First, I need to apologize: I have not written in a while. Writing a blog only takes an hour, and I've definitely had an hour of free time since August 22 that would have better spent writing. This won't happen again, I promise!
Since my last post quite a bit has happened. Briefly, here is a list of what has happened:
- My close friend Daniel Erick's wedding!
- Michigan vs. ND game with my older brother, Steve. It was the best football game I've ever attended. (Or am
likely to attend.) - Getting lost while going to a canoe trip, which actually ended up being a marvelous time.
- Michigan vs. EMU. A football game that wasn't too terribly interesting.
- Staying up far too late with my friend Yashar playing video games.
- Having some of the MSTPs (Md/PhD candidates) over for dinner: crockpot chili was a grand success!!!
- Playing soccer with other medical students on lazy Sunday afternoons
Now, finally, to the main subject: Cells and Tissues. Here at Michigan, the curriculum is divided up into sequences. The subject of this one is how do things really, really, work inside the cell. It's a fascinating subject: tiny molecules, proteins, work with little chemicals in the most specific and highly regulated ways, to make your body work. You've got to sort the right proteins to the right place (which is not a small task, believe me), with the correct orientation, at the right amount of time, in response to the correct stimulus, and they need to be broken down so that their effects do not continue for too long.
In summary: what goes on in all of our little cells, all the time, is something that is so incredibly complex and wonderful that I can't even begin to describe or fathom it all.
But, what this means practically for students, is lots of acronyms. Right now an ocean of acronyms is floating around in my head and I need to be able to tell what they're doing in response to what, how these proteins are turned on/off, and a number of other details that at times all tend to get all jumbled together. Here is a picture of what this means for me studying: I make mental maps.
I've got pages and pages of these maps, and most of them make sense. Yet after the sequence I know that I will forget the majority of what I've learned. Oh well. Such is the nature of school.
On an aside, I'm very happy. I love school and I love learning and I love my classmates and I love Ann Arbor and I love life. Things are going well!
