Freshers Week at Northumbria

This past week commenced Freshers week at Northumbria which is equivalent to orientation week anywhere else. There were so many more people on campus and this was only the freshmen. In total there are around 30,000 "undergrads" that go to Norhthumbria. I put undergrads in quotes because the English system doesn't really have undergraduate degrees as they don't believe in a liberal arts education so they are all here on some sort of specialized program for their desired profession. Next week classes start for Norhtumbria, which is only ironic because our midterms start a week from Monday!

This week, every corner we turned there was another club offering a free membership in exchange for your email address and a free bag with goodies inside. Walking towards class at lunch time we saw this giant Carona bottle handing out limes with the name of some club and I just had to take a picture. This is my friend next to the giant bottle:

During another lunch outing this week I spotted a fluroescent bike, and when I got a little closer I noticed that it was a police warning to not steal people bikes. Luckily I'm deathly afraid to ride a bike here because you have to follow the traffic laws meaning you are biking on the "wrong" side of the street. I'm not really sure how much good a locked up bike with the word warning does to stop people from stealing but nevertheless it's what they do.

As I've mentioned before I wake up early to go to the gym, and recently it has been pitch black when I wake up. Around 15 minutes after I wake up the sun begins to rise and the other morning I caught a picture of a gorgeous sunrise right outside my window.


This coming week is lighter class wise, but that's only because we'll be studying for midterms for the majority of the weeks. I only have 3 midterms to study for, and unlike the unified they are all on seperate days which is really nice. Friday is my birthday, and unlike any other birthday I have repeadtly forgotten about it due to the shear amount of other things I've been thinking about. Therefore, I will not be celebrating on Friday as midterms are on Monday the celebration will have to be postponed.

1 class down, many more to go...

I know that I didn't update my blog last weekend, but in my defense I did have a huge test on Monday and a Final on Friday. I passed my unified exam and I don't have my grade back from my bioethics final on Friday but I think I did well! I'm officially done with one medical school class!

I am still on the quest for a picture of a constable in their funny looking hats but until then I figured I would give you a little bit of a teaser:believe me it looks so much funnier on an actual officer.

On Monday night after my unified exam I went to Metrocentre (Europe's Largest Mall) which is only 7 minutes away from Newcastle center by train. It has the ONLY mexican restaurant in Newcastle and it's still chain mexican food (more like Margarita's from the states). We then walked around the mall a bit and nearly got lost. They have so many stores including a build-a-bear and a disney store (both of which I never expected to see on this side of the atlantic).

I haven't taken any trips sense I last blogged, as I've been studying LOTS!

I did want to update you all on the laundry situation here, because if nothing else I need to laugh at it. There is 1 washing maching and 2 dryers for 150 students (yeah, you thought you had it bad). There is always someone doing laundry and I strongly contimplated waking up at 4 in the morning to do laundry, luckily I was able to put a load in after one of my flatmates. However, it did take me 2 seperate days to complete all 4 loads of laundry that I had to do.

A lot of students are thinking about moving off campus next semester to live closer to school and not have to take the metro in every morning, I'm considering it but I'm still not sure. It would be such a pain to move all my stuff.

That's all for now, my life has been pretty boring and filled with studying, Cheers!

What I've Really Learned....

In case there is anyone out there that thinks medical school is just fun and games and roaming around England you would be highly mistaken. I have in the past three weeks had: 18 anatomy lectures, 2 anatomy labs, 1 anatomy small group session, 17 biochemistry lectures, 12 histology lectures, 3 histology labs, 9 bioethics lectures, and 2 bioethics small group sessions. This does not include anytime that I am spending going to the anatomy lab or reviewing in small groups. I basically have class from 9AM-5PM every day, and as exhausted as I am at the end of the day I make dinner and then start studying again. I have been waking up at 6:20 every morning to catch the 7:03 metro into Newcastle so that I can get to the gym right when it open (because it's really busy right after class).

A week from Monday I have my unified quiz which contains 25 questions from each of the 4 subjects that I am taking and then that Friday I have my final for bioethics. This Monday I am doing an ethical debated on sickle cell anemia, and our grader is really tough. Apparently in England a good "mark" is 60-70 percent. I have persuaded my entire group to get dressed up for the debate in the hopes that it will win us some points (sense we have the bad side of the argument).

I have also reinstated the wall of biochem (for those of you who lived with me junior year you'll know what I'm talking about). It was actually quite easy this time around because I still had the document saved from the first time it. For those of you who don't it just contains all 20 of the Amino acids in the body including their structure and properties. Not only is it REALLY FUN to look at it adds something to my wall, it's very bare so it makes a nice wallpaper.

As for funny words this week I can only think of a few: motor-way (interstate), postcode (zip code), quid (same as pound, their money), and interestingly the traffic lights turn red and yellow simultaneously before turning green. I've also learned to look RIGHT then LEFT, I usually have to turn my entire body just to make sure I'm look RIGHT first.

Well that's all for now, back to studying sorry no pictures this week, but I do have a goal of getting a picture of a constable (yes they do exist, and they where boulder hats and patrol the streets), so maybe that will be next weeks picture, something to look forward to.

Cheers