Defying Gravity

[sefkhet]

In the space of five years, I submitted three separate UCAS forms with twelve applications to ten different UK medical schools. I applied to King’s College London three times and thought that they should at least give me points for persistence. I’ve sat the MSAT and the GAMSAT and the BMAT and the UKCAT, and I’ve had nine interviews, clocking up hundreds of miles and a gallon of GNER coffee en route. There was the one particularly memorable occasion when I sat an entrance exam in Newcastle in the morning and then had an interview in Stockton in the afternoon.

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[sefkhet]

To go into the full story of my time at Durham would take a whole book and more time than I have. I went there with the intention of getting my degree, not getting noticed by anyone, not embarrassing myself, and getting out. I had no expectations other than that I would be able to use it as an alternative route into medical school.

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[sefkhet]

Today is my last Sunday in Newcastle.

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[sefkhet]

I've arrived safely in Glasgow.

If things have been more than a bit quiet on the blogging front, it's because I'm not sure that I have much to write about yet. I have registration on Tuesday and integration day on Wednesday, but there's nothing that medics are officially supposed to be doing this week, and I wasn't much of a person for freshers' week even when I was doing it for the first time. The main difference between the first time around and the second time around is that I no longer feel obligated to take part in events that revolve around alcohol, and I don't feel as though I'm alienating myself by doing my own thing some of the time.

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[sefkhet]

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been a fortnight since I was sitting in this very same room surrounded by more boxes than I cared to count. I’ve been in Glasgow for two full weeks, and the city is beginning to feel like home. I’ve been asked for directions and I’ve been able to give them, I have a regular commute in the mornings, and I’m finally a registered student again, complete with the obligatory picture that looks more like a criminal mugshot than a university ID.

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[sefkhet]

My life is very full at the moment.

I’m still meeting new people and promptly forgetting their names. I’ve had two real PBLs — and I’ll come back to that, but for now suffice it to say that it means I’ve actually had work to do this week. I’ve had an introductory session with my Vocational Studies group. I have a circle of acquaintances who don’t fall into either of those groups, people who could become good friends. I’m beginning to feel comfortable in Glasgow and to develop a life outside of medicine as well as within it. My life is very full, and very busy, and, for the most part, very good.

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[sefkhet]

It’s lateish on Monday afternoon and I’m returning the books I’ve been using to the proper shelves.

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[sefkhet]

I think you could probably say that it’s been a while.

In my absence, the first block of medical school has ended and I’ve had one glorious three day weekend before being plunged directly into Block 2 yesterday morning. And what have I learned? Well, to begin with, that I should probably attempt to keep more on top of the blog, as what keeps happening is that I sit down and realise that the list of things I have to write about is as long as my arm, and then bits and pieces end up being written in what I call ’shopping list format’, which I hate doing.

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[sefkhet]

I took a patient history for the first time this morning.

For the sake of both of our sanities, I am thanking God that it was an actor and not a real patient.

I had been told by my friends who have vocational studies on a Tuesday that if I wanted to volunteer for the role plays, I should try to choose the first patient. It took me so long to work up the nerve to volunteer that I ended up choosing the last patient. The blurb we had been given at the beginning of VS identified him as Mr P., a patient who was very laid back about the problems that he had. I’m not sure what definition of ‘laid-back’ they’re using when they write these things, but I expected almost anything other than what I actually got.

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[sefkhet]

I spent Wednesday morning at a hospice on the south side of the Clyde.

It may not be how most people would react, but afterwards, standing outside, I turned to my VS tutor and said, “This is going to sound weird, but it seemed like a really happy place.”

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