Rushing Around

I have about 5 minutes at Answerboy's computer at the moment -- just enough time to dash off a couple of lines. I don't have internet in my apartment yet, so I have to come over here every time I want to use it...all part of the disorientation and uprootedness of this week, I guess. Funny that it's called 'orientation week'.

This morning -- intense, yet boring, intro-to-the-program sessions. Must have heard the word 'professionalism' 50 times. This afternoon -- scavenger hunt dashing around "London, England" (orientation week has an international theme). Lots of fun. I WILL say more about the people I'm meeting and the things I'm doing...eventually. Right now breathing time is at a premium.

One day, I'd love to have some time to organize my room, finish unpacking, and mentally prepare myself for the year ahead...but this is not that time!

~isolde

Tabula Rasa

I am officially beginning this blog on Day One of medical school.

So here we go.

Like most of us here, I have no clue what lies ahead. As my classmates and I stood to recite the Hippocratic Oath today, we were a sea of ceremonial white coats -- of newly-minted 'members of the medical team'. It was a bit like looking out at a sheet of blank paper. Who are we underneath those coats? I'm not sure yet. Getting to know and like my classmates -- whoops, my colleagues, according to today's speakers -- is priority number one for the next little bit. Orientation week is always a bit like summer camp: playing and socializing and forging new connections. After that...?

It's funny -- I picked the name for this blog before the ceremony today, and yet Day One was a recurring phrase in the Dean's welcoming speech. I think today was supposed to be a momentous occasion -- The First Day Of Your Medical Studies. What I want, though is for every day to seem as fresh and as important to me. I have a tendency to lose interest in things, including in blogs -- I get lazy and stop posting. I picked Day One as a name because I want to bring this feeling of newness here every day.

Ahh, blank page, blank blog -- you are blank no longer. Soon, my white coat, my calendar, and my days ahead will be equally marked. In we plunge.

Tonight: small-group dinner at the house of an upper-year student, followed by a mass exodus to the bar. Med student life seems to involve a lot of alchohol.

~isolde