It's the new year, 2015 and WE MADE IT THROUGH THE FIRST SEMESTER! From my perspective it was a great semester because it feels like Jason managed a healthy balance of lectures, study time, shadowing at the hospital and socializing with classmates and professors. Not to mention he got all "P"s (Pass!). Here's what it looked like for us, keep in mind, each school is different and depending on you and your med school spouse you should have room to shape the semester to best fit your lifestyle. Make it your own!
Lectures for Jason were 8am - 12pm, Monday through Friday. A lot of lectures (if not all) are recorded and posted on line which gives him freedom to choose a bit of his own schedule. He came to find that listening to them online produced better note taking because he could pause or rewind as needed. But this also means that it doubles the time it takes him to get through a lecture so he has to be strategic about skipping class. He would normally skip certain lectures to get in extra study time if he had an exam coming up or to catch up on sleep.
Study time is dependent on the personality of the medical student. For example, Jason studies best late afternoon through to however late he can stay up (usually between 12am - 2am). He studies other times too but he does better if he takes a nap after lunch or late afternoon, studies for a bit, eats dinner then picks up the books again. He also studies better by himself verses in a study group. He went to study groups this past semester but only before major exams. This routine actually makes it tough for me because I can't stay up as late as he does, I have to leave for work by 6:45am and can't function on such little sleep. It takes sacrifice on both our parts to make this work for our relationship, I'll be honest, it's been tough but it's not so much a medical school struggle as much as it is a "Jason and Sarah" struggle. It was tough even before med school.
Shadowing in the hospital depends on each individual class requirements. Most classes this semester didn't call for shadowing which means Jason had a lot of room to choose when and where to shadow. Outside of mandatory times, it's predominantly on a volunteer basis. And prearranged shadowing was very loose, he just had to show he was there. Family Medicine was the class that had the most shadowing "requirements" (again, very loose). I believe this is one reason why the students are required to get their white coats and medical tools within the first month of starting school. Plus they start practicing basic patient interviewing (the students roll play in class). Did I mention that Jason chose a highlighter yellow stethoscope?! So far he hasn't met anyone else who picked this color and it makes him happy, he is super unique and that's why I love him!
