A Day in the Life of a first year Medical Student!
- Nathan
- Jan 17, 2018
- 5 min read
Hi guys!
So, I have been puzzling as to what kind of posts to write on Medical School life. To me it seems repetitive and boring to talk about.
While I think a bit more about interesting or useful things to talk about I thought that maybe I could tell you about an average day in my life as a first year student here at Trinity School of Medicine!
5:30 AM: Wake up
-This is the start to my day (obviously). I typically get up before my wife so I start my day without a lot of noise or light. Instead I go out to the living room of our apartment and wake up there (so I don't disturb her)!
-I'll typically start coffee that I got ready the night before (if I remembered), but otherwise I get a glass of cold water from the fridge. Once the coffee is on I do a little bit of exercise, not a lot, just a few push-ups, sit-ups, and stretches, just enough to get my blood flowing so I don't fall asleep on the couch (learned to do that after a lot of trial and error).
-I pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down to have a bit of quiet time. Mine consists of reading a chapter or two in the Bible (I'm currently in Romans), and a few minutes talking with God about what I have going that day and what I want to get done.
6:00 AM: Breakfast
-Usually the praying and planning overlaps with this part of the day but I enjoy having a bit of time to myself.
-Breakfast consists of Cold Cereal and Milk. Usually with another cup of coffee.
6:30 AM: Study
-There's a half hour or so here to get some studies in! I usually do questions or look over topics that the professors will be teaching that day.
7:00 AM: Prepare for School
-Here's where the teeth brushing and such takes place! I get my bag ready (Oh! I could tell you what's in my bag usually... Anyway) and do other things that make me presentable. Then I head out to the area where the bus picks us up, maybe doing questions or something if I have more time.
7:30 AM: Bus to School
-This is fairly self-explanatory. Usually we pile into a 14 passenger Toyota van and arrive a while before the first class. There's generally enough time to get some hot water for tea from one of the fountains on campus (if I didn't have any coffee left) and setup my "nest" (chair) for where I'll be sitting the next 4 hours.
8:00 AM: Class or Study
-If I have class first thing I'll be in a class room, if not, I usually go to the Library and study for an hour, or until my classes start!
9:00 AM: Class
-This is the point in which info is dumped on you en mass. It is not unusual for there to be at least a textbook chapter worth of information to be presented to you each hour. However, if the professor gets into a particularly fast talking speed then you may cover two or more chapters in each hour!
10:00 AM: More Class
-More Info!
11:00 AM: More Class
-And still More Info!!!
12:00 AM: Home and/or Lunch
-Depending on what my day looks like I may either bring a lunch with me to school or head back home for lunch.
1:00 PM: Study or class
-This is my 'Digesting' part of the day (if I don't have an additional class or three). By digesting I mean I go through and look at everything that I studied that day and two days prior (long term potentiation learning... maybe another topic?) I make sure to do at least a few questions, read what the lectures or upcoming lectures are on, and watch lectures on the topics being covered in that review section.
-The other classes that I have may include Rotations at the hospital, labs, or any lectures that just didn't fit in the morning!
-This also includes several cups of tea or coffee with snacks to keep my energy up (Yay sugar and Caffeine)!
5:00 PM: Blog or other Stuff
-After all that studying my brain is fried. To recharge I would usually just sit and watch Youtube or if Emmy had time, go swimming together. Watching Youtube however isn't good in anything more than small doses, and it's easy to loose track of time, so instead to recharge I am changing what I do to either swim with Emmy or write a bit for you guys!
-Another reason to change this is so at the end of every day I can look back and have at least one tangible thing that I did!
6:00 PM: Supper
-Food!!!! Plus I usually spend a bit of time with Emmy. We have a Nintendo Switch so it may be just a quick ten minute game if we don't have any more time or sitting and reading a book together if it is a bit of a lighter day.
7:00 PM: Study
-More book work!!! This often includes a medical scientific paper of some kind or another, as well as meeting with my small study group.
-At this point I usually transition to herbal or green tea so I'm getting little or no caffeine before bed.
9:00 PM: Prepare for bed and none Screen Study
-So, this is a flexible time. Usually I try to keep from using cellphones and other screens at least an hour before bed, but if the week has been really heavy or it has been a day with a lot heavier content or number of classes then I may not be able to get away for screens as soon.
-If the day does go well I change into my Pajamas and read a bit more on my Kindle Paperwhite. The non-back-lit screen reduces eye strain and allows your brain to unwind. Emmy and I also make sure that there are no screens in our bedroom for similar reasons.
10:30 PM: Sleep
-So this is my ideal bed time, but like the last entry it is also flexible with how my day is going. I try and get 7 hours of sleep a night, but that doesn't always happen. No matter what though I always try to get up with my first alarm. It helps to have my body in that habit of getting up immediately when the alarm goes off. Not easy, but useful and important in my line of work!
Well!!! That is my schedule here in the first year of Medical School! Hopefully you enjoyed it, maybe it gave you some insight into medical school life, or maybe it even gave you some ideas into how you could schedule your day!
Please let me know about what your day looks like! I'd love to hear about what you do, and get some insights you have into what helps you in your days (I'm always trying to improve how I do things)!
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