I'd like to first say 'Happy New Year!' to everyone and a belated 'Merry Christmas!' to those who celebrated. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break and are ready for the beatings and blessings of '09. With that said, I will now spew forth the events and updates since my last post.
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In the last post, I was reporting in the midst of exam week, giving details of how each of my exams have gone. Now that exams for the first semester are a subject of history (Hallelujah!), and I've received all of my marks, I am now prepared to talk about my 1st university exam experience.
Looking back, I did not have an air of confidence in me heading into each of my exams. Whether this was precipitated by the fact that I had slept very little and ate very little prior to my exams, or the fact that I did not feel very confident in my preparation, I remember feeling more frightened after writing then before. I remember devoting about an hour after each exam in the shower, sulking and rejuvenating from the beating that I received. Usually, I overestimate the severity of this beating. Usually, I look back at these "after-exam showers" and I chuckle at myself for being so down. These past exams were no exceptions.
I guess I felt more at peace after I received the exam marks. Despite not feeling very confident, I ended up scoring all A's and a single A+. Only 1 A+? Are you kidding me? You're planning to get into medicine with only 1 A+? Are you nuts ramblings? Well...I'm nuts for planning to become a doctor, but on the subject of marks, I've become less 'nuts'. My mentality heading into semester 1 of year 1 was to ace every course, trying to follow the footsteps of a certain person I must keep anonymous. Everything was about getting those A+'s that my focus wasn't on learning the course materials, but to just learn enough to get to the A+ level. I did enter exams with an A+ in every subject, thankfully, but evidently, I could not keep this level after exams, for the most part. One of the things that I'm now aware of is the fact that I don't need to be an all A+ student. According to the OMSAS Grade Conversion Table of 2009, an A+ is 4.00 and an A is 3.9 for my school. After looking at the minimum GPA for consideration of various Canadian medical schools, I realized that I am still safe with even A's. Most schools, so far, have an average GPA in the upper 3 region. I realized that if I can score mostly A's and A+'s, I'll be in the safe zone. So now you think I can drop from being an A+ to an A student eh? No way! One of the many things that have been engraved into my head from high school came from staring at this one motivational poster for too long. In big letters it said, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars". Basically, if you planned on achieving something great and fantastical but you end up failing, you'll still have had achieved something else. Even if it wasn't as magnificent, you'll find that you'll be alright in the end. I'll still aim for those A+'s, but if I fail, I know I'll still be safe with A's. This realization alone has helped/will help me feel less academic-driven stress. Now hopefully the entrance GPAs for American schools are not higher...
With semester 1 finished, I had to immediately recuperate because on the very next day, I had to perform musically, with a couple of other cool cats, at a coffeehouse. During semester 1, I managed to fit in time volunteering at a local hospital and helping out with various youth related activities at my church. One of these church activities was a coffehouse, which I helped out musically by organizing the in-house band, or rather, the in-church band. I had an awesome time rockin' out to the cure and squeeling in falsetto à la Chris Martin. The overall experience was both a blessing and a reminder.
I'm very thankful for the oppurtunities to work with and mentor youth, using my knowledge and experience to help alleviate some of the stresses of growing up that youth often experience. I want to be a positive role model in the eyes of the people I work with, not just of the youth, but of all the people I get a chance to meet and work with. The coffehouse was a reminder to me that sometimes I have to step back from all the self-centered, "I need A+'s", academic life, and spend some time helping others. As I said before, I volunteer weekly at the emergency department, but I'm finding I'm taking this volunteer position for granted way too much (my volunteering at the hospital will be a subject of a post in the near future). The church has always been a place of peace and tranquility for me, and I'm more than happy to promote this among the youth. No matter how much time academics demand from me, I'll always devote some time to help out.
The following week was my first week free of school, and boy, was I ever glad. I desperately needed some time for some R&R. I immediately went to a local Chapters and bought 3 books: The House of God (Samuel Shem), How Doctors Think (Jerome Groopman), and Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (Atul Gawande). I went through all of these books, finishing a book a day. Both Groppman and Gawande had interesting insights pertaining to medicine, while Shem offered a comedic and fictitous account of the psychological transformations done to a couple of residents in a hospital. I thoroughly enjoyed these books and recommend them to anyone looking for a couple of good medicine-related literature. I also engaged myself in an educational adventure that is of understanding the connection between religion and medicine. I'm particularly interested in how the two have developed coincedentally in the past, as well as how each one affects the other in the present and future. Questions like, how does religion affect health-care delivery? and what are the psychological implications of religion? are just two of the many questions that give a taste of my curiosity. I found a highly appropriate study referenced by Groopman , and I've tried to read the entire study online. I haven't finished it yet, but I intend on doing so over the course of this year. This adventure of mine prompted me to purchase another book entitled, "The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul" (Beauregard & O'Leary). I've only just started this book but already it seems like it'll be an informative read. I've also purchased "The Complete C.S. Lewis" in my never-ending hunger of religious/philosophical knowledge.
So I spent most of the first week of break at home, catching up on some reading. The second week was some more reading, catching up with some friends, shopping a bit, gorging sushi at a new sushi buffet, playing mah-jong with the family, and celebrating the birth of Jesus. One of the things I didn't get to do was play trauma center on Wii at my uncle's house, but I did uncover someone's youtube channel with the whole game played out, so it wasn't much of a downer. In the last week of December, I read some more, shopped some more, drank some more, and celebrated the new year with friends and family. I spent the last weekend of the break in Toronto, celebrating my grandma's birthday and visiting relatives, eating massive amounts of food on both occasions. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my three weeks off school and I realize I won't have this much time for relaxation for a long while.
Tomorrow marks the first day of the second semester, and judging by how my schedule looks, its gonna be more demanding than the first semester. I've rested up good during my break, and I'm now prepared to finish the second semester better than I did the first. Gotta shoot for that moon with more accuracy and determination.
Stay tuned for my next post where I will reveal my resolutions for 2009.
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