Swing on the Spiral

Looking forward, while looking back and spinning while standing in place.

Term 2 - Genetics, Parasitology, Community & Preventative Medicine, Neuroscience, Immunology, and Physiology.

Yet, when I think back, I just remember the bright sun. I think this was the first term I really understood it's power down in the Tropics. Living on campus gives one a false sense of the island in many senses. The AC is on everywhere, all the time and since the buildings are relatively clustered, you really don't have to go outside for a long time to traverse around. Even going to IGA (the "supermarket") and the beach was rather restricted in Term 1 (my roommate had a car, so we'd wait until HE wanted to go) and I'd go in the evenings.

But living off campus showed me this other world of Grenada. I talked to more people from the Island, learned about the weather patterns and previous droughts (it was a bad one this time), found a market that has locally produced foods and snacks (local plantain chips!!), and generally started to get a sense of the people here. They are friendly, they like to have fun, and I think, if I were back home, I could pick someone from Grenada out after talking to them for a bit, just certain mannerisms and ways they speak.

You don't get that on campus though - it's essentially a giant resort. No pool though, and you can't go to the beach on campus(2 stars). And the Grenadians play two roles: Security & Maids - which gives a distorted lens of this island as dangerous and poor. Both of which belay the diversity on the island. I know because I felt that way living on campus!

One thing that now rings quite true was when my advisor, Dr. B, said during Anatomy lecture that he walked home after dark almost all the time, and never had a problem or felt unsafe.

Oh yeah, medical school. I wish I used a quantified self tracking tool to chart my feelings towards each course over time. Initially, I thought Neuro was awesome, but then at some point it got annoying, and then fluctuated back to alright with potential for interesting subsets. I was excited about Immunology, and, as previous posts indicate, grew frustrated with how it was taught but still liked the material. Physiology was always alright at first, but then it grew on me. And Dr. H was excellent - one of the best teachers here - even if he does watch Fox & Friends every morning. I've done diabetes research in the past so that was a known interest, but I was surprised to find myself really enjoying the Endocrinology section. Parasitology gave a great global perspective and showed how debilitating certain, entirely preventable, diseases could be. Genetics went by in a flash, I just remember many of the diseases were quite rare (as opposed to parasitology - interesting what society focuses on). Community & Preventative Medicine was not taken seriously by anyone, unfortunately, though I enjoyed it - but felt that the principles of the course needed better integration with the bulk of the material we learn in medical school.

Now Term 3 is coming to a close this week and the much rumored about Term 4 is making its presence known through emails and syllabus/handouts. Term 3 is a funky combination of what I'd say is Public Health with a good chunk of Psychiatry. We learned about Malpractice, the recent health care reform, epidemiology, ethics and evidence based medicine. These things are fresher in my head and deserve their own post - so they'll get one.

While Term 3 has progressed, I've also been writing a Review paper on Electronic Health Records and Health Social Networking. This supposed to be the last part of my Research Fellowship and now I'm struggling with whether to continue with a great boss and interesting research(I'm pretty sure he wants me to stay), or find somewhere else to learn new things. I want to learn about Health Impact Assessments and maybe also about mobile health tracking devices.... nevermind all the other potential opportunities out there I haven't checked out... I don't anticipate much time to do much of these activities this semester, but I am looking at a winter break that is, at this point, open. On top of that, my current position helps me pay my rent ... not something guaranteed with other opportunities...and I've published 1 paper so far, with a second one nearly complete...so will have to do some reflecting on this... any advice appreciated!

That is Medical School Year 1 (MS1) and I'm spinning in place in Term 3 , looking at MS2 and beyond. Sometimes I get sick of being so far away, on a hot little island. But then I saw a former work colleague's IM picture of the old Map Plotter (printer) spewing paper. That made me appreciate my decision to come to Medical School on the Spice Isle.