What I've learned in my first year of med school

“So here’s my advice: study broadly and without fear. Learn a language if you can because that will make your life more interesting. Read a little bit everyday. But most impostantly, try to surround yourself with people you like and make cool stuff with them. In the end, what you do isn’t going to be nearly as interesting or important as who you do it with” John Green 

Studying a degree, or going into any higher education after high school is not exactly plain sailing. Specially at the beginning. Well, at least it is for most of us. It's a completely new way or working, of thinking even. New people, tons of material to stuff inside your head... My first year as a med student, after struggling a lot to get in this madness, hasn't exactly been what I expected, but I've learned lots of things I didn't think I'd learn. And I did it the hard way. 

• Work every day: this is very important. Like, wow, so important. I didn’t work every day in my first term and I regretted it to no end. If you work a bit and do it wisely everyday, you’ll be ok. Write down your own notes, resumes, flow charts, draw diagrams, take mock test, write explanations for something you don’t understand… The more you work your notes, the more you'll learn. 

• Stay in touch with your friends: seriously, friends are one of the most important things for a med student. For anyone, really. We spend too much time studying, and they know when to take us out to the street to see the light again. Also, studying with fellow classmates will help you a lot, because two or three or four brains think better than one alone, but don’t make your study groups too large, I would advise a study group of 5 (and that’s already a lot) people at the most, otherwise you’ll surely get distracted. Make sure those people are hard working, because as tempting as it is, you don't really want to have a sleep over, but an studying session. 

• Eat healthy, take long showers and do some exercise: I’ve literally felt my bones rotting while sitting in my desk chair studying. I never did proper exercise, I just walked my dog, and that’s not enough. Sometimes I didn’t eat and other days I ate everything I could, and that’s not healthy either. This summer I’ve started working on that, I still have a long way to go, but I’m on it. Also, long showers are relaxing. It’ll lessen the stress from your muscles and it’ll give you proper time to keep your mind blank for a bit. And if you sing as loud as you can while showering, then you’ll feel fantastic. This is first hand experience. I'm a scientist after all. I value the worth of empiricism.  

• Stay humble: It’s incredible the amount of amazing people I’ve met in med school, but it is also incredible the amount of envious, pretentious people I’ve met in med school. People who looked down on you for not getting As, people who thought that they always had the right answer and never listened to anyone, people who didn’t share their knowledge or helped a peer in need… You are studying medicine. You are going to treat people. Not just patients. PEOPLE. If you can’t collaborate and be nice to your fellow workers, how can you care for other people? This takes me to another point: 

• Stay in contact with art: Any form of Art. Dancing, painting, writing, singing, sculpting, acting… Whatever you enjoy. But stay in contact with Art. As I’ve already stated, you are going to treat more than patients, you are going to treat a body, yeah, but also a mind, and that’s where Art comes in handy. Art is the purest expression of human minds. If you can understand the mind of your patient, your treatment will be successful in an 80%. Patients like to feel that their doctor is listening to them, that they have enough strength to fight their illness and make them go through something as hard as a serious illness. No one leaves feeling well of a clinic in which they’ve been discarded in two minutes and they barely had the opportunity to tell what’s happening to them. An illness is a narration, and you must listen and interpret it. 

• Ask for help: If you think you’re struggling with something, ask for help. To your professors, your classmates, your parents, a tutor… There’s nothing shameful in asking for help when you don’t know something or you don’t know how to tackle a task. No one was born with absolute knowledge (despite what some med students may think of themselves…) and being brave enough to say:"I want to do this well, but I don’t know how to do it. Let’s find someone who knows how" tells a lot about your willingness to learn. 

• Enjoy yourself, your life as a med student, and stay passionate: don’t loose your enthusiasm. Go to parties if you like them, go to calmer nights at home with your friends and a bowl of popcorn, go for a ride with your music as loud as you can, go to that festival you’ve been wanting to attend for 5 years… That’s what is going to get you through med school, through illness, through loss, through hell and through whatever life throws at you. You are a student, one of the most beautiful things someone can be. You are a great person, a good friend, a good son, a good brother or cousin or maybe uncle, a good musician, a good writer, a good cooker, a good sewer, a good dog-walker… I don’t know man, just look at yourself, realize how hard it is to even be born, realize how many things could have gone wrong and realize how lucky you are to be doing what you really want, to have the overwhelming sensation of having so many open paths ahead of you, realize how wonderful your friends are and go have some coffee with them, realize how much luck you’ve had, how many things you’ve fought against, and how many things went horribly wrong but have already passed. Realize how many things you can do with your time, and do them. 

• Value the worth of knowledge: there's nothing I value more than knowledge. It's not only a source of personal growth, but a source of independence. With knowledge, you can't be fooled, no one can take advantage of you, and you'll have a much more open mind. I'm not just talking about academic knowledge, but the knowledge that comes with all sorts of experiences, with reading, with music, with art. Realize how important it is that you can learn, how amazing it is that we can even learn, that we have a brain that can understand itself and the world we live in, and learn. 

Although I wrote this form the perspective of a med student, I'm sure you can somehow apply this to some aspect of your life. Or maybe not. I don't know, but I think these things are important, and therefore I wanted to share them with you. 
And yes, what you see there is a real human skull. Hur hur. 

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And you? Have you learned good things in uni? 

In highschool? Anywhere else? 

Tell me your experience, I want to know!