“But first…I need to study”

Yes, this sentence pretty much summarizes my second year at med-school.

I´m studying at the 3rd medical faculty at Charles University in Prague. This faculty is the only one in the Czech Republic which teaches anatomy and physiology together in only two semesters (usual length is about 4 semesters). I don’t know if this intensive type of education is beneficial for students or not, and I am not going to discuss this issue. From my point of view I can say that I’ve spent the last 9 months with textbooks, and my memories are: studying, books, school, library, four days: Christmas, one day: New Year, three days: break between summer and winter semester. I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times I had to text my friends, classmates from high school and even my family, and tell them that I was sorry, didn’t have time to see them because I had to study.

The most demanding times were during so called “necropsy courses” – it means obligatory studying at necropsy room, which are finished by an oral exam. During these weeks we had morning classes from 8 to 13 and from 13:30 to 18:00 we had to attend classes at necropsy rooms (presence was compulsory). During nights (and in my case during really early mornings) we had to study for morning classes as well as necropsy classes. Another quite stressful period just finished : preparation for our final Modul A exam, which involves everything we have studied during our last year (anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology and biochemistry).

Fortunately my continuous studying was effective enough and I passed my final exam. I even achieve to have an average at final certificate 1.0 (last time I had this grade average was maybe 4th class at primary school). But it is not so perfect as it looks like – it is only because our tests which we had to pass during the year are not included in our final grade. Of course I did not pass every single test with such a nice grade, I even had to retake a couple– yes it is kind of normal at med-school; to fail the course tests and to retake them at a later term.. Anyway it’s all done now and I can finally try to live a normal life – go home, see my family, focus on Norwegian studies, enjoy a free weekend and go running for a change.

During this hard year I got some really interesting opportunities – I didn’t hesitate and I´m going to use them during summer. For example I´ll have a summer practice at the Institute of clinical and experimental medicine, where I am going to participate in a research focused of oesophageal diseases. Another kind of exotic opportunity is my summer practice at BayView Hospital at Barbados. At the end of august I’ll travel to Norway – finally holiday, where I am going to practice my Norwegian.

I am hoping that my next article (after summer) will be more amusing.
 

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