V-MAN!

Yes, that is the new nickname that has been given to me by a sizeable group of Aussies in my class. Well, let me go back and talk about the rest of the first week of uni.

Well, Monday was the first day of medical school and it was great! I met heaps of people and the stuff that we are learning in the lectures, expert tutorials, and the practical sessions are basic/clinical sciences. Normally, I would be groaning about what the point of studying all of that would be (I did groan a lot during my undergraduate degree). However, the basic information is made relevant to the study of medicine.

Tuesday was off to an interesting start as the first lecture was on celebrating life and confronting death. We learned about how the gross anatomy labs will be set up. We also learned about how we get the bodies; that being said, there is a Thanksgiving Service for those people and their families that have donated their bodies for our studies. The next lecture was on occupational health and safety, more specifically, in the labs and practicals that we will have over the course of the next two years. After that, we had our first lecture in anatomy. Even though it was an introduction, I realized that anatomy will be a course that will require some painstaking attention. The most fun lecture of the day was the medical communications course. All the information is common sense, for example, if you are in a patient’s hospital room and there is no chair, then you must ask the patient’s permission to sit on their bed. Also, we watched videos on the don’ts and do’s of medical communication. The video was made by a Canadian doctor, with a very dense British accent, who is the leading expert on medical communication.

That evening was going to be a good one because the next day was Australia Day. Some of my new friends (a healthy mixture of Australians and internationals [Canadians and Singaporeans]) and I headed to the medical students’ watering hole (it is by no means an exclusive place for us), called the Regatta Hotel (commonly known as the Regatta). Most bars (not clubs) in Brisbane have the word ‘hotel’ in it’s name, for example, Exchange Hotel, Victory Hotel, Royal Exchange Hotel, and Regatta Hotel. I asked a few local students why that is the case, still waiting for an answer to that question. Several drinks and laughs later, I knew that Australia Day would be a very low key one.

Wednesday arrived and I woke up at 12:30pm, while many other people I know went to see the cockroach races and other things in Brisbane. Cam and I stayed inside the entire day and watched two great matches played at the Australian Open (Davenport vs Molik and Hewitt vs some Argentine bloke) and Australia vs West Indies in a cricket match. The weather was real crap, so spending it inside wasn’t a bad option (NOTE: I am sure that people are going to flame me on not having gone out on that day and experiencing things around the city. In my defense, many Australians have told me that watching cricket and tennis are very Australian things to do).

Thursday was all about the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) that UQ (and all other graduate entry medicine courses) uses to teach its students. We have only 5 lectures (each lecture is 1 hour and we may have more depending on the week; each week we have a different schedule) in a week, which is the only didactic learning we will be doing. The remainder of the time will be spent on PBL groups, self-directed learning, practicals, and expert tutorials. We were told that the minimum amount of time that we will be in classes, PBL sessions, practicals and self study will be at least 50 hours a week.

Friday was a day that I don’t think that I will be able to forget. It started with a lecture on the duty of care and the legal and ethical questions surrounding the issue. We also had a lecture on homeostasis (the maintenance of relatively stable internal physiological conditions), which was followed by a two-hour session by the University of Queensland Medical Society. They talked about what sort of things the UQMS do and what benefits we would have. After having an arse numbing experience (we didn’t have any breaks, thus no getting up from our seats, until the end which was 5 hours), the UQMS held a barbeque for the first years. It was held near the lakes that are on campus. A miniature beer garden was set up. The heat mixed with copious amounts of beer/wine made everyone quite ‘happy’. (At the time I didn't know him) Dave came up behind me and screamed “V-MAN! I was told that you are the person that knows everyone!” I was like, “what the hell?” Apparently, there is a large following of V-MAN supporters in the back of theatre. At first, I reckoned that they were taking the piss out on me but it seems that these people really think that I am the person that people should get to know. My friend Dave (a Sydneysider) introduce me to a huge crew of people as V-MAN and that is what I am known as in a few circles. HAHAHAHAHAHA…V-MAN…oh god. Okay, back to the story. I participated in boat races against the upper years. Myself, this Canadian girl named Renee, and 6 Aussie guys (Dave was one of them) were unbeatable! For those of you that don’t know what boat racing is, it is a very popular drinking game. The object of the game is to have your team skull (the Australian term for ‘chugging”) their beer the fastest. You have to place both of your thumbs and your chin on the table before the game starts. The referee will let the first two people know when they can start. Once the first person finishes skulling their beer (and placing the glass upside down on their head – this means that you have to finish everything in your glass or else you will have beer running down your hair, face and neck), then the next person skulls, so and so forth. I didn’t think that I would be able to do it. In doing so, I made a number of friends. I met a number of Daves (there were 5 and it reminded me of the song, “these are the Daves I know I know, these are the Daves I know by Kids in the Hall), and they invited me to play touch footy (touch rugby). I have never played, so they were trying to teach me how to throw the ball (which is much harder than most people would reckon). It was great; so great, that I am thinking of joining the UQ Med Rugby team, which is sanctioned by the state of Queensland as a official team (as opposed to being only sanctioned by the uni). The beer gardens were shut down just before 6pm. I made myself back to Claire’s flat and waited for her. She was going to drive the rest of my belongings to my new place. After getting dropped off and having all my belongings all over the place, I quickly unpacked and leaving all others things off to the side. Now, all I have had to eat today was a bowl of yoghurt and granola for breakfast and a veggie burger for lunch. I knew that I had to make dinner or else I will be brutalised by the end of the night. I made noodles/spaghetti. It wasn't too bad, considering that I don't have my spices and things set up.

Regardless, I had to get ready and meet up with the first years at…yes…the Regatta. Upon my entrance to the place, I can hear this cacophony of “V-MAN”. I had quite a difficult time staying in one place – it’s not always a good thing to be a social butterfly. Nonetheless, I met some new people (Aussies) and danced some good Indian style dancing even though there was no Indian beats being played. HAHAHAHA. People got a great kick out of it. My reward for this awkward display was that a number of people come up to me and told me that I had a great sense of dancing style. A couple of girls came up to me afterwards and asked if my hair was naturally curly – they ran their fingers through my hair…so good. :) The night, unfortunately, had to come to end. I walked home with Graeme, a Sydneysider, who is also a competitor for the Iron Man Triathlon. This is the great thing about being in this sort of class – everyone is from a different background and most of the fun will be getting to know these people and what sort of strengths they have brought to the Class of 2008.

Then Saturday came...and that will have to be another update as it requires my full attention. At the moment, I need to finish up my presention to my PBL group on the legalities and ethics of Duty of Care.