Mondays Bite

After a busy weekend, it was no surprise to find everyone having a tough time waking up. If you thought the weekend was time to catch up on sleep, you thought wrong. Time management is key to making sure you stay on top of what you as individual need to get done. For most people, their laundry was their top priority last weekend. And as a result, there were ridiculously long lines for the washer and dryer machines. A wait list was even implemented by the time I came down to the basement to do a load. There was no free time during my so called "free" time. Even if I'm just attending Vanderbilt Summer Academy, I've already started getting a taste of college life, and am already feeling the repercussions of not using my time effectively.

Today in class, we dove more into the science of being in medicine. Though it was a rough overview, I was able to get an understanding of the physiology and anatomy of the cardiovascular system by Jake. He even used examples using Vivian to explain some of the material. Accompanying Jake's lecture was a lecture on electrophysiology. As Jon said, it takes years of learning to get a grasp of electrophysiology. And because of our time constraints, an hour would have to do. Within our allotted time however, we were given the basics of reading EKGs and their meanings. They both did their best to make it simple to comprehend and interesting to pay attention to. Right after their lecture, Attending Cardiologist of Vanderbilt University Quinn Wells came to visit. He went over atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Dr. Wells has definitely been one of my favorite guest speakers to listen to because of how engaging his lecture was to listen to. His passion for the subject was shone through the ease of his speech. It was down to the point without being too easy. But without Jake and Jon's lessons, there would be no background information for Dr. Well's lecture to stand on. Each lecture complimented the next. 

What was most interesting in class however came after lunch. I learned about the MD/PhD program four students at Vanderbilt University were currently taking. It was the first time I've ever heard of its kind. After undergraduate school, students can take two years of medical school, four years in pursuit of their PhD, and then another two years of  medical school. When asked about how competitive it was, Blair Stocks mentioned it was less competitive than medical school. But he did mention how crucial it is to love research. If not, there's no point to spend additional years for this dual degree. Each of the four students who came to talk to us had different concentrations of research, ranging from diabetes to lung cancer. Having the possibility of being a doctor and using your current knowledge while researching for future cures and prevention is a great opportunity I may have never learned about. It's given me yet another career path I could possibly take. 

This week, my Arete is self-defense. And to my surprise, I have class with Thomas and Loan. Although Keli'i doesn't have class with us, he's in the room right next to us taking a dance class. Once we began, we were greeted by two instructors. Both of our instructors could easily break their opponent into two. I could feel the intensity of their strength while being used to show my partner the steps of two techniques we learned when being grabbed. I desperately need to toughen up and relax as soon as possible. My arm tended to tense up unconsciously. As a result, my left hand was throbbing for the next couple hours. Luckily, it's recuperating for our upcoming lessons tomorrow.

While guarding second base.

For SOFT night, I decided to play some kickball. With about 10 students and our proctor Will, we each divided into two teams. I felt like I was in PE class while each team captain was deciding who to choose. I wasn't last, but I wasn't first either. The rules were a tad fuzzy since I haven't played since I was my elementary school days. But before I knew it, I was getting the hang of the game. I had a blast playing kickball, regardless of how many people were. As the old saying goes, less is more. Nature however, wasn't on my side. This time, it under different circumstances. Halfway through the game, I noticed tons of bug bites on both of my legs. I didn't just have three bug bites on my left leg anymore. I had no idea my skin would react this way while in the South. As soon as we came back to the Hank Ingram House with a tie, I went to the office for some anti-itch cream. Thankfully, my bug bites are calm, cool, and collected. 

Playing kickball in the open fields of Vanderbilt University.

For the rest of the night, I played Monopoly on the second floor lobby. Although we weren't able to finish the game before our proctor meetings, we decided who won based on how much money each player had left. Even with it being my first time, I came in second place. First place went to one of my friends from Shanghai, Maggie. Lots of laughs were exchanged during the game, especially when having to pay Maggie when landing on "death row"(Maggie's properties). With a good start to the week, I can't wait for what the rest of the week shall bring me.