Post FunMed Post

So, I've had a chance to properly unwind since that exam, and taking a proper step back from the hecticness (which really hasn't even properly started yet), I can say I'm actually happy. Alhamdulillah.  Yesterday I helped future students, interviewees, with tours and just sat with them and their parents before they went in for the dreaded interview, trying to calm their nerves. There was an afternoon shift and a morning shift for any students wanting to take part, and I opted for the afternoon (as I had PBL and lectures in the morning, and one missed afternoon lecture wouldn't be too difficult to catch up on), but I did find some time after my early morning PBL (problem-based learning, if you're wondering) to hijack a tour someone else was giving and discovered some things I didn't really know about the place, like the whereabouts of the museum I had wanted to visit (apparently displaying the bones of the elephant man). I really enjoy the experience of sharing with others, especially new people, and the morning tour I helped give was so passion-driving, the parents wanted to enrol at our university!  Yesterday was a reminder of how lucky I am to be where I am, doing the thing I've wanted to do. In the evening I also received my final result from the FunMed module (being a combination of separately-marked sections), and I passed! I got 62% overall, with the year average being 59%, but it has been a proper wake-up call for me to knuckle down and study for the rest of the year!

The cool Senior Common Room being used as an interview waiting area. On the upper floor are displays of human body bits.

 My earlier-than-normal PBL on a case of a woman giving birth was quite enjoyable, at 8 in the morning because our tutor had surgery later. He's an Obstetrics and Gynaecology guy, who basically sees new babies into the world and deals with 'women's issues' every day. He used to be the president of our union, and is quite a fun-loving guy, to the extent that he finds me 'extraordinary' and has to tell his mates about me. I tend to focus on 'psychosocial' issues in our cases, maybe due to the fact that I haven't researched the scientific side in as much depth as the rest of my group, but also because they are the cause of everything! Like the case of the pregnancy of our city-worker Cathy (the case we've been looking at), if it weren't for psychosocial issues, she'd never have got pregnant in the first place! Anyway, I do find that my rather quiet PBL group is a perfect audience for my attention seeking controversy-stirring outbursts.

The module that we're now learning is called Human Development, and it is a nice change to FunMed where you practically knew the stuff but in less depth. This is more or less new material we are learning, on the anatomy of the pelvis, all the reproductive organs and how they work, and the development of all the organs in the embryo. Interesting stuff. But the other components of our course are still on-going, like our GP placements and the poster task we had to present on Thursday. In our PBL groups we had to plan, design and produce a poster, and every week since the beginning of the year we had meetings and planned what we needed to do for it. Our group is quite laid back (leaving the printing 'til the day before), but in the end I thought our poster was too cool; the theme we were supposed to go with was "don't believe everything you see and hear in the media", and everyone else in the year focused on one issue like "does drinking coffee cure Alzheimer's?". We on the other hand looked more into the figures side of the things, using 4 outbreaks of diseases as an example, each illustrating how the media manipulates figures to produce catchy headlines in different ways.  Well I liked it anyway.

Looking forward to the holidays has been something I've been doing for quite a while, so I can catch up properly on work and take that deep breath before the beginning of another term. But this week has been rather relaxing, and I'm getting into the swing of things, even if it does mean waking up early when it's still dark and windy outside. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.