Firestorm

The scholastic firestorm is underway (because I'm now bored with the "marathon" metaphor). It technically began last week, but yesterday was the first of the Shelf exams - physiology. It wasn't that bad, actually - I'd been going over it all pretty thoroughly, and I've gotten fairly comfortable with the information. I still have to see how I did, but with the whole strange double curving and all, I don't know if it'll be an accurate representation after all is said and done. Today we had the biochemistry shelf, and I suppose it went alright as well. So far, I have the general feeling that these were written to see what we (as students) could figure out, or how obsessively we read. I don't think I could have studied too much more for either one of them and significantly changed anything. Not everything tested was covered in our classes, but I don't feel like we're getting any less of an education than our on-shore counterparts. I feel like I've got a decent grasp of the information (and I've been doing well academically), but this is the first real comparison. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Even though I just got done saying that I completely believe we're getting an education comparable to that of U.S. medical students, allow me to add the following: a physiology professor (a Ph.D who shall, obviously, remain nameless), when questioned, did not know what dysmenorrhea was. It was not the case that he didn't know exactly the specific prostaglandin implicated in its etiology (an actual question on our physiology shelf exam). Rather, when asked about it, his response was "You mean amenorrea, right?" Perhaps more alarming is the fact that I knew the difference before ever starting medical school - it's not that rare of a condition. More alarming still, is the fact that this man taught us reproductive physiology! So, when someone says to me that they want to ask a professor something, and I respond with a sardonic "They probably don't know" - I may just be tellin' it like it is.

A few days ago - sometime last week - Nicole and I went strolling down the beach. Here are some pics from that evening walk - I think sunsets are this country's greatest natural resource. I mean - look at that. They're all different, and every one is absolutely picture perfect. I need an external hard-drive just for pictures of sunsets! I could stay here for my 5th semester AICM (advanced introduction to clinical medicine), but I'm pretty set on going back to Miami. Those sunsets'll be one thing I miss.