Impressions

I'm exactly 7 days into my first year of medical school. So far this week has consisted of mind-numbing orientation sessions, organizing my new house, and most importantly following med students and residents on rounds in the hospital.

In the past 7 days I've been bored, overwhelmed, nervous and excited sometimes all at once. I've known for 8 months that I would be attending Loma Linda University School of Medicine, I've known for much longer that this career choice will define the rest of my life. Up to this point this knowledge has been purely intellectual, however in the past week it has become a reality. Beginning with this week I've entered into a new stage in my life, one that will be forever defined by my career as a physician. My current reality won't change much for the rest of my life.

At the same time these are sobering thoughts they are also exciting and inspiring. Today we spent the afternoon listening to faculty physicians from the School of Medicine talk about their various specialties. Listening to these doctors, it was clear each of them had a passion for their specialty. I learned a little about personality types in medicine and more about how competitive each specialty is. Most of all I was reminded that although the path will be daunting the end will be very rewarding.

All in all its been a good week. We have one more week until classes start and although I'm valuing the free time I'm getting anxious to start learning (I'll probably slap myself for saying that in a month).

In the meantime I'll make an effort to update this blog more frequently with interesting updates about medical school.