Last Friday was the culture show demonstrating talented students, spouses, children, and a couple of professors demonstrating how talented the Ross community is. I honestly didn't expect much, especially considering how we students are stressed for time, but there were some really good performers. My favorite was probably the Indian song at the end of the first performance, I wish I knew the name of it. And Yes that is one of the professors doing the Thriller dance! Here's a link. Sorry for the poor video quality. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VygL-SzMKYw
Monday, April 14, 2014
Mini 4/ One more week
The semester is almost over! Mini 4 was a marathon of an exam compared to the others, it lasted 3 hours and 15 min. This mini includes the most interesting material to me. Instead of just general concepts in our "fundamental of medicine" block, this was the first block that included a system: heme/ lymph. I find immunology really interesting, so I probably spent a little too much time focusing on that, but I felt pretty prepared overall. Immunology was difficult because the literature changes so rapidly, as many of the interleukins, chemicals that can cause an immune response, have multiple functions which makes classification difficult. I was specifically fascinated by the neutrophils, or suicide bombers. They have receptors which allow it to engulf a foreign pathogen. The neutrophil then releases toxic reactive oxygen species to degrade the pathogen such as hypochlorite (ingredient in bleach) and hydrogen peroxide. The neutrophil has a short life span, partially due to the harmful ingredients it contains. http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67484 When it dies it goes out in a blaze of glory and releases a sticky net that traps pathogens. It was a reasonable exam, and there were some questions that were basically gifts. There were some questions that I should've known but just couldn't quite recall; it goes like that sometimes. It's time to catch up on some sleep. The past week was filled with late nights and late Chinese food orders, shout out to Golden Dragon.
Now I have to prepare for the upcoming histology and anatomy lab practicals, which are both respectively worth 5% our our semester grade. We have our final exam next monday, so it's going to be a busy few days, then I'm goin back to Cali! I'm not a big fan of histology, it's just looking at pictures, pictures, more pictures of various organelles, cells, lymph nodes... the artistic students tend to enjoy it more. The nurse cells are pretty dope tho. In the thymus they produce thymic hormones that cause T-cells to proliferate.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Simplicity
"The mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality. Our very shall be macadamized, as it were.... Read not the Times. Read the Eternities. Conventionalities are at length as bad as impurities"
- Henry David Thoreau "Life without Principle"
So many options in this vast age of technology. On one hand we're gifted with nearly endless resources but we are also bombarded with trivial facts and quick sources of "entertainment".
As I browse youtube trying to look for a video to preview the upcoming lecture, there's always some video that catches your attention. Every day there is an advertisement or suggestion that is fine tuned to your browsing history as collected by the various websites.
This does not merely apply to trivial celebrity updates or the newest music videos, but also more relevant videos such as TED talks. Which at the time, may not feel like a waste of time, but may not be the most pertinent video to watch at the time.
For the most part, I consider myself pretty discipline as to what i browse or how I spend time on the internet, but every once in a while one vine turns into 3 or 5 minutes of wasted time.
Entertainment has it's place, but it should serve as something that makes you feel more energized afterwards, and ready to attack the task at hand. However, many times the trivial videos Facebook "friends" add about fights, women, conspiracy theories, TV show updates, memes, etc. I will say that bane cat video was pretty funny tho. Facebook can be a great way to connect with friends and family, but it takes small amounts of will power to ignore the "spam" that's being passed along the feed. It has been said that we have limited amount of will-power as indicated in this study:
NY Times: limited will power
That's why I decided that my word for 2014 is simplicity. I'm striving to make my daily schedule and routine more simple and orderly in order to save creative thoughts and decisions on things that truly matter.
- Henry David Thoreau "Life without Principle"
So many options in this vast age of technology. On one hand we're gifted with nearly endless resources but we are also bombarded with trivial facts and quick sources of "entertainment".
As I browse youtube trying to look for a video to preview the upcoming lecture, there's always some video that catches your attention. Every day there is an advertisement or suggestion that is fine tuned to your browsing history as collected by the various websites.
