Welcome to 2nd-year of medical school!
The Orientation Week of 2017 was between the 25th and 29th of September.
The events one must attend as a freshman are pretty much the same every year. The only thing that actually changes is the students. For detailed information about the Orientation Week as a medical student in Gdańsk, click here and here.
It was a lot of fun to meet the new students. Everyone is so excited to start medicine. So cool!
School started on Monday, the 2nd of October. We got to know the group arrangement 2 days before, as well as the respective schedule. Timetables are always a mess here. You are given a PDF file with all the classes and you must organise the information yourself. Thus, my last Sunday of freedom was spent in front of the computer creating a Google Calendar with all the lectures, seminars, labs and examination dates. Pew! The positive aspect of it all is that I love my schedule. Compared to last year, is heaven.
Here is the list of 2nd-year subjects.
- Physiology – 14 ECTS.
- Biochemistry – 15 ECTS.
- Microbiology with Parasitology – 6 ECTS.
- Elective Courses – 5 ECTs.
- Immunology – 3 ECTS.
- Basic Polish II – 2 ECTS.
- Public Health – 2 ECTS.
- Introduction to Internal Medicine I – 2 ECTS.
- Introduction to Emergency Medicine – 2 ECTS.
- Introduction to Pediatrics – 1 ECTS.
- Introduction to Dentistry – 1 ECTS.
- Medical Ethics – 1 ECTS.
- Psychology in Medicine – 1 ECTS.
So the big guys that we need to watch out for are definitely physiology and biochemistry. Welcome to 2nd-year of medical school again.
The first week was a transition week. We got a lot of information about how things are going to work in the different subjects. Luckily, it was not a rough start. However, beginnings are not my thing. I always have a hard time adapting to new situations. Going from vacation mode into study mode doesn’t come naturally to me. Not yet.
Physiology was our first lecture. If you are the type of person who tends to ask why rather than where physiology will be a favourite.
It was a special lecture, to say the least. The professor welcomed us with an amazing speech. Don’t worry, I am not going to ruin the surprise for you this time. Go there with an open mind and hopefully you will have a blast.
Last Wednesday we were actually tested at the beginning of our first parasitology lab. Luckily, a friend of mine who has already taken the subject warned me about it on Monday evening. That gave me one day to prepare. You would have laughed at my panic face when I actually saw the presentations I had to read until the next day. 150 slides full of different bugs, ticks, flies, each one of them with the associated diseases, life cycles, hosts, etc.
Microbiology and parasitology work the same way as histology in 1st-year. We are tested weekly on a different topic. Honestly, I have not quite understood yet how the weekly tests will impact the final grade. Every subject has their own grading formula and I have not yet been given all the dots to connect.
Parasitology is a 15 hours course divided into 5 labs (with a duration of 3 hours each). We have it on Wednesday between 16:00 and 19:00, right after a physiology lab. After such long days, I usually arrive home completely depleted.
There were no lectures/seminars on Friday.
A long weekend is always good to prepare several meals for the upcoming week, exercise, and study peacefully.
Tomorrow we will have our first biochemistry lab. I find it a bit tricky to prepare it since I don’t know what exactly is expected of us. Our first OLA-test in physiology is on Wednesday and it covers 2 topics (neurons and muscle tissue). And to end the day in glory we will be tested in parasitology. So you get the point. The good life is over.
Fingers crossed!
