Block Party
Ahoy, loyal readers (the 2 people that read the blog), premeds, and possible prospective patients! If you’ve noticed a conspicuous absence of my particular brand of handsome, witty, and slightly panicked energy on this blog lately, I apologize. It has come to my attention that in order to become a doctor, one must occasionally study. And by "occasionally," I mean "chain myself to a desk in a caffeine-fueled haze until my retinas are permanently imprinted with diagrams/maps of biochem pathways and muscle attachments." My social life has flatlined (I can only take so many rejections, jfc), a constant, low-grade anxiety replaces it, and my primary human interaction has been with my cadaver bro in the anatomy lab. "Block 1" exam is about to destroy me in a few days.
“Basic Science,” or preclinical curriculum, which is a tragically gentle name for what feels like a hazing ritual designed by academics with a sadistic streak. My brain is forced to be a high-density storage server for the brachial plexus, every godforsaken tendon/muscle/whathaveyou, and the fifty shades of pink that differentiate one tissue slide from another. It’s an intellectual smorgasbord where Gross Anatomy elbows Histology for space, while Physiology whispers menacingly in the corner about ion channels. Every time I open Anki, I vomit. I barely successfully cram one more anatomical tributary of the brachial plexus nerve branch into my hippocampus (pretty sure that's wrong, but hey, go with it here), and a cherished childhood memory gets booted from the system to make room. WTF man. That ain't living. I’m fairly certain I’ve forgotten how to ride a bike at this point. I'm not crying, you are (gonna go call my mom).
But a light flickers at the end of this shitshow. After this Block exam, we get to move on to the good stuff: organ systems. It feels like we’ve just spent eight weeks learning the alphabet, and now, finally, someone is going to let us read a book.
Anywho, brief update. Now I gotta do infinite Anki reviews. Catch you champs later, hopefully after I pass this exam.
