Orientation: Day 1

Megan and I have with our
sweet backpacks on our first day!

Today was our first day of orientation at UNMC. It seems like actually being a fully licensed medical practitioner is almost forever away, but I suppose I've already come pretty far in my journey towards medicine. My roommate, Megan, and I were talking last night about how excited, yet nervous we were to begin today. The anticipation and worry had been building up since we were accepted in December, but until last night it didn't seem real.

The day began with some basic introductions about the school, our class, and what to expect during orientation week. We grabbed some lunch with our M2 buddies (students who were first year med students last year) and took a tour. My M2 buddy, and her twin, were actually students at Hastings High School, so it was a blast from the past to see them. After lunch, we broke into our Problem Based Learning (PBL) groups. These groups will change throughout the next two years, but the basic premise is that it's a small group that works through case studies. We create a differential diagnosis and management plan from a patient history and results from some fictional tests.

We also took our ID photos today. We will be using these photos for the next four years, and good news, my eyes are actually open for once in a smiling picture! (the little things in life...)

Well we already have assignments for PBL, so I'm off to do that while I wait for the Internet people to actually come install our internet (instead of us using a sketchy unlocked network).