Entering Med School 101 on the First Day

My first day of class was an amazing experience! We were supposed to meet our proctor groups at 7:50 AM for breakfast, so I decided to get up early at 6:50 AM. I was a bit nervous for the first day, so I wanted plenty of time to get ready.

At 7:50, everyone in  my group gathered at my proctor's door. We all headed out to the dining hall and ate breakfast together. During the middle of breakfast, some of the students and proctors started doing a dance, called The Wobble. It is apparently very popular here. Upon finishing breakfast, we went outside to meet with our T.A. who would guide us to our class. From my proctor group, three other girls also had the Med School 101 class. (One of them was Chiamaka.) Our class was one of the largest- we had twenty-four people; most of my classmates are girls. We had to make quite a bit of a trip to our class because we got lost on the way; however, we were able to eventually find our class on time. In total, we have five teachers: Margot, Brian, Kat, Katie, and Ian. They are all in their fourth year of medical school. I learned that Margot is interested in pediatrics just like me.

This is my Med 101 class.

Similar to yesterday, we had to play an icebreaker game. We each had to randomly pick two M&M colors and answer the questions associated with the colors. Afterwards, we were introduced to our central theme: Preventative Medicine. We took a small pretest. Then we received a lecture on an introduction to the heart and the lungs.

I made a couple of friends in my class. I met one girl who was from Taiwon. I was actually surprised because she was the first person I had met at VSA who was outside of the United States. She talked about how different Taiwon is from the United States. The education system is entirely different. I also met another girl named Allison who is from Ohio.

After our lunch break was over, we took pictures for i.d. cards that we need to enter the clinics and shadow medical professionals. Once we received our badges, we took a tour around Vanderbilt's Medical School. We also saw the children's hospital. Its environment was completely different than what most hospitals are like. It was very cheerful inside. I also learned that Vanderbilt has the biggest hospitals in Nashville.

This is one of Vanderbilt's Medical School buildings.

My class was over at 4:00 PM and I had Arete class at 4:15 PM. I got lucky and received the class called, The Art of Henna. It was a fun class. I was able to learn some of the basic designs of henna. It looked easy. however, when I actually tried making the designs, it was hard.After Arete was over, we headed over over dinner. We sat with out proctor group again.

The final event was a scavenger hunt that each proctor group had to complete. Whichever proctor group won would earn house points. We basically had to solve a couple of riddles and find certain locations. It was a long walk around the entire campus. We had to complete some strange actions such as walk up to a stranger and sing a song.

I had a great time during my first day of class. I cannot wait to attend class tomorrow because we are going to a clinic!