Hello there friends,
For lack of a better (and perhaps more scandalous) picture, I have included a personal snapshot to accompany the delicious buffet of textual delights to follow.
This has, and continues to be, a remarkable year. I think the word remarkable is more than appropriate: much like a radiologist observes a film and deems anatomical regions as "remarkable" or "unremarkable," I think we can all agree that these past 9 months have been filled to the brim with both excitement and intrigue, focus and abandon. In a sense, the first medical school year has left us with so much new knowledge; and yet, the next year entreats us to dig more deeply and actually begin learning about medicine. In my earlier post about the white coat ceremony and the anticipation it ushered in, I indicated that "we don't know shit" and "we have a long way to go" -- indeed those sentiments are much a part of our collective psyche as they were back in August 2006.
And yet, there is a palpable feeling of satisfaction. Gross anatomy studies are finished (though we have Neuroanatomy starting on Monday). Histopathology studies were done in Block 3. And there remain five weeks in the first year. I'm sure when we look back on this year in the months and years to come, we will believe that nothing of MS1 was that difficult, especially if we knew what was coming. It always seems to happen that way. And even so, I can't help but feel satisfied. We as an MSTP class (OK fine, also as a medical school class) have, for the most part, not just survived the first four blocks. We have continued living our lives with the kind of abandon that allowed us to surf, travel, play music, throw parties...and the list goes on.
Sure, the UCLA SOM needs work - constant revision, tweaking, and thorough re-structuring elements of the curriculum must (and will) take place. That said, the folks running the SOM in general have our interests in mind. Lest we ask students how they're doing at UCSD, among other choice institutions of indentured medical servitude. And lest we attend a school in the middle of East L.A. (sorry, trojans). Yes, we don't have the largest number of bars within walking distance of the Weyburn Terraces, but we're close enough to everything (for more, see the very first block post.)
All this is to leave out the MSTP. Steve and Kelsey (program directors), this bud's for you. We salute the work you have done to this point - the all-nighters to renew (and improve) our grant support (read: our paycheck for years to come), the unwavering support of changes (website, re-visit, interview, hosting, retreat, social events, expenditures), and a willingness to think of the students, first and foremost. We're certainly not a perfect MSTP (just as we're not a perfect SOM), but we have a strong collective desire to make our programs better. We're already in the top tier of programs, and things keep getting better.
Above all else, I think I speak for everyone when I say: this is where I want to be.