This does not merely apply to trivial celebrity updates or the newest music videos, but also more relevant videos such as TED talks. Which at the time, may not feel like a waste of time, but may not be the most pertinent video to watch at the time.
For the most part, I consider myself pretty discipline as to what i browse or how I spend time on the internet, but every once in a while one vine turns into 3 or 5 minutes of wasted time.
Entertainment has it's place, but it should serve as something that makes you feel more energized afterwards, and ready to attack the task at hand. However, many times the trivial videos Facebook "friends" add about fights, women, conspiracy theories, TV show updates, memes, etc. I will say that bane cat video was pretty funny tho. Facebook can be a great way to connect with friends and family, but it takes small amounts of will power to ignore the "spam" that's being passed along the feed. It has been said that we have limited amount of will-power as indicated in this study:
NY Times: limited will power
That's why I decided that my word for 2014 is simplicity. I'm striving to make my daily schedule and routine more simple and orderly in order to save creative thoughts and decisions on things that truly matter.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
IM Football
Our season ended today. We lost in the semifinals unfortunately, but it was a fun season. I had a great season and earned the nickname "Terrance Island" on defense at cornerback. It was good to relieve some stress and enjoy good competition. The good thing is that now I have an opportunity to be fully devoted to studies as it is now crunch time. Our final is on April 21. Until then it's full steam ahead!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Mentor
I met with a fourth semester mentor today. This was one of my assigned mentors through the Organization of African Students. I've been putting off meeting with him for a while, probably because I simply don't like asking for help. And because of my poor performance last semester, I was embarrassed to share my struggles with anyone. Also, I didn't really know if he would be able to fit me into his schedule. However, I decided that there's never any harm in attempting, and there's always more knowledge to be gained.
He just finished his last mini yesterday, so he was in a good mood. As is the case with most upper semesters, he is glad to be leaving the island, but he is now in the stage where he is starting to really appreciate the relationships and unique experiences he's had on the island. His main piece of advice to me was develop good time management habits. Especially in his case, as they have 6-8 hr lecture days a couple times a week.
I would say I use my time efficiently most of the time, but sometimes I get caught up in trying to be a perfectionist. For example, if I start off my morning running, previewing the material, and everything lines up for my schedule for the day then the day usually goes really well. However, if some distraction comes about or unexpected event, such as having to ask a professor a question during office hours, then this may throw off my schedule. This causes me to sometimes look as if I have "failed" for the day, and start to think that I won't be able to finish all that I have scheduled. I need to become better at adjusting my schedule throughout the day and the week. I also find that if my schedule is too detailed, then I tend to not follow it. My best results come when I'm scheduling by the hour.
He also gave me different resources such as supplementary videos and question banks to assist in my learning, and advised me to invest in resources such as Usmle Rx and Picmonic. It is great to have these resources, but sometimes they're almost paralyzing. There is so much material out there that it becomes hard to pick which ones to use. Hopefully, I'll figure out what works best for me soon, I'll try to go through them over the break.
Ultimately, the advice came down to be efficient with your time, take time to do an activity outside of studying every day (gym, reading outside material, etc.), and go into each lecture being somewhat familiar with the subject matter that's going to be presented. He showcased his time management in action, as he said he had to leave exactly as his watch showed 2:30.
He just finished his last mini yesterday, so he was in a good mood. As is the case with most upper semesters, he is glad to be leaving the island, but he is now in the stage where he is starting to really appreciate the relationships and unique experiences he's had on the island. His main piece of advice to me was develop good time management habits. Especially in his case, as they have 6-8 hr lecture days a couple times a week.
I would say I use my time efficiently most of the time, but sometimes I get caught up in trying to be a perfectionist. For example, if I start off my morning running, previewing the material, and everything lines up for my schedule for the day then the day usually goes really well. However, if some distraction comes about or unexpected event, such as having to ask a professor a question during office hours, then this may throw off my schedule. This causes me to sometimes look as if I have "failed" for the day, and start to think that I won't be able to finish all that I have scheduled. I need to become better at adjusting my schedule throughout the day and the week. I also find that if my schedule is too detailed, then I tend to not follow it. My best results come when I'm scheduling by the hour.
