First week down! Now week #2. The first thing that comes to mind when recounting my first week is “Lord Jesus, what in the heck did I sign up for?!” The first week of school (and new student orientation week for that matter) was interesting and honestly did not go smoothly. I’m sure many med students around the world can probably relate and agree. A lot of med schools are having to reformat and adjust everything due to COVID-19. Having a class size of 100+ students (the class size at my institution is 174 students) means you can’t all meet at once in the same place… or at least you probably shouldn’t. And for institutions that are “old school” and not used to doing courses virtually while still being interactive and engaging, it’s a struggle, but they’re trying. 

My highlights of the first week: 

Classes. My classes for this quarter are anatomy and patient interactions. Basically all lectures are pre-recorded and I currently only have to go to campus once a week (for anatomy lab). I would consider my school “old school” in that they weren’t ready to go roughly 90% virtual and be @Zoom experts. There’s been plenty of technical difficulties that have occurred along the way, but they’re trying. I most applaud my school and other institutions for not forcing their students to come to class and labs everyday. Being located at a major hospital and in a room of nearly 200 people, that would be a lot of exposure and risk for the student body. 

New Friends. Since we aren’t going to campus much these days + distancing ourselves + wearing masks and only seeing half of people’s faces, I haven’t met nearly as many people as I would have pre-corona times. BUT I have made some friends and am happy about that. Mainly through student group meetings and events. 

Meet & Greets. My favorite part of my experience so far has been the student group events and meetings I’ve attended. If it wasn’t for those, I wouldn’t have met hardly anyone. The meet ups especially allowed me to meet upperclassmen. Before classes started, I attended a new student event, Painting in the Park. Peep my cute little painting below. Completely free hand, abstract, and random. I also attended the Black Student Network Meet & Greet and Student National Medical Association Meet & Greet. It was great to connect and meet other Black and minority students! 

Studies. As you can probably predict, it’s already been a bit overwhelming. I gave myself a week off Instagram (I viewed, but didn’t post or engage much) to give myself time to adjust and get focused on school and this new experience. But honestly, I missed my community and engaging with others. My weekend of this first week was full of studying and no me time or fun time really. I took breaks for grocery shopping and attending one meet and greet, but that was about it. I already can tell that I HAVE to find that balance between studying and doing things I enjoy because this week was not that fun… Writing this blog post on Monday, August 17th, has been the only truly therapeutic thing I’ve done in the last week.

Overall, I thank God for this experience and opportunity to go to medical school. Becoming a doctor has always been my dream. Hopefully, my thoughts above don’t make me sound ungrateful for an opportunity that so many others also strive for and want, but unfortunately sometimes never reach. But, it is to say that medical school is a big pill to swallow, going to be a lot of work, a major life transition (compared to just working a 9-5),and will take up a lot of my time. I’m hoping over the next month, I can really work on my school-life balance to ensure I am both succeeding academically and happy. I’m sure I’ll have content coming on how to find that work-school-life balance as well as how to handle stressful periods in one’s life. Make sure you are subscribed, so you never miss anything!

Much love,
Margaret Nicole