forward, what's the point? Staying stagnant does nothing, but if you go for something, at best you get what you have worked for, at worst it's a learning experience. What's there to lose? Even if you aren't sure if you are doing the right thing school or life or whatever, you are moving forward! And that's never a mistake." Wow thank you so much Chelsea! That message came at the perfect time :) Let's go for a drink soon!

All in all, I just wanted to say thank-you. If you have stumbled across this blog last week or have been a follower since Day 1...Thank You. This journey of mine will definitely have its ups and downs, and thankfully I have amazing people in my life to help me along the way. I am off to look over some notes, not much longer where I can voluntarily decide to do this, soon it will be "AHHH look over everything right now!" Highlight. Re-write notes. Write on the white board. Draw flow chart. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I know I am a nerd when I can't wait to do this.

Bye for now! And Happy December! <-- Do people say this? I don't know, but enjoy !

-E xo

What I am learning today :)

It has been one month since I had to put my cat, Nelly, down. Wow how I miss her. 

Open your eyes, silly! lol 

My cousin, Dana, and I meeting our childhood and adult inspiration!

Typical. Byron Bay, Australia!

Mount Cook, NZ

Learning from the best. Dmitry Klokov

Stephen getting some tips from the Russian Olympic Weightlifter!