Tiffin

I decided to change the format of this blog to a food blog... something that's a bit more interesting to read about than studying. I'll try to add in the occasional medical anecdote as well :)

Being of Indian origin, I am used to having "tiffin" in the afternoons at home. Tiffin is a common afternoon snack. It includes savory snacks and the ubiquitous cup of chai.

For my tiffin snack today, I chose to make a bread upma, a delicious way to put your stale bread to use. I remember my mom making this on a regular basis when I came back from school, back in the day. It is easy to make - Temper with mustard seeds, cumin, and hing (asafoetida). Slice bread into cubes, and saute with red onions, green chili, and tomato. I like to use grape tomatoes because of their wonderful sweet flavor and juicy texture. Season with chili powder, turmeric, and salt. Done! Combined with a hot cup of ginger chai, this snack is the perfect pick-me-up to tackle the rest of the day.

Lesson #1

Welcome to my blog! First off, sorry Nina for stealing this name - I'll change it once I figure something out. Secondly, the reason for this blog:

As an undergraduate, there were so many memories and profound moments that I never wrote down. But med school is a totally different experience - I am so lucky to be here and hence decided to chronicle my time here as best as I could. This includes all the good times, the bad times, and all the crazy ones as well. Contrary to what many people think, medical students DO have a life outside of their books, and I hope to serve as an ambassador of moderation. Now on to the good stuff...

The M-1's just had our first Structure and Development (Anatomy) exam this past Monday. Now it is Friday and I still find myself burned out, as do others. The exam itself was intense - 2 hours multiple choice, 1.5 hour wet practical, and a 2 hour dry practical - longer than the MCAT! It truly required a great amount of mental stamina to just get through it. Then of course there is the studying. Ah, the studying. Even as a biology major at UMCP, we never had midterms consisting of more than 10 lectures/test. Here, we were tested on approximately 28 lectures, as well as lab material. Nevertheless, the greatest apprehension, for me at least, was due to the fact that it's the first exam! Could this be my make it or break it exam? Does this determine where I fall for the next year, 2 years, or even the rest of my medical career? Plus, there was the fact that no one knew what to expect.

The exam was computerized, other than the wet practical - and as much as many people tried to not look at their scores, sometimes the occasional slip/saccade (bad joke) occurred and gave way to many stoic faces encountering their percentages - be they good or bad. I'm way too curious for my own good, so there was no way I would not look at my score.

I'm sure you are all wondering, what did you get? No numbers needed, but after taking this test, I felt that I could have done a lot better, considering that the majority of questions were fair and directly from content we learned in class. The main take home message for me at least was that procrastination truly does not work. It is just impossible at this point of life. There was always the occasional test in college where we stayed up to pull the ubiquitous all-nighter, or crammed in 2 days to get a decent score. Cramming will get you a less than decent score, to say the least.

So, to conclude:

Lesson #1: Don't wait until the last minute. Do be systematic.

Next post won't be so academic, I promise :)