Something at which all graduate students in the School of Public Health seem to excel is the fine art of procrastination. This is not a new skill of mine, thus I have it perfected maybe beyond the abilities of others. The one person I have met thus far who can trump me in this marvelous skill is my buddy the medical student, who's here for a year to quick get an MPH in the middle of his attempts at getting an MD. I'm not positive that he has opened a book yet. Lucky for him, it doesn't seem to matter. I am subsurfacing along with the rest of my fellow SPHers, hoping the wave doesn't come to pull me under.
As I may have mentioned previously, classes aren't necessarily easy. They're not hard yet, but they're not easy. Epidemiology seems straightforward and logical, thus it's a matter of learning the terminology to survive. Also, it appears that the professor has this crazy expectation of us to be academic track athletes, thus giving us about 2 minutes to complete approximately 1,000 essay questions on a test. This is the rumor I've heard, being that apparently only one person actually finished the final last year.
My latest news is attempting to find a research lab to work in for the duration of this year, the summer, and next year. It would be ideal to get a GSRA position, where at least part of tuition is paid, however this seems to be a difficult task. Thus far, I've sent out two emails total and have heard back from one -- a study on genetics and bipolar disorder. They, unfortunately, do not have the funds to offer a GSRA position, but that's okay.
I'm currently working for an OB, though I haven't gotten really into the job quite yet. I completely my training modules and recently started to go through the data collected so far to see how much I understand of it. I will have to see how the lab-thing fits into my schedule though, since that's more important and necessary to graduate than working for this OB. It is, however, a very interesting project and I'd like to be involved with it.
But, back to wasting time (which I'm doing right now, since I have an hour before class begins and only one assignment to work on in that time)... There are a lot of neat things to get involved in here. Some of my friends and I are thinking about trying to go to the swing dancing lessons at the Union sometime, as well as participate in things like drinking sangria on the porch at Dominick's some Thursday nights.
There are also a lot of neat lectures and symposiums to attend. i.e. I decided that I may want to add an environmental concentration to my epidemiology degree after I attended a lecture by this world renowned Australian epidemiologist on the environmental effects on health. I'm currently looking into more EHS classes to add to my schedule for next fall... being that I don't exactly have a lot of elective space otherwise!
I'm getting plenty done though, despite my occasional preoccupation with fun and laziness. It's a lot of reading though, and memorization isn't my strong suit, so it's going to be a lot more work for me than for some others here. That's what the weekend is for though, right? A lot of reading....? Mom, maybe I need you to call and yell at me to get to work like I'm in junior high.
Really, though, I love it here. It's so interesting to meet people, whose lives and stories have taken them so many places, and whose ideas are jumbled with experiences I've never even contemplated.
The latest idea though... Girls backpacking trip through SE Asia, South America, or Eastern Europe after graduation in 2009. Maybe we can help with the health of the populations we encounter while we're there.
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