As my previous blog mentioned, I finally started school last Thursday 11/3! Naturally, it was quite stressful and everybody was speaking Spanish with a different accent than I've become accustomed to. Nonetheless, the first eight days of class have gone great.
Unfortunately, it takes an hour and a half to two hours each way, but it’s possible I'll get a “carrito” to drive to the capital (although that's going to take some courage!). Let's just say that Manhattan looks like a quiet country road compared to here...
While it takes forever to get to the capital, I'm happy to say I'm finally comfortable navigating my way around Guatemala City. It's HUGE, has a HORRIBLE reputation, and is SUPER busy. When you get past that and realize it's just another big city, it suddenly becomes more manageable. The first day I left at 5:30 and the trip was pretty fast, but leaving at 6am, the traffic was crazy. With time, I'll get myself into the groove.
The first day started off with a few of the big wigs talking about school and the most entertaining part was how they really drove in that we're no longer in [the Guatemalan equivalent of] high school – this is the university and it's TOUGH. Apparently about 30-40% of students don't survive the first year. Upon hearing that, I suppose I can agree with the MCAT's tactics a little bit more than I used to (although I still hate it), as it predicts success in the first year of medical school quite well. So instead of screening beforehand here, the class will just shrink a bunch the second year I guess. If I heard correctly, there are only about 1000 graduates from the school which makes 50/year. This year there are about 100 in my class.
This month, I'm only taking a review of math, chemistry, physics, and biology. In the spring, the real classes begin. So far, they’ve all started off well. Chemistry looks like it's going to be especially easy. As for biology, I'll start with the initial arrival of the professor – I could tell her Spanish was a little different and even struggled to understand her at times. When I went up to her after class to ask a couple questions, it turns out she's American, but has been here since she was 12. She went on to explain that most professors are bilingual and I'll be able to answer in English on the tests if I'm not sure how to say it in Spanish...boy I wasn't expecting that kind of special treatment!
We talked quite a bit Thursday and Friday and it appears I'll likely be able to skip chem, physics, and math, but it'll probably be a good idea to take biology even though most of it will be review. Since it's cell bio, they go into detail of some things I somehow skipped at Berkeley. Kind of odd, if you ask me...I read it over today, though, and it doesn't look too bad.
So we'll see how the rest of the month goes, but in any case I'm very excited and know it will turn out well. I'll keep everyone posted on any new updates. :)
Unfortunately, it takes an hour and a half to two hours each way, but it’s possible I'll get a “carrito” to drive to the capital (although that's going to take some courage!). Let's just say that Manhattan looks like a quiet country road compared to here...
While it takes forever to get to the capital, I'm happy to say I'm finally comfortable navigating my way around Guatemala City. It's HUGE, has a HORRIBLE reputation, and is SUPER busy. When you get past that and realize it's just another big city, it suddenly becomes more manageable. The first day I left at 5:30 and the trip was pretty fast, but leaving at 6am, the traffic was crazy. With time, I'll get myself into the groove.
The first day started off with a few of the big wigs talking about school and the most entertaining part was how they really drove in that we're no longer in [the Guatemalan equivalent of] high school – this is the university and it's TOUGH. Apparently about 30-40% of students don't survive the first year. Upon hearing that, I suppose I can agree with the MCAT's tactics a little bit more than I used to (although I still hate it), as it predicts success in the first year of medical school quite well. So instead of screening beforehand here, the class will just shrink a bunch the second year I guess. If I heard correctly, there are only about 1000 graduates from the school which makes 50/year. This year there are about 100 in my class.
This month, I'm only taking a review of math, chemistry, physics, and biology. In the spring, the real classes begin. So far, they’ve all started off well. Chemistry looks like it's going to be especially easy. As for biology, I'll start with the initial arrival of the professor – I could tell her Spanish was a little different and even struggled to understand her at times. When I went up to her after class to ask a couple questions, it turns out she's American, but has been here since she was 12. She went on to explain that most professors are bilingual and I'll be able to answer in English on the tests if I'm not sure how to say it in Spanish...boy I wasn't expecting that kind of special treatment!
We talked quite a bit Thursday and Friday and it appears I'll likely be able to skip chem, physics, and math, but it'll probably be a good idea to take biology even though most of it will be review. Since it's cell bio, they go into detail of some things I somehow skipped at Berkeley. Kind of odd, if you ask me...I read it over today, though, and it doesn't look too bad.
So we'll see how the rest of the month goes, but in any case I'm very excited and know it will turn out well. I'll keep everyone posted on any new updates. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment