Freedom… well, sort of…
Finished my last exam of the year on Friday. I’m still a bit wound up but I guess that’s because results come out in a couple of weeks and I may have to sit a supplementary if I don’t pass. I know, I know, I’m not stupid, I should pass. But when you’re surrounded by 200-odd intelligent people all equally freaked out about the possibility of not passing (most of whom have never failed anything in their lives), it’s hard to fight the herd mentality and hysteria.
I start some supervised sessions at the morgue on Wednesday - we have a compulsory extra-curricular project to complete which can be on anything (almost) you like. I decided to watch autopsies (got told I may even get to do one but there have been a few more students joining the group so I’m not holding my breath). A/Prof Duflou has agreed to supervise/teach, but I think he had his arm twisted and a gun held to his head by someone higher up the tree. I can understand his reluctance - a bunch of first year med students with very little knowledge, a heavy case load made bigger by the State government closing the morgue at Westmead. Oh well. I’m sure he’ll find ways to punish us :)
I could have gone on an Indigenous culture weekend, taught Asthma awareness at the local high school, joined a lab research team trying to find the link between fat cells and osteoporosis but they didn’t sound like great educational experiences - the Indigenous culture thing sounded like great fun but not particularly medical, the Asthma thing I did whilst in high school (snore!) and the lab research sounded incredibly tedious (it’s been going for 3 years already).
We also have neurology block starting in the new year so I’m all stocked up with anatomy colouring book and textbooks on neurology. So many books, so little time.
I had considered revising all of this year’s work… I have 256 hours of lectures on video, 88 theme sessions (each were an hour & a half long), and 200-something learning topics (faculty sanctioned summaries of important things to learn). I have approximately 69 days off from today subtracting the 5 days at the morgue and maybe 2 days to write my report, xmas & new years, days spent with the family (rellies are coming from Indonesia, so I’ll no doubt have to spend some time there), some time spent boning up on neurology so I don’t feel like a complete dunce come February AND a neglected husband who probably won’t appreciate me disappearing into my study the whole time. Hmm. It’s not going to happen, is it?
I had grand visions of learning the piano and French in my spare time. HAHAHAHAHA! All I can say is, thank goodness I don’t have kids - can’t figure out where they would fit in or how the parents in my cohort manage!
