Today was officially our last day of the first year of medical school. One down, 3 more to go. But, only one more year left of classroom, and I think it's only gonna get better from here (as far as coursework being interesting).
First semester was anatomy, histology, and molecular and cellular bio I. Since anatomy is the quintessential first semester anatomy class, complete with lab (at least for most people), I was most happy to be through with that. Histo was less than exciting, but our processor, who has since left, tied in a lot of clinically relevant details. MCB was about tied with anatomy for my least favorite class. I actually liked anatomy better, but hated the lab.
This semester, we had immunology, physiology I, and MCB I. Physio was my favorite class by far, followed by immuno, and then MCB. The immunology lectures were difficult to stay awake for, but at least some of the material was interesting. The beginning of immuno was very dry and very detailed (probably more detail than anyone will remember after med school). But, especially during the last block, it got a lot more interesting. Towards the end, we started getting into various diseases and autoimmune issues, as well as transplant and tumor immunology. A couple nights ago, John and I were actually able to diagnose one of the people on Mystery Diagnosis (on discovery health) from immuno...I was pretty impressed with myself. I was fairly certain that I failed the immuno final, but as it turns out, I actually did very well!
Physio was my favorite because it actually made you think, not just memorize. I like when you can figure something out instead of just sit there, stare at a book, and memorize (last semester was straight memorization, for the most part). Also, I was able to relate physio to a lot of what I do as a paramedic, and what I'll do as a physician, so that made it a whole lot more interesting. Unfortunately, the professor who grades the physio exams is, by far, the slowest grader in the school, and we won't have our grades until Tuesday.
MCB was easily my least favorite, mostly because of how disorganized the class was. They're trying to change things around and things will probably be better for the current first semesters and incoming students, but my class got screwed because of it. It seems like they think that there class is the most important and the only one that matters...evidenced by the fact that they felt the need to give us both a cumulative shelf (covering MCB I and II) which counted for a large portion of our grade, along with another final exam, just for MCB II. Because of that, we had almost no time to study for the other classes and I'm pretty certain that everyone's grades suffered. I am VERY happy to be done with that!
In any case, the most basic of the basic sciences are now out of the way. Next semester is med micro, pathology I, and physiology II...all 3 of which actually seem like the stuff you really need to know to be a doctor, and should be very interesting. Even if they're hard classes, the next couple semesters will finally be the information that I actually want to learn. Not to long ago, it felt like medical school would never start. Now, I'm 1/4 of the way done!
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