My Tutor!

Today I went to see my academic tutor! I call him Dr Tim, and he is a really nice guy! Every student is given their own tutor at the beginning of their first year at Nottingham. His or her job is to look after the students academic progress, including their exam results and to generally be a source of help for any issues that should crop up. Which is why I went to see mine about my broken leg! Hopefully he is going to give me some advice about how to cope with all the work i've missed and see whether I will get special consideration should I mess up my exams because of my injury! I think the tutor system works really well, some of them are hardcore research scientists (like my Dr Tim who researches mitochondria!) and some of the tutors and clinical consultants (so their lucky tutees get taken on ward rounds!).
Tomorow is the medics Christmas ball, themed on Las Vegas! Its a big occasion with members of all years attending! This year for entertainments (ents) there will be sumo wrestling costumes so we can battle against each other, an 14 piece jazz band, a rock band, fireworks over the big lake at the hotel where its taking place and lots more! All in all its gonna be a very special night!
The only problem being is that we have a kidney workshop until 5 o clock tomorrow! Which gives us very little time to get ready! In some of our module we have the occasional workshop/practical type session in addition to the main set of lectures. The one tomorrow is investigating the acid-base balance function that the kidneys perform! (hopefully it will end early!). Some of them are very useful, others seem like a bit of a waste of time, all are compulsory tragically!

The run up to Christmas!

First of all, another apology for the gap between posts, but I do have a good reason!Ive broken my leg playing rugby! I can assure you all it is very painful, and for the more enthusiastic of you out there a bit of detail...I have fractured my fibula and tibia (a Weber B fracture) and dislocated my ankle (rupturing the medial and lateral ligaments!). Now I find it pretty cool that I actually understand what I just wrote..I guess it means I am picking up bits of knowledge here and there at medical school!
The course has been continuing non stop despite my absence in hospital, so I have returned from being an inpatient to find a mountain of work awaits me! No messing around now, I am going to have to work very hard if I want to pass this semester! However being practically confined to my house does have its good points...im not free to post on this blogg at much more regular intervals (having just had the internet installed in my house!).
The most demanding part of my course for me continues to be anatomy, and the dreaded weekly oral exams that we have to endure! I know deep down these tests do force me to learn the work to some level, but I still feel hard done by! At the moment we are learning about the spine and the face (always thought they go hand in hand...didnt you?). These two areas are probably the least enticing to cut up...it really feels like you are chopping up a person when you begin to slice into their face! Not a pleasant task in my opinion! Of course, as with everything, you do get the hyper keen members of the group who are more than happy to excitedly tear apart the last semblance of humanity that our cadaver possesses!
One fun thing coming up soon is the Christmas medics ball. Nottingham has two medics balls per year, one in the summer and one at Christmas. This year the Christmas one is themed on Las Vegas, so, we have hired a mini church type structure to stick up in the middle of the ball room, so we can all get married together after one or two (or 7 or 8) glasses of wine!
The semester has gone so quick, since you do your finals in the march of your 5th year here I sat down a few weeks ago and realized that this time in just over 3 years I will be settling down ready to do those exams and become a doctor! A bit of a sobering (yet very exciting!) thought!