Orientation Week – Days 1 and 2

Orientation Week started yesterday in Gdansk.

Everyone had to be at the university at 07:45. Registration is the very first thing to happen in the morning. Once everyone is registered we have a 3 hours lecture (with a break of 15 minutes).

The English Division is welcomed by the president of MUG and then some guests take over the microphone and make their presentations. Most of these are useless. Either because their English is not good enough or because they are not objective and fail to answer simple questions asked by the students.

After 3 hours we were excused and each group followed its own schedule. Mine had a Polish class and I must say that I am very impressed by my Polish teacher. Not only she is great at teaching but also at giving tips regarding the Polish culture and the way Polish people interact among themselves and with foreigners. There was no time to waste. We started learning immediately. Dzień dobry! – Good day!

After Polish class, we had a guided campus tour. It is good that someone actually takes the time to show us around. If it was not for the second year students I would feel lost when trying to find my way to the different departments. We were done by 15:00 and it was to go home and get ready for a party evening. 

At 19:00 all freshman students were invited to meet at the student dorms. I am pretty sure that most of us actually participated. We were divided into groups and after 2.5 hours of warming up (with loud music and plenty of drinks available) for the party, each group headed to an older student’s apartment – so-called grandfather/grandmother. I was placed in a group called Gynaecology and my godmother is a very cool girl. After doing what Scandinavians do best (getting drunk as if there was no tomorrow!) we all took a taxi to a popular bar among medical students in Old Town. Guess what: it was time for me to leave.

When I must wake so early in the morning (around 06:00) in order to attend the lectures (even though they might not be that useful they are indeed mandatory) clubbing is not an option to me. I promised myself I would not start medical school sleep deprived. Furthermore, being sober when everyone else is drunk is not fun at all. I’d rather be home relaxing. Ain’t much of a party boy I must confess. 

 

Day 2

Another lecture beginning at 08:00. Today a bit more interesting. We were given information about the transportation system in the city and safety issues. Not bad. 

After that was time for some more Polish language. A super fun class thus far. 

Jestem studentem medycyny. = I am a medicine student. 

Yesterday the Polish teacher told us a joke that apparently many know about in Gdańsk.

There was an assignment given to 3 university students: one art, one engineering and one medical student. The assignment was to memorise a big phone list book.

The art student says: Fuck off! The engineering student goes: Why? What is the reason behind such a task? And finally, the medical student says desperately: How long do I have to do it? 

The point is that during the first year as a medical student we will have to memorise many things without exactly understanding the why of it all. I simply must accept that there is a reason for it and that someday we will understand it. Same happens in Polish. A lot of it does not make any sense at all for the time being. But according to her things will start to fit into each other giving us the bigger picture.

After Polish, it was time to go home and fix a couple of things. Laundry, shopping for groceries, opening a bank account in Poland, etc. Today it was the fourth time I went to the same bank department and tried to open an account. And finally, the lovely lady behind the counter was able to help me and fixed it all. 

Tonight there will be some activities in Old Town organised by older students. The groups formed yesterday are going to compete for some prizes. Hopefully, gynaecology is going to rock it!

I need to go to bed because tomorrow I will have the blood tests at 06:45. 

What a weekend!

Welcome to 3rd-year!

Final lap II

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