So it’s been a month or so since University started back and I’ve already started to slack. I’m currently sitting in the library typing up my “Building an Organism” lectures as I have a test on it this afternoon and as I have slept through the majority of the lectures, I’m not too confident of my passing ability of this test. It’s a boring subject to be honest, the lecturers are good it’s just the subject that doesn’t interest me. And it’s in the Anatomy lecture theatre which if anyone knows it, is a cozy little theatre (well it’s usually ROASTING actually) where you can sit in the back row and lean back for a wee snooze rather comfortably!

However on a positive note, I have, since the beginning of this semester, only missed about 3 or 4 lectures. And mainly for good causes such as it was raining or I was sleeping. I’ve also kept pretty much on top of my lectures, I’ve not left too much unwritten. I mean I know I say I haven’t written up my Building an Organism lectures, but I have the standard lecture notes printed off from good ol’ Moodle so it’s not as if I have nothing to go on.

I’ve also had my first couple of labs and tutorials this week. The first lab – human form and function – was somewhat shocking. It was a sort of “guided tour” of the anatomy museum, which I had only heard rumours about until this week. I had heard that there was a computer suite specifically for the use of biology students where you would be surrounded by dissected penises and cyclops babies. Guys, this wasn’t a rumour! There honestly actually is cyclops babies and they are the creepiest thing I’ve ever come across! If you are not squeamish, I strongly recommend visiting the anatomy museum as it really is amazing and it’s open to all as far as I know. They have real dissections of every body part downstairs, but you will have to go upstairs to get the real interesting specimens – by that I mean the mutant babies.

My first energy metabolism lab was somewhat less interesting. Three gruelling hours of pipetting various solutions very precisely into 60 little tubes and then testing the absorbency of these at various times over half an hour. It was rather boring. If you like mucking about with test tubes in a lab then I suppose it would have been exciting, but it confirmed that I am destined as a doctor rather than a biomedical scientist to be honest!

So aside from my intense academics, I have joined the cheerleading club. Please don’t laugh. I spent many idle hours in the library looking at the various clubs on offer and finally decided I’d like to do cheerleading, so I persuaded one of my friends to come along with me and I have been to two sessions so far and I’m really enjoying it! It’s not too hard, it’s a bit scary as I am a “side” which means I am the person who, along with the other “side” bears most of the weight when throwing our “flier” up into the air. And I am also the one who is expected to catch her! We also learn dance routines which are so fast and jumpy I find it hard to keep up, but it’s a skill I hope I will learn. So far we have done the beginning of two different routines. One I can remember absolutely none of.

So as a result of my cheerleading, I will have to make closer friends with my gym membership. I have been planning to go twice or three times a week, however this week I haven’t been once but that’s mainly because I’ve had so much on such as my volunteering (explained later) and tests and such like. I went to see the “advice centre” at the gym for some advice on a fitness programme. The guy I spoke to was excellent! He asked what I wanted to gain from using the gym and tailored me a fitness programme and gave me a wee sheet to track my progress on. I’ve to do 20 mins on the cross trainer, 20 mins on the cycling machine, 10 mins on the rowing machine,1 set of every weight trainer machine on whatever weight I can lift, and lastly as many sit-ups and lower back-ups I can manage. Sounds pretty intense but it’s exactly what I need as I just need to become generally “fitter” and also build some muscle so I don’t have aching arms after cheerleading.

I am trying to keep my news somewhat related to university, however this is a bit abstract; I have organised to start some voluntary work at the Victoria Infirmary to aid my application to transfer to Medicine in January. I met with the organiser yesterday to get my badge and it looks as though it will be quite good. My role is to help out in the medicine for the elderly ward where most of the patients have been in for hip replacements and other routine surgery and have been kept in for recovery. I will be helping primarily at lunchtime where there is not enough nurses to provide one-to-one care, and a helping hand is useful, just to make sure the wee old ladies have their wee cup of tea ready to go with their lunch.

I was also volunteering with the medical school within the university yesterday. This is a much more “interesting” volunteer-ship in that I am the patient. Yep, what I do is pretend to have some illness or problem and the first year medical students speak to me to find out as much as they can about my symptoms and their effects on my life. It’s not to teach them to diagnose, it’s just so they can develop correct communication skills and can carry out a comfortable conversation with a patient. It’s really good fun, I get to give them feedback on how good (or rubbish) they were and of course it’s useful for me as if I am accepted into medicine I will know EXACTLY what to do when it comes to my own communication skills workshops.

A last note, absolutely nothing to do with university, before I force myself back to studying; we are getting a cat. I have finally persuaded my boyfriend to let us have a wee kitten to keep us company in the flat. Ideally we are looking into getting a Persian kitten as having researched into various breeds they look at though they would be the best breed to cope with being a purely house cat. We’re not letting a wee kitten out loose to the terrors of Maryhill! I shall update if we actually go ahead and get a kitten!