Awake and Dreaming

"...The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:..."

A week into medical school and my initial hesitations are gone. Rather than Wordsworth's "Daffodils," it is the reality of being in medical school in Ireland that has elated me so and carried me through my first week of studies. That, and the unbelievable weather.

It is amazing to look back now at myself in South Africa in 2003 when, working on a service project around Doctors Without Borders, medicine first sunk its teeth into me. Or surviving Organic Chemistry lectures solely through counting, with my neighbor, the number of times the professor said "namely" in one lecture (I think the record was 23 - or about once every two minutes). Or sitting in UVic's gym in the bleak midwinter staring at a Biochemistry exam wondering which part of the formation of the archegonium in the life cycle of a fern I would ever need to know again (the answer is zero). I definitely do not consider myself to be a "means to an end" kind of person, my Undergrad. in English Lit. is in the top five greatest things I have done to date. However, there were those times when medicine seemed awfully far away. But now the end is nigh, and (as is often the case) it turns out that it is really a beginning in disguise.

I know that, for the sake of chronology, these nostalgic ramblings should have been the substance of my first entry, but I did not feel them at the time. It has taken me this week for everything to sink in, for me to fully realize that I am here. Now.

My lectures embody the surreality of dreams: a clinician who teaches us medical ethics by telling us interesting stories of lives saved and doctors sued from her own practice and the media, An anatomist who looks like a caricature of someone from Barcelona and speaks like Manuel (of "Faulty Towers" hilarity), an ENT specialist (ear, nose and throat) expressing candidly that by the week's end we will probably know more about the ear than he does, another anatomist who champions the etymology of words as much as I did to my anatomy classes and who told us that the rate of publication of new medical literature is such that if you read two journal articles every week for a year by the end of the year you would be the equivalent of 800 years behind.

While daunting, it solidifies the idea that we are certainly learning a tremendous amount now, but it is all with a view of continued lifetime learning. Our medical training will not end with our four years at the University of Limerick.

As I mentioned, fleetingly, the weather over the past week has been tremendous!! No rain, blue skies, lovely warm days. If only it could last - the clouds are already descending. Anyway, being dense, I didn't take any photos of the beauty of the campus in the sun, so I might have to nick some from a friend. Next time I'll also try to post some pics of the ECC (Elite Cerebrex Crew) ie. my friends and maybe even my domicile (if it's presentable) so that you can get a wee bit of an idea of where I am and with whom. hehe.

in media res

"And nearer fast and nearer

Doth the red whirlwind come..."

~Horatius

Lord Macaulay's words fit strangely well with the coming of a new term, my first at medical school in Ireland.

Okay, let's reel back the pomposity a wee bit. After the roaring success of the blog of my Ghanaian adventures (lettersfromghana.blogspot.com), I decided to give it another whirl here in Limerick. This blog seems like a great idea right now, but I can make no guarantees on its regularity or even its chances of survival. This week has been somewhat breezy with just a few orientations (though they are 8 hours long) and a kajillion forms to fill out and have stamped, however, as Lord Mackers alluded to, I can feel the med school storm abrewin' and come Monday we'll see if there is time enough to breath, never mind blog.

Thus far, Limerick has been awesome. After a disoriented first night, I met a wonderful crowd of fellow "first year" medical students sheltering from the rain the next morning. We have scarcely separated since. We have already had two jam nights (guitar jam not strawberry jam) with electric guitars, mandolins and much drunken singing; a "Flight of the Conchords" viewing sesh, and big communal dinners together. I must admit that I'm a little surprised by how excited I am to be spending the next four intense years with these people. I didn't know that med school harbored such gems.

Our lengthy orientation the other day provided my first opportunity to see the entire University of Limerick's Graduate Entry Medical School class of 2013. With something like 50 Irish and 40 Canadians it seems we are slowly taking over. The four year program is divided into two years of (largely) classroom work: lectures and problem based learning groups (the PBL system, the flagship of Limerick's innovative approach, is described with rabid vigour) and two years of (smally) classroom work: more time spent in "the field." We were also reminded that we would soon be introduced to the the two patients (an expectant mother, and a person with a chronic illness) who we will be following (medically as opposed to stalkerly) for the next few years.

It is all very exciting and with my new med student buddies beside me and my umbrella in hand I am eager to face the flurry of studies ahead.