OMG We Have Friends!

We woke up at 6:30am and called our mentors to pick us up at 7 to go to the hospital. Sami, Sarah, and I were put into a rotation group with our three mentors, Anna, Devon, and Megan, and two of their guy-friends. Our group started in the vascular unit of the hospital where we and some 5th-years followed a doctor around to several different patients while he explained their situations and questioned us, but mostly the 5th-years, on each problem, the implications/diagnosis, and the treatment. Very cool! **(Our mentors are currently 3rd-years, meaning they are our age, but instead of undergrad they hop straight into their 5 year medical school program. Aka, they know a lot more than we do about actual patients, diseases, treatments, etc.)We were told later that a lot of the patients are too intimidated to come to the hospital to get care until their pain and severity of the condition are necessary for surgery, so most of the patients we saw had amputated legs, feet, etc. Not so cool :/

Our group was split so Sami, Sarah, Cherade, and I saw a 5th-year take blood from two patients, continued to the exam rooms to watch the previous doctor meet with a few vascular patients, and then we went to our first class. It was just an introductory class so we didn't learn anything, but it was very much like an American classroom. Apparently the (roughly) 60 students in the classroom have all had the same schedule and classes since they started the medical program, so they all know each other, and they all sit in the exact same seats since all of their lecture halls look exactly the same. How redundant.

Anna and Megan took us later to a grocery store in a mall we aren't able to walk to, and they invited a lot of their medical school friends to join us at a restaurant. They are all very similar to us, except with much cooler accents! We later were invited to a girl's apartment to watch the World Cup with them and were all giddy with excitement after we returned home from our long first day. We've been here 5 days and I'm already dreading the day I have to leave!

My "Raspberry Teapot" cocktail. How adorable. 

Ham and Mushroom pasta