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It's amazing how much you can start to change over the course of 48 hours.

48 hours ago I couldn't believe I was sitting in orientation in medical school. It's a very surreal feeling being exactly where you've been striving for your entire life.

48 hours later, I'm actually starting to feel like a medical student. I haven't made a single incision in a cadaver yet, haven't seen a single patient, but this week has already started to lay into me the gravity and excitement of the road I'm embarking down. There's been a lot done the past years to humanize doctors, which I think is a good thing, but this week has reinforced to me that medicine truly is a special profession and special calling.

The environment is VERY supportive and rankings and honors are not done on a bell curve. As such, if everyone in the class scores above 90, everyone in the class gets honors. Very cool, and tends to cut out a lot of the competition that seems to permeate medical school.

In a traditional med school format, the first two years are spent loaded with classes necessary to give you all you need to pass your United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1. You might have a preceptorship, but its primarily in a shadowing format, following around a given physician. Your third and four year are spent in several week long blocks of clinical rotations in the different disciplines of medicine, eventually reaching electives where you are allowed to pursue experiences in tune with your specialization of choice.

My school (though not just my school) does things very differently. The curriculum is integrated, so instead of being loaded up with hours of lecture each day and exams pretty much every week, multiple disciplines are integrated into one "block" (our first block is a combination of gross anatomy, imaging, and embryology). As a result, lecture only takes up the morning, and you only have one exam to look forward to (typically every 3 weeks). This frees up time for what makes my school pretty innovative in my mind: their combination of preceptorship and PCM (Principles of Clinical Medicine).

PCM is a class focused on teaching you the skills to succeed in a clinical environment, focusing on performing the requisite physical exams, proper communication with patients, etc. This PCM is then coupled with a preceptor physician. At my school, one year is spent in 3 rotations of primary care, and the other is spent in 3 rotations of specialties of interest. I find out next Tuesday which block I will be completing this year, though I'm really hoping for specialty rotations this year. Since after your first block you can personally request physicians as preceptors, I'd have the opportunity the really look into the different areas of pediatric surgery I'm interested in.

Since your preceptorship is matched with PCM, MS1s and MS2s are given a much greater deal of responsibility in their preceptor rotations. Thus, I'll have the opportunity to scrub in for surgeries, treat and assist patients, participate (or not since my medical knowledge is basically zilch first year) in rounds, and generally do all the cool stuff I've dreamed of. So not only will I be out on the wards in two weeks, I will actually be DOING things on the wards in two weeks. In fact, the joke around my school is that you're almost loaded with too much responsibility at first, but I'd rather be thrown into the clinical fray right away instead of having to wait two years.

Tomorrow is the white coat ceremony, where we receive our coats "in recognition of our achievements which have granted us the privilege to study medicine." Perhaps a bit melodramatic, but I think that will really solidify the feelings I've had from the first week.

If this much can come in 48 hours, it really will be interesting to see how I feel after 2 weeks, or 2 months for that matter. One thing is sure, I'll be on my way.

Cause if I did, I wouldn't be a Toys-R-Us kid

So the first day of medical school has come and passed. I tried to keep expectations to a minimum, since generally expectations on the first day of anything tend to disappoint. Overall, I believe it really went well. I was curious to see how things turn out when you put a bunch of accomplished, motivated, type A personalities in a room together and let them get to work. Definitely fun to watch. Funny how everyone slips into a script when attempting to meet new people though. On the first day of undergraduate, things tended to progress like:

"Hi! My name is InsecureFroshZag!" (I was so young. *sniff*)
"Where are you from?"
"What high school did you go to?"
"What are you majoring in?"
"What dorm are you living in?"
*awkward silence*

In med school, its good to know things are totally different.

"Hi! My name is MedZag!"
"Where are you from?"
"Where did you go to undergraduate?"
"What was your major?"
"Where are you living?"
"What area of medicine are you thinking of going into?"
*awkward silence*

Ok maybe not.

Some people seemed intent on getting every name of every person in a room then moving on. For me... I'm horrible with names. Like pathetically, classic blonde spacey with names. So I'm taking my time. There's only 120 of us, so I'll get there eventually. Newfound respect for my professors who learn and relearn names every 4 months though. Props to professors. I'm the youngest person I've met so far (the class' average age is 26), so there's a bit of life experience gap compared to most of my peers, but I know in a month when we're knee deep in gross anatomy its going to matter a lot less whether you're right out of undergrad or are married with a child.

Besides, I hope there's more I can relate to with my classmates than simply the fact that we all happen to be at the same medical school together. Overall, some good conversations on a wide variety of subjects.

If med school was all like today (which it unfortunately isn't), well, sign me up for that Mayo residency. One word: lines. Wait in line to get your white coat size. Wait in line to get your class catalog picture taken. Wait in line then wait in line some more to get your ID badge. An obvious hassle, but also a good opportunity to chat it up with those stuck around you.

Overall, it was a pretty typical first day stuff. Good introduction to the history of the school, rundown of curriculum, all that jazz. My school seems to have things right (*chest thump*). Early exposure to patients (I'll see my first one by the end of August), curriculum focusing on understanding and diagnosing disease, lots of practice of clinical skills. We'll see if the actual thing stands up to the structure they trumpet to you in the beginning. Above all, right now is difficult because you can tell everyone is anxious to jump right in and get to work and it's going to be a more gradual introduction. Email addresses: later in the week. Big siblings: later in the week. Social events: later in the week But, the more I think about it, the more I like it this way. Set a solid foundation. Build up.

Today we set the cornerstone. We'll see whether I end up building an outhouse or nice gated villa. I just hope it ends up something with a view.