Second Exam

I spent the weekend in NYC again. I think I've only spent two weekends total in Valhalla. This time, however, I had a good reason for going out of town: tickets to a Ratatat concert! I bought them a month ago, completely forgetting that I don't like concerts. It took two awful opening acts, a 2.5 hour wait, and second-hand smoke to unleash the memories of my few hateful concert experiences. Plus side: I got a sweet t-shirt.

I will pay for my unfocused weekend by studying nonstop for our midterm on Thursday. This one will include a practical test, where we will be asked to identify and describe light and electron micrographs, not all of which we've seen before.

We only have a month more of histology lectures! After the mini-board we'll have a few weeks off (except for biostatistics) before we start the second trimester and (dun dun duuuuuun) biochem/physiology!

Lab Quiz Prep

My parents were at the same showing of "Spring Awakening" I saw. Apparently my dad and I got some of the same impressions:
Anyawkward (thank you, michael k), today we started gearing up for our first lab quiz. On Friday students go into one of the lab classrooms with the histo instructors two at a time and answer questions about slides projected on the wall. "What is this structure? What would the EM of it look like?" That kinda stuff. It only counts for 3% of the class' grade, but since there are only going to be six questions we want to be on top of our game.

Of course, the really big news is that the AMP students of the female persuasion have decided it's time for a ladies' night. The boys in the group are somehow already super chummy, with their flag football games and pickup basketball.

Fun fact: there are 12 dudes and 8 ladies in the program. I found that surprising because most med school and post-bach programs I've looked at make a huge deal of trying to keep it even. Then again, this is a pretty small program...

I wonder what will make up Ladies' Night...I don't know what the other women are into, but I've learned that Taboo pretty much equals instant friendship.

First Exam

Today was our first exam in Histology. It was a 65 questions, multiple-choice, and pretty tricky. They had the answer key on the school's database (the DCDB) in an hour or two. Unfortunately I can't figure out my grade until I see the stats on the rest of the AMP and first-year med students. AMP students are graded according to what percentage of the med school students they scored in. I think you have to score in the top 20% to get an A.

The fun part of your fist histo test is that upon its completion the second years get together and buy beer for the first years' immediate consumption. The second years are really into it, and even sent out a cute little powerpoint detailing the history of this lovely gesture:

Last week my mother came to visit, which meant I could use her rental car to drive around and actually buy some furniture. It all came from a combination of craigslist and Target. We wound up having to rent a truck from the Home Depot to carry a dresser I bought to campus. They charge ~$20/75 minutes.

I live on the second floor so getting the dresser into my bedroom was difficult. It was way too heavy for me, but I couldn't reach any of my friends on campus. At one point a med student with burly arms walked by. I ran after him to ask for help, yelling, "YOU WITH THE ARMS!" but he drove off before he heard me/ignored me until he could get to his car. Eventually the super was able to help me out.

I spent most of last weekend cramming for the histo test, but I spent one day visiting in New York. I got cheap tickets for Spring Awakening from TKTS. I had a lot of problems with the story, but the music is still in my head and it was great to see people from undergrad.