First Semester Classes of Medical School

Here in St. James School of Medicine, as a medical student in the first semester, I got introduced with one of the toughest subjects, Histology.  Apparently this one and only subject will rock anyone’s head due to the high volume of information that needs to be incorporated.  We have to study everything of the PNS, CNS, osteoblasts, osteocytes, and all the other detailed components and processes in our body at the molecular level.  The instructor challenges us to a level where we have to sleep, dream, and visualize histology.  The difficult level of the class surpasses organic chemistry class in undergrad.

The second most difficult subject is not really difficult but it’s time consuming.  Gross Anatomy, the basis of medical studies, is quite dull with studying nothing but the nerves, arteries, veins, muscles, bones, muscle origins and insertion points, and organs.  It’s not something that I put much interest into.  However, whenever I understand what does what, it boosts my confidence as a medical student because then I understand what moves underneath my skin as I move.

Embryology is the most interesting subject in this semester.  Studying embryology gives a more clear perception of what can happen or not during pregnancy.  Perhaps now I can figure out what happened to my baby brother that who died during his fetal period.  So far the subject is quite interesting and the discussions in class makes it more interesting.

The fourth and the least difficult subject is Medical Ethics.  This class has the least number of credit hours because the class is not that hard.  During class hardly anyone takes notes because it’s a class full of discussions based on common sense.  The instructor would give us a scenario in treating patients, and then he would ask us what we would do based on our ethical foundation.