Dateline 8/16/06

I am getting into a routine. Classes for a few hours in the morning, then I come back to my apt and take notes on the lecture using the course handout and read the next day's material. After wasting some time on the internet and eating dinner,I study my notes for a few hours, waste some more time,then go to bed. I have not been having much difficulty with comprehending the material so far, just that the volume is causing me to take longer to annotate and study then I would like. Anyway,the first test is on Monday, so I will really know where I stand after that.

As far as living in Philadelphia, I am getting used to it. I live in a pretty nice area, but it is generally non residential. There are surprisingly few stores and restaurants just north of City Center,especially supermarkets. The closest normal one is a 30 min walk (I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods down the street), although it seems the Wegmans in Cherry Hill is a 25 min bus ride so I will start going there (thanks to the state of NJ for providing the convenient bus. Don't get me started on public transportation...)

One thing I do like about Philly is all the public art and parks. It really is a beautiful place. The only thing that sucks right now is that I don't really no anyone here yet. I seem to have friends in every other city and country, and I haven't met people in my program very much either. That may change for the better when the other Drexel students get to campus next month, as I definitely get along better with engineering types.

Dateline 8/6/06

It has been a busy few weeks....and it is about to get worse. At the end of the summer,I met a girl on Craigslist and had a great summer fling. This lasted for 3 weeks or so, but then on August 1st,I quit my job,packed up my stuff, and got ready to move to Philly. I could not move in, however, until the 5th so I spent a few days in NYC, and visited my parents in Rochester before eventually moving in. Now I am here in Philadelphia's City center neighborhood trying to get used to the new surroundings and meet new people.
I have now finished 2 days of the program's 3 days of orientation, a lot of which is scare tactics to get rid of people who aren't that serious. That is note really necessary though, as they handed out the packets for the first module, and it was very clear (to me at least) that med school classes are no picnic. You basically need to commit an absurd amount of facts to memory, it is a giant data dump, and in this program, the 50% or so who remember the most get to move on, the rest go home. I am looking forward to the challenge and I cant wait to get started, although I can wait for the 12 hrs per day studying..