The Way Med School Actually Starts- a firsthand encounter.

Day One...

Was a disaster. I'm really trying to think of it in theater axioms- crappy first day means good rest of the year? Better to suck now so I won't kill patients later? I don't know, but whatever was going on- the universe had it in for me.
Before the classwork even happened I
(a) got lost
(b) couldn't find a parking spot
(c) was in the wrong line for a financial aid check
(d) didn't get a financial aid check
(e) had to go to the financial aid office to find that the government has not bothered to release my entrance counseling to the school, so I can't afford books until next week after the government talks to financial aid and financial aid talks to the business office and the business office talks to the bank.
(f) got lost on the way to the bakery where I was going to do a midmorning snack and relaxation
(g) spilled my cappuchino after the first sip all over my book bag
and (h) got lost on the way back to school.

So I finally get to my first class, biochemistry, and I'm actually pretty stoked about that one. The teacher is nice and seems committed to student success, started with the basics and picked up from there. I'm going to have to study- I always get screwed up with pKa and pH, and that's a lot of the first pathway we're learning. I feel like undergrad has left me perfectly able to pick up and study from where I stopped in ochem. 12:30 to 3:30, but it didn't feel that long, and it'll be a good class.

Second class, same room, 3:30 to 5:30- Musculoskeletal Anatomy. Should be good at this, right? I've already taken a year of the class, already worked with cadavers and necropsies, already have the flash cards.
Wrong.
So, in undergrad, you learn all the bones. Sort of. Then you move on to the muscles. Then the organs, the nerves, etc. Very linear and sort of exclusionary, focusing on the specifics of whatever particular facet you're working with.
Today, I got flattened by the anatomy bus of doom. I need to relearn or learn for the first time all of the bones, fossa, bursae, tendons, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels of the upper limb. The teacher has already told us that we can read the slides ourselves, and that if we have trouble, we should grab a book. He sounds totally unconcerned by the fact that he taught us nothing, and gave us a clinical situation that we needed to solve despite not knowing the muscles, nerves, or conditions that would solve his clinical solution. He seems inflexible and unavailable.
When do I need to know this by?
Next Monday.
So- let me just re-emphasize: Muscles, bones, nerves, blood, and how they work together, and common problems of the shoulder, upper arm, and upper back. In a week. With no other classes beyond the one I had today. No set book.
What would I do if I had my summer again? Buy a medical grade anatomy textbook and start memorizing it.

Oh, and then on the way home? Some jackass wouldn't let me turn into the lane I needed to be in, forcing me onto the bridge over the river, and I got lost and ran out of gas.
Happy first day of medical school.