Grad school is officially in full swing and so is my new schedule : Early morning workout class, study/read allll day, evening classes, review class notes, go to bed. Wake up. Repeat. So far I've had ample time to fulfill a social schedule alongside of that but I foresee that dwindling in the very near future.
I also foresee myself learning just as much from my classmates as I do my teachers. Of my class mates, the 2 that I find interesting: a male gynocologist and an ER doctor who's provided trauma care on the front lines. Their participation is almost as effective as any information coming from the teacher.
Among the group of students I've found some new study buddies/friends as well.
Changes I've noticed in myself with the onset of school:
-I'm a HUGE health nerd. I subscribe to all sorts of health updates, health news releases, google "health reform" ... for fun.
-I'm so riveted during class time that an otherwise grueling 3 hours seems to fly by.
-I love reading my textbook. This is not a joke.
-Even worse: I bookmark my textbooks, and its not required. Refresher on what exactly that entails:
-highlighting different types of facts with different colors of highlighters
-taking notes in the margin
-typing up the notes in the margin for a study guide
-completing the homework questions at the end... voluntarily.
-I don't care about my grades, I care more about learning the material.
-I start bringing up health policy outside the classroom. How I know it's gotten bad:
-I receive the "I think it's cute that you love school but I don't particularly care" smile from Kevin on Skype and realize I've accidently rehashed 20 minutes worth class material
-I frequently have to suppress the urge to unnecessarily enlighten people about things they should probably know but don't care about
-I now hold my own in political debates with my parents. This one's huge.
-I get into deep discussions with classmates about their occupations, and fire questions at them. After all, every medical profession has different viewpoints on different things.
-Unless something really fun is going on, and certain people are going to be there, I will abstain from going out because I find it more worthwhile to study/get ahead.
All in all, I can say that I'm loving my new life and have regained that sense of purpose I once had in college. The only thing that remains left to be fulfilled is my need for a part-time job. I interviewed with St. Luke's yesterday and will hear back on Friday! More updates to come later.
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