Medical school is four years long. Year one (called M1) is learning how a normal body works: anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, etc. Year two (M2) is all about how the body can go wrong and how to fix it: pathology, immunology, pharmacology, etc. Only after these two intense years of lectures and written exams are we able to apply our learning in a hospital. Year three (M3) is filled with eight required clerkships in internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, surgery, psychology, neurology, emergency medicine, and ob/gyn. Year four (M4) is all elective rotations!
So, learning languages is a great metaphor for medical school. I'm not thrilled with these two years of pure bookwork before being able to touch a patient. But we gotta learn the basics - such as subject-verb agreement and how to conjugate - before being able to have a conversation. Physiology is like the past tense and medicine is like telling a story about yesterday.
To become comfortably conversational in a new language takes a whole two years. It's slow going. It's painful. It's headache-inducing. I now know enough to listen to a conversation but not quite enough to make small talk, if you will.
We finished our last final this morning. Today I am halfway through the preclinical years and 1/4 of the way through medical school!
So, learning languages is a great metaphor for medical school. I'm not thrilled with these two years of pure bookwork before being able to touch a patient. But we gotta learn the basics - such as subject-verb agreement and how to conjugate - before being able to have a conversation. Physiology is like the past tense and medicine is like telling a story about yesterday.
To become comfortably conversational in a new language takes a whole two years. It's slow going. It's painful. It's headache-inducing. I now know enough to listen to a conversation but not quite enough to make small talk, if you will.
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