A day in the life...

No, this blog will not be dedicated to glotter (though that mensch surely deserves one), but just the capitulation of one interesting day. But I will get back to it later (ha! you thought it'd be that easy?)
Saturday evening I went to a BBQ party at a kid's house. There were a ton of people there, doing what people do at parties: drinking, talking, and drinking. It was actually pretty nice and I was there for about 6 hours, meeting my cohorts. I am constantly amazed (and will be so for the next 4 years, probabli) at how not-douchy these people are. Seriously. Everyone I meet is intelligent and nice and interesting and cool and it's so disconcerting. Here is an actual picture of what the people look like (I'm in there, too, if you can find me...):I know what they look like. But they aren't like that! Maybe this would stop me from being so judgmental... but that's not happening.
Sunday I woke up and cleaned our nasty kitchen. It makes me so frustrated, this kitchen it does. I washed 2 sinks full of dishes and cleaned the counter tops of all this nasty gunk that accumulated. I even cleaned the stove top. I don't understand how it gets that way - that is, I understand how, I just don't understand that thinking pattern that leads to it. I left to go play Frisbee for like 3 glorious hours. I am definitely in bottom 10% of the players (thank god for female athletes!) there but I still had a lot of fun. I got back home to see that the kitchen had resumed its normal state. I then watched Stranger than Fiction, which I have to admit that I liked. I normally detest Will Ferrell, but he did a good job and I would have given this movie an 8 or even 9/10 if it wasn't for the ending.
My Monday was full of class and was not bad or special or anything.
Today was pretty interesting. I cycled to Uni at 8:45 to meet 3 members of my group to head off to a hospital for our first Clinical Coaching Session. Sweet As! 5 weeks in and they already let us go to the hospital. We had to dress up to play the part, which I am loath to do usually and, as such, do not do with aplomb, skill, or handsomeness. I also do not know how to tie a tie and so I needed one of my friends to help me. We get there and they tell us a bunch of stuff we need to know about the hospital itself and then we get a 15 minute, interactive session on how to wash our hands. Wow. Then they set us loose on the patients.
"Just go up and start talking to them," they instruct us. Easier said than done. The first one (an obese woman in a wheelchair) I talk to was an eye-opener:
"Hello, my name is Michael. I'm a medical student. I was wondering if I could talk to you a little?"
"Sure"
"So how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm not a patient. I'm just in this wheelchair because I fell 2 years ago and cannot walk. I am here because my son has cerebral palsy and is going to have an operation soon to get a peg implanted."
"Oh... er.... uh... how are you finding this hospital?" (I don't know what I'm doing, obviously)
"Oh, yeah, it's really bad. My daughter who used to be a registered nurse is in there giving him a bath right now since the nurses here do a bad job. I'd go in and help but there isn't enough room for all his equipment and me in the chair."
Jesus.
It goes on for a while: the troubles of raising her child; her own troubles; how this man (he's now 49 and completely dependent) functions, etc. She is pretty emotional and teary-eyed the whole time.
It's good to experience this stuff because it is obviously what I will be facing for the rest of my life: no one goes to the hospital when they're healthy and happy. It was still a bit of an eye-opener.
Afterwards, we learned how the beds work and other functional stuff around the hospital and then were released. Our next task was to go to a different hospital for our small-group clinical somethingorother. 5 of us went to a private psychiatric hospital to meet our doctor. We had some time before it started and so explored. This place was nice as balls since it was private and we were impressed. It had a cafeteria with full buffet that was free (!) for volunteers and cheap for workers. We are not getting paid and are official, ergo we are volunteers, no? We went to go talk to the cashier and I told her how we're medical students but we're volunteering at the hospital. She seemed ready to let us eat when one of the guys in my group said, "well, we're not sure if we can do this. Would you like us to go and ask Administration?" (the fucker) and so we left, empty stomached. We didn't know where administration was and didn't have enough time to walk around so we settled for our packed lunches.
We got to our Doctor's office and introduced ourselves. We were pleasantly told that we were having catered lunch (and would be with every weekly visit! Blickets!) and so spent about 40 minutes munching away on sandwiches, meat pies, and asking this guy all sorts of questions about mental health issues. It was really interesting and he had some cool stories. We then talk for a while about how to take a patient's history and how to give a physical gastrointestinal examination. Good stuff. After our 3 hour session, several of us went to yet another hospital to self-study and meet up with a group to do more study. The 2 hrs spent in the library went well because about 45 minutes were spent chatting and another 45 minutes were spent Scrub-Scrounging. This Friday is, what is called, the Biggest Med Event of the Season. Everyone in the medical school (about 1200 people) run from a certain point all the way to the university on a busy street... dressed in scrubs. We then get to the University (around noon) and spend the next 6 hours eating, drinking, and engaging in sports things that range from Jumping Castles, tug-of-war, Frisbee, jello-wrestling, etc. Afterwards people go to the bars, still in their scrubs. Those who know me know that I'm not usually big on huge-group-doing-things, but that sounds damn awesome. Because there are so many med students and so few hospitals, around this week all hospitals are on HiAlert for scrub thievery (though I personally think they aren't that far against it and order more). We staked some territory, did some swooping and swipping and other things that sound like that and stole a bunch. I got a cool button-down scrubs shirt that I didn't even know could exist. I will post pictures of the revelry later but I am fairly excited.
At this stage there were about 6 of us. These are people in my small-discussion groups so we've gotten to know each other pretty well and all get along. We met up with 5 other people and 3 2nd year med students and had a 2.5hr group study session. Sounds horrible, I know, but it was good because they told us what we need to know and don't need to know and helped alleviate our fears as well as gain our knowledge. After the session, 3 of us walked back to the university on this nice bridge over the river. The sun was setting and the sky was a gorgeous pink. There was a single big dark cloud in a picturesque location; above it, there were dark cloud rays (straight, narrow clouds, I guess) shooting out towards the sunset over a tiny sliver of a moon. It was really quite beautiful. We were talking about how despite the fact we had such a long and hectic day, it was actually quite good.
I finally got back to pick up my bike at around 6:45pm (that's a 10hour day, for you) and went to group room at the university to drop off my shoes and change to street clothes. I stopped by our kitchen and opened the fridge, seeking cookies that someone brought a week ago, and saw a huge plate of leftover chicken wings from the conference going on in the next room. Before my synapses had a chance to query my frontal lobe on the choices I had and their ethical value, I had already eaten one and grabbed a second one. Delicious. I got home tired but content. Ate a dinner, watched a Sports Night, and did a dance.
Good night.