Red Bull, Heineken, and Ross University

The first week of 2nd is over and now we get a 3 day weekend.

1st semester vs. 2nd semester, you ask?

Think about it this way: Last semester we basically had lecture from 8:00am-12:00 everyday, Anatomy lab from 1:00/2:00pm - 5:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and PBL from 3:00pm - 5:00pm on Fridays.  There were always exceptions for extra lectures in the afternoons and maybe every once in a while we'd start morning lecture at 9:00am, but that was the basic schedule for 1st semester.

This semester is basically the same, but instead of 4 hours of lecture on non-lab days, we have either 6, 7, or 8 hours.  I was looking at the schedule and a lot of days, lecture runs from 8:00am - 12:00 and begins again from 1:00pm - 5:00pm.  And remember, every extra hour of lecture for the week is really 2+ hours of the week lost.  You lose 1 hour for that lecture and 1+ additional hours studying for that extra hour.

After 4 days, I feel pretty good.  It's still easy to wake up and paying attention in class isn't a problem.  But that'll change at around week 8-10.  That's when it'll be a struggle to get up and it's when I'll start downing Red Bulls during the day and Heinekens at night just to stay sane.  So far it's just been Diet Coke and water.

That's all of my non-electronic 1st semester material.  It felt like a lot more.  And I can't lie, while I kind of have a handle of this semester's material (?), because of how poorly I ended last semester, the looming comprehensive finals at the end of this semester has me a little nervous.  Sure, I start off this semester with a clean slate, but when week 15 rolls around, this time it's going to be a true "finals week" instead of just a "finals day."  It's going to be exam after exam after exam on all of 1st and 2nd semesters of anatomy, biochemistry, histology, and physiology (in addition to neuroscience).

You can kind of tell from this pic, but I tried to stay organized.  "Staying organized" from day 1 of semester 1 was a piece of advice I got from upperclassman.  And the big reason for it is the 2nd semester comprehensive finals.

And finally for no apparent reason, except to wipe my hands of 1st semester once and for all, here's a short video (21 sec) of my bus out of Dominica.  This was when I still thought I wasn't coming back:

Moral of Today's Story: When/If I ever graduate, I need a T-shirt that says, "Red Bull and Heineken got me through medical school."