Week 1

September 12, 2010

Me in my white coat!

             Hello Everyone! So great news…. I made it through my first week of medical school.  It was a very interesting week, for the first time in my life I was in a classroom with 283 students. Of course I had to be in the first few rows so I went to class super early. Classes are good they are high intensity and cover a lot of material in a short amount of time. I love the clinical correlations between the basic sciences that I learned in undergrad and medical school. I’ve learned quite a bit about different diseases that are caused by simple malfunctions of the body’s cells.  For example there are these glycoprotein molecules called prions that are involved in mad cow disease and CJD along with other fatal diseases. This molecule is found normal in the nervous system but it is the abnormal form that causes death to the cells. It is interesting because there is no ways to kill these prions know yet. This makes it scary to work with because scientists do not know if it can be contracted through simple contact.  So very interesting information but there is a lot of information to know. My daily schedule is pretty simple I go to class from 8-4 and then I study in the “barn” till 11 and do it all over the next day. So, the barn is where I study it’s huge building that they put cubicles and tables in.

            So this past Friday we had our white coat ceremony, the white coat ceremony is where we had a presentation giving us our very first white coats! It was a beautiful ceremony where all the Dominican dignitaries were there including the prime minister.  We each walked up to the Doctors who work at Ross and they put our white coats on us, then we went over to the heads of the departments and they gave us a gold pin to put on our coats. It was totally surreal getting my first white coat and it makes this whole experience attainable. I am going to keep doing what I’m doing and that is my best so I hope that it will take me great places. I am excited for week #2 to start tomorrow. Ohh and I have my first exam next Monday the 20^th, a little scary but it will be a good test to see if the way and amount that I am studying is working or not. I hope all is well with all of you and I miss you all dearly!

Till next time…… 

Some of the Crew @ White Coat