He also gave me different resources such as supplementary videos and question banks to assist in my learning, and advised me to invest in resources such as Usmle Rx and Picmonic. It is great to have these resources, but sometimes they're almost paralyzing. There is so much material out there that it becomes hard to pick which ones to use. Hopefully, I'll figure out what works best for me soon, I'll try to go through them over the break.
Ultimately, the advice came down to be efficient with your time, take time to do an activity outside of studying every day (gym, reading outside material, etc.), and go into each lecture being somewhat familiar with the subject matter that's going to be presented. He showcased his time management in action, as he said he had to leave exactly as his watch showed 2:30.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Daily schedule
My ideal schedule looks something like this:
5:30 AM prayer/ devotion
5:45 run to the shore/ push-ups, pull-ups
6:30 shower/ breakfast
7:20 look over notes/ watch you-tube videos for overview of lecture
(khan academy, handwritten tutorials, etc.)
7:50: walk to class
8-12PM: Class (with 10 min breaks between each 50-min lecture)
12-12:30 or 1: Lunch
1-2: Make study products for 1st lecture
2-3: Study products for 2nd lecture
3-4: Study products for 3rd
4-5: Study products for 4th
5-6: Dinner
6-8: Finish study products (with a 20 min break somewhere in here)
8-10: Meet with study group in multipurpose room, go over concepts for the day.
10-11: Get ready for bed/ chill
However, this usually varies, as other activities are included:
For example:
On Friday my group does anatomy lab dissection, which goes from 2-4:30, and each group that dissects demonstrates their dissection to the other 2 groups on another schedule day. On Thursday and
Friday I attend a demonstration from 1:30-2.
If I'm really tired, I'll nap for about an hour after class.
This Wednesday we have a DCM session, where we do clinical training, such as blood pressure tests, abdominal exams, auscultation, percussion, etc. Our DCM's are usually either weekly or biweekly.
This week I have an intramural football game on Tuesday from 4:30-5:30. We usually have one game per week.
I am satisfied with 6 hours of studying on the weekdays and 8 hours on the weekends, using a timer to account for bathroom breaks, FB, youtube, and other distractions. However, I generally fall short on lab days.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Mini 3 Results
I did much better on the 3rd mini than last semester. I got an 83% on this one. I was happy with the score, but I missed a few questions that were fairly easy, just a few issues with simple recall. I didn't have too much time to rest though, as there was a Black Scrub Anatomy session that Monday afternoon. Our practical was the week after the Mini exam. The Black Scrub session is when professors and professional assistants, with masters or phD's hold sessions addressing any questions we might have in the Anatomy Lab. It was very helpful, and it helped me realize what I needed to focus on.
This practical was harder than the last one for me, as there are so many structures in close proximity in the pelvic region. The gastrointestinal tract wasn't as much of a problem. I felt myself switching between two answers in my mind on multiple occasions, and this sometimes affected me when I moved on to the next station. It's tough when there's only 60 seconds to identify the targeted structure. I was most fascinated by the branches of the internal iliac and how neatly they correlated with the sacral nerve plexus. We also learned about the embryological development of the urogenital tract and how similar male and females are during the development and begin from a common origin.
This practical was harder than the last one for me, as there are so many structures in close proximity in the pelvic region. The gastrointestinal tract wasn't as much of a problem. I felt myself switching between two answers in my mind on multiple occasions, and this sometimes affected me when I moved on to the next station. It's tough when there's only 60 seconds to identify the targeted structure. I was most fascinated by the branches of the internal iliac and how neatly they correlated with the sacral nerve plexus. We also learned about the embryological development of the urogenital tract and how similar male and females are during the development and begin from a common origin.
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