It\u2019s hard to believe that it has only been 6 weeks since that oh-so-exciting first day. My flatmates were my main concern \u2013 what are the chances of 8 complete strangers getting along? This was followed closely by \u2013 wait, hold up a sec. I\u2019ve been working my socks off to become a med student for years and now I\u2019m here, is this what I want and will I be able to do it??<\/p>\n
Thankfully those questions were swiftly answered. Fresher\u2019s week melts away any fears about not making friends. Standard clich\u00e9 line but – everyone is in the same boat, and Lancaster make sure that you have a great time. Flat reps: one thing that I didn\u2019t know about beforehand – so listen up. When you arrive, each flat is assigned two reps (older students) that take you under their wing. They aren\u2019t like controlling parents sticking their noses in, they\u2019re a bit like cool older siblings who are the pool of all Lancaster wisdom and can answer everything; taxi numbers, which bus to get or luckily for one of my flatmates even how to replace a snapped door key at midnight.<\/p>\n
For the anxious parents out there, the reps also make sure you get home okay during the first week. Sounds silly now \u2013 but trust me, when you\u2019re having a fab time at the paint party (100% would recommend) and realise you\u2019re covered in UV paint, it\u2019s 2.30 am and you\u2019re in a totally new city (maybe had a few too many), you\u2019ll be glad to know there\u2019s someone looking out for you.\u00a0 My personal highlight of fresher\u2019s was the silent disco \u2013 I challenge you to name something more fun\/cheesy than dancing the night away to the likes of Mr Brightside and all the S Club classics.<\/p>\n
Staying with the guidance theme, as a 1st year med student we are assigned a medic parent (second year) and a medic grandparent (fourth year).\u00a0 We meet with them during fresher\u2019s and they are there to help with absolutely anything. It\u2019s a brilliant way to get to know the upper years and all the secrets, tips and tricks on how to survive and thrive.<\/p>\n
Moving on to the course – it\u2019s definitely lived up to expectations. I absolutely love it, especially clinical skills. We spend two hours a week at the hospital and have very interactive sessions. The first time I used my stethoscope to learn how to examine the abdomen, that\u2019s when it felt very real. Luckily for me, my flatmates are more than willing for me to practice on them. Unluckily for them I\u2019m not quite the doctor they think I am yet and unfortunately don\u2019t know the cure for the dreaded fresher\u2019s flu. (Naps. Naps solve everything. I didn\u2019t tell you that though.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also a part of Teddy Bear Hospital, a society run by med students who go to local schools and lead sessions with children, aiming to reduce anxiety and fears about hospital. The kids bring their \u2018sick\u2019 teddies in and then we work through diagnosis and treatment. (Let me tell you, you soon rediscover how fun toy thermometers and bandages are.) It\u2019s something both fun and meaningful and really gives you some perspective, especially if you\u2019ve been in a little study bubble all week.<\/p>\n
I could write pages on how fabulously crazy the past month has been; I can\u2019t wait to see what the next few weeks bring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
9th November 2016<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hard to believe that it has only been 6 weeks since that oh-so-exciting first day. My flatmates were my main concern \u2013 what are the chances of 8 complete strangers getting along? This was followed closely by \u2013 wait, hold up a sec. I\u2019ve been working my socks off to become a med student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":640,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[39,91,90,93,55,92,89],"class_list":["post-211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-year","tag-clinical-skills","tag-freshers","tag-freshers-flu","tag-medic-parent","tag-stethoscope","tag-teddy-bear-hospital","tag-year-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DRQc-3p","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/640"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/fhm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